Potluck Hawker and Via Tevere Just Broke Our Brains With a Chicken Sandwich

It’s tough to admit when you’re wrong. 

Earlier this year, when our team did a chicken sandwich draft, I was pretty confident I was the easy winner. After all, I racked up an elite squad consisting of both well-known haunts and under-the-radar spots in Their There, Burdy, Peri Peri Shack and Fable Diner. 

But one sandwich had eluded me in my research. It was the Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Sando from Cambie’s Potluck Hawker that was sold out both times I inquired. Much to my chagrin, fellow editor and my sworn mortal enemy Neal McLennan drafted Potluck in the third round, knowing very well that the rest of us weren’t able to try it. 

So it was that upon visiting Potluck on the weekend for a preview of its upcoming 2-year anniversary menu item (which runs Saturday and Sunday) that I experienced that feeling of being very much wrong.

I had to be, because if Potluck’s original sando is even half as good as what it’s cooking up for the anniversary, then Neal won the draft on that alone. 

But, perhaps I have the last laugh. Because Neal has not yet had the pleasure of having what the team at Potluck is calling Two Nights in Bangkok, a collab with Victoria Drive’s undefeated pizza maven, Via Tevere (which I did take in our Pizza Draft, just saying). 

The Khao Soi Pizza Sub is inspired by the famous chicken curry noodle in Northern Thailand and Myanmar and features coconut milk fried chicken, coconut curry, American cheese, shaved onions, pickled mustard greens, crispy noodles, and fresh herbs, all served in Via Tevere’s tender, pillowy and delicious wood-fired dough. 

READ MORE: Our Editors Draft the Best Chicken Sandwiches in Vancouver

It comes from both the mind and the experiences of Justin Cheung, who spent a good portion of his childhood in southeast Asia. He also previously worked at Thai cuisine institution Maenam and its New Westminster offshoot, Longtail Kitchen. So yeah, he knows what he’s doing. 

And really, I don’t quite have the words to describe what an incredible array of flavours Cheung has put together here. The curry and toppings never step on each other or the chicken and instead combine with the bread for a juicy, spicy and perfectly balanced sandwich. 

Now, let’s be honest here. Would my financial advisor (shoutout Maggie at the Kerrisdale Scotiabank) or my fiancée who keeps trying to tell me to save for our wedding sign off on me paying $23 for a chicken sandwich? Probably not. Do I care when it’s the best chicken sandwich I’ve had in the city? Screw the open bar at the wedding, my friends can sneak in flasks. 

Two Nights in Bangkok runs August 20 and 21 at Potluck Hawker. You can pre-order it here.