Japanese sandwich shop in Barcelona

In Barcelona, there a Japanese sandwich shop called Sando. Sando Café Sando is located in the Born district at Calle Comerç, 16.

Its founders are Argentine entrepreneurs Theo Lepes, Maximiliano Di Fabio and Juan Manuel Aldaco. They did not want to recreate Japanese cuisine in its pure form, but rather to reinterpret the Argentine sandwiches with white bread and various fillings that they had known since childhood.

‘One evening, I remembered an anime I watched as a child, which showed a strawberry sandwich. I started looking for information and thought that there was something Argentinean about this sandwich,’ says Lepes.

The team travelled to Japan and, after their trip, opened a café in the style of a modern Japanese tavern. The menu features both savoury and sweet sando options. These include sandwiches with meat, egg, shrimp, cucumber, avocado and mint cream. Dessert options have seasonal fruits (strawberries, mangoes, grapes), cream, and white chocolate. All sandwiches are made with soft bread from the Mondo Integral artisan bakery in the Poblenou district.

The cafe also offers unique beverages — instead of well-known fizzy drinks, it serves homemade non-alcoholic beverages made from fresh fruit.

The café also collaborates with chefs. For example, Japanese chef Koichi Kubara made a speciality: a sandwich with tuna and caviar. The founders note that the menu changes in accordance with the season