Subway Garlic Cheese Steak

The Subway Garlic Cheese Steak costs £8.59 and comes to 539 kcal in a six inch, joint most expensive of the Signature subs. It takes the Philly Steak, adds garlic twice over, and turns the lightest meat sub on the menu into one of the heaviest sandwiches on it.

The build is fixed: Philly-style steak, cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onion and peppers, then garlic oil and garlic and herb sauce. Garlic in two forms is not an accident; the oil goes into the bread and the sauce sits on the salad, so it arrives at you from two directions.

The taste is beef and garlic in roughly equal billing, richer and rounder than the plain Philly, and the garlic oil in particular changes the bread from a container into an ingredient. Texture is tender steak strips with the peppers and onion giving it structure, and toasted it is one of the more satisfying hot sandwiches on the board.

It suits people who love the Philly Steak and want more of everything. The catch deserves stating plainly: the plain Philly Steak is 297 kcal and this is nearly double that. Garlic oil and a creamy sauce are where the difference lives, not the steak.

That makes the comparison on the Sandwiches menu unusually stark. The classic Philly Steak is cheaper, lighter, and the lowest fat meat sub Subway sells. This is the indulgent version of the same sandwich, and both are legitimate orders depending on which day it is.

On value it is the top of the Signature price range for a sandwich you could approximate by ordering a Philly with garlic sauce for less. What you cannot approximate is the garlic oil in the bread, which is the part that actually justifies it.