Subway Restaurant Review : How to order at Subway

Healthy Way- Subway

My Ratings: 4.5/5

I remember visiting Subway 3-4 times without ordering anything as I always got confused and didn’t understand what to order and how to order. I don’t know the concept of ‘sub’ and didn’t understand what Subway really offers. Subway is not like McDonald or any other fast food stores where in you just say the number you want and that’s it.   So here I am sharing my views and advices related to Subway.

History

The restaurant is owned and operated by Doctor’s Associates, Inc. It is founded by Fred DeLuca in 1965 after borrowing$1000 from his family friend Dr. Peter Buck. The aim of Fred was to earn enough money to fulfill his ambition to be a Medical Doctor.  The holding company “Doctor’s Associates” derives its name from Fred DeLuca’s goal to be a doctor, as well as Peter Buck’s having a doctorate in physics.


As of November-13, Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world and the largest single-brand restaurant chain and the largest restaurant operator globally. Interestingly, it is far ahead of McDonald’s in terms of number of restaurants .  

Subway started operations in India in 2001 by opening a restaurant in New Delhi. Subway restaurants in India do not serve beef and pork products to respect religious sentiments of Indian but in place offers an extended vegetarian range due to the large number of vegetarians in the country.

Geography

There are total 402 Subway restaurants in India on date. These are conveniently located in all metros and many A&B-class cities. You can search their website to get the exact location nearby.

What it offers

Subway majorly offers ‘Submarine Sandwich’ which is also known by ‘sub’ is a sandwich made of a long roll of Italian or French bread, split widthwise either into two pieces or opened in V-shape on one side, and filled with a variety of meats, cheeses, vegetables, seasonings, and sauces. Subway got its name from these ‘SUB’.

It also offers ‘Salads’ which is similar to ‘Subs’ minus bread. It is like whether you want your ice-cream scoop in cone or cup.

Menu

Subway offers mainly four varieties in their menu.

1. Subs : Submarine sandwiches are their specialties and they offer wide variety of it. Few of their subs are their forte like Italian BMT, Chicken Teriyaki, and Tuna etc. In India they offer Chicken Tikka, Chicken Seekh, Chicken Tandoori, Chicken Achari etc. as non-vegetarian option.

Subway offers majorly six types of traditional veg sandwiches in India as per Indian taste buds- Veggie Delite(fresh vegetables), Veggie Patty, Paneer Tikka(bar-be-cue paneer tikka), Veg Shammi(Soya and Lentils nuggets), Corn and Peas(sweet corn mixed with green peas and mayonnaise) and Aloo Patty. Do note that vegetables and sauces are an integral part of all type of sandwiches except few breakfast sandwiches(egg-based).

2. Salads: You can convert any type of sub into a salad by adding few extra bucks . It will not have any bread and the quantity of veggies will be more.

3. Toasties: Toasties are a piece of toasted bread dressed by limited veggies or meat pieces. There are two options in toasties- Veggie Toastie & Pepperoni Toastie(non-veg).

4. Cookies: There are three types of cookies- Oatmeal, Single Chocolate and Double Chocolate. Personally I prefer single chocolate and it taste really good with soft drinks.

How to order

Ordering a sub as per your taste and choice is a big task if you are first timer to Subway. First time when I tried it, I didn’t mention my choice as I was not aware how a particular bread, vegetable or sauce tastes. Anyway now when I am through that phase, I would let first timers to get a feel of ordering at subway. I will explain 8-step process for ordering a sandwich:

1. Type of sandwich: Go through their menu or displays(as mentioned in above section) and decide about the type you want.

2. Type of bread: First you have to choose type of bread. There are majorly four types of breads available in Subway India- Italian, Wheat, Honey Oats and Parmesan Oregano.  The price of sandwich doesn’t vary with the bread (I thought otherwise initially hence hesitated to try rich looking bread).  

Italian bread has a soft texture with a slightly flaky outside and has neutral flavor without any sweetness.

Wheat bread has soft texture with little flakiness and tastes like Italian bread with slight sweetness.

Honey Oat bread is soft bread with flakes of oats on the outside and sweetest of all the breads.

Parmesan Oregano has a flavor of cheese and Oregano(ajwain).

3. Size of bread: There are two sizes available- 6inches and foot long. If you are alone, 6 inches is sufficient enough for you as snacks, go for foot long only if you are very hungry.   If you have a friend, a foot-long can easily be split in two to save money.

4. Extras: You may ask for extra cheese, double meat, premium veggie, and egg etc. Extras may vary depending on the restaurant.

5. Toast: Normally they will microwave the bread after putting the main filling and cheese(minus veggies) for few seconds or else you may ask them to toast or heat your sandwich. There is no extra charge for it.

6. Vegetables: You can choose all the vegetables or just the ones that you like. If you want a particular veggie in extra quantity you may ask so(no extra charge for that) but better be specific. There are 8 vegetables available as fillings in a sub- Lettuce, Tomato, Cucumber, Pickle, Peppers, Olive, Red onion and Jalapenos. If you don’t like sour taste, it is advisable to avoid pickle. Do notice that pickle is not of typical type you use at home; it looks like a dark green cucumber. Pepper may vary depending on the store.

7. Sauces: In this area they use salt, black ground pepper and sauces. It gives the final taste to the sandwiches. If you don’t want anything you may say so. There are varieties of sauces available- Mustard, Mayonnaise, Sweet Onion, Honey Mustard, Teriyaki, Vinaigrette, Tomato, Hot Chili etc. Normally they will ask you that you want your sandwich spicy and they will decide the sauces accordingly. If you have sweet tooth ask them to pour additional ‘sweet onion’ as it tastes really great. Mustard is obviously very tangy in taste similar to hot chili. Sauces may sometimes vary depending on the restaurant. It is better to ask them to choose the sauces if you don’t have any special preference.

8. Make it a meal: You may finish off the order by making it a meal by ordering soft drink with chips or any one of the cookies by adding few bucks.  

Pricing

I couldn’t be very specific about the pricing as they may vary depending on the locations. I am just mentioning the approximate prices of 6-inch subs and other items.

Veggie Delite Sub(only veggies) is available at Rs.80.

Veg Subs are available in a range of Rs.100-Rs.150.

Non-Veg Subs are available in a range of Rs.130-Rs.180.

Any type of Sub can be converted to Salad by adding Rs.50.

All type of cookies is available for Rs.25 each.

Toasties are available for Rs.30 & Rs.40.

The good thing about their pricing is that VAT is inclusive in their mentioned prices unlike other fast food chains.

Try it Once

If you are bored of pizzas, burgers, roasted chicken then it is time to try something new and healthy. The Submarine Sandwiches are really great in taste and very different from the sandwiches we have at home or corner stores. You will definitely feel the freshness and uniqueness of the taste.

In case of doubt you can always order Veggie Delite. It is simplest and cheapest of all sandwiches available at Subway.

If you have never been to Subway, I suggest you to try it once. I assure that you will not regret.

Nokia Lumia 520 review

King pf phones in sub-10k category

My ratings: 4/5

Here I am sharing one more review of a phone that was released 8 months back and a successor has already been announced and expected to release soon. But that doesn’t make this phone any inferior from its successor or its competitors.

It is a classy phone by build and looks better than every Samsung phone till Note 3. It has sleek looks with bright funky rectangular and colourful back covers. It is a known secret that design of iPhone 5C was copied from Lumia 520. The best thing is that you can anytime change the colour of back cover and you will get the feel of a new phone in your hand.  

In nutshell, it features dual core processor, dedicated GPU, 512MB RAM, 4 inch IPS LCD Screen with 800x480-pixel resolution of 235ppi, 5MP camera, 720p video recording. The screen is scratch resistant but reflective and finger print magnet. Hence it is advisable to apply screen guard on priority.


The display is very clear and the text, videos and pictures look sharp and crisp. The viewing angles of the Lumia 520 are good and the display works well even under sunlight.

Lumia 520 has 5MP camera with 4x digital zoom and can record 720p videos at 30fps . It is a known negative that it does not have an LED flash or front camera. The camera can shoot pics in bright sunlight with true colours. There are some Nokia specific camera add-ons like Smart Shoot that can be used to click multiple pics for a single shot. Later on best shot can be selected from bunch of pics.

The good thing about the camera is that it is an autofocus rather than fixed focus system considering the budget segment. I could have easily gone for Lumia 620 that sports an LED flash but I was bowled over by the beauty of Lumia 520 and many flashes can be compromised for that.

Misconceptions

1. No sharing : You can definitely share Photos, videos, Music via Bluetooth. Even multiple file sharing is available for pics. No sharing was on WP7.

2. Limited apps : Apps are launching at a faster rate.  WP is gaining popularity and developers are surely taking this platform seriously & coming with more great apps for it. All are aware that IRCTC has launched its official app on WP only.

3. No games : Yes it is a fact that games doesn’t run smooth on it. How can you expect that by investing 8.5k on it? It is a basic smartphone and a big NO for game addicts.

Pros

1. Thinner than expected and feels good in hands. Build quality is awesome with matte finish on back which gives a firm grip.

2. Never felt hanging problem in this OS. The UI is buttery smooth. Windows OS is far better than Android in smoothness in performance .

3. Highly responsive touch, works even with gloves on. It is undoubtedly at par with my iPhone and Note.

4. Offline maps with Nokia Here works smoothly though the downloaded maps occupies GBs of memory space.

5. It has preinstalled fully loaded MS office suite.

6. The colours on the screen appear very sharp and real.

7. It gives awesome battery backup - must for a smartphone.

8. Undoubtedly good Nokia service and support.

9. Best value for money smartphone in the market.

10. Virus risk is considerably reduced as Microsoft checks each and every app before uploading it on Store. When compared to Android, it is very safe.

Cons

1.   Comparatively less apps than Android and App store but it is expected because it is a relatively new platform. But you will definitely find all the useful apps.

2. This device is not for hard-core gamers because of its limited 512MB RAM.

3. There is no toggle switch to enable/ disable 3G, Wi-Fi, and GPS etc. You have to go inside the settings to perform all these basic functions.

4. Physical button of camera has to be pressed very strongly to take snaps.

5. The major drawback is absence of flash LED for camera .

6. Sometime Wi-Fi not getting connected but it happens rarely.

7. There is no option to disable haptic feedback. The phone vibrates whenever back button is pressed and till now I am unable to find any option to disable it.

8. The ringtone and phone volume is controlled by volume rocker on one side of the device and is exposed to presses when the phone is in your pocket. The worst part is that it works even if the phone is in locked mode. So don’t be surprised if you suddenly find your ringtone at minimal level. Be cautious and keep checking it.

9. Removing the back cover is very tricky . I don’t understand why mobile manufacturers are complicating the removal of back covers.

Lumia 525

Nokia Lumia 525 has been announced and features 4-inch IPS LCD touchscreen display at a resolution of 800 x 480 with a 235ppi pixel density. This is powered by 1GHz dual core processor paired with 1GB of RAM. The handset has 8G of built in storage that is expandable up to 64GB. It has 5MP camera without flash.

So it is clear that Lumia 525 is different from the 520 in one major way, i.e., 1GB of RAM instead 512MB. So the question arises if this additional 512 MB RAM is really a big boost or dynamic improvement?  The answer is NO as in a Windows phone you will hardly notice this difference(the same is not valid for an Android phone). Yes, but this 1GB RAM will definitely enable your access to few high-end games.

Verdict

I have used Lumia 800- a Windows 7 phone. That phone was having many glitches and problems. I am proud that Nokia has improved a lot with introduction of Windows 8. Nokia Lumia 520 is king of smartphones in sub-10k categories. Do notice that when I am judging the features, I never consider Indian or Chinese brands.  On date Windows is the most beautiful mobile operating system in the market.

If you are looking for a budget smartphone under 10k that is not running on Android, then Nokia Lumia 520 is the best bet for you. The smartphone looks decent and packs in enough punch for a smartphone of this range. Moreover, this smartphone comes with a Nokia brand name and a build quality that no other phone can match at this price.