Was it the Saratoga Club-House in New York's Saratoga Springs or double-decker railway club cars that provided the inspiration for this most beloved of sandwiches? We're not losing a lot of sleep on the question but, either way, all the authorities agree the club sandwich is something of a 20th-century American culinary icon. And as Americans made that century their own, so too did the club, travelling with hotel and business interests, becoming a staple of bar and room-service menus around the globe.
So much so that observing the regional variations on the classic, whether slight or involving prawn paste mayo, has become something of a sport among a certain breed of traveller. Turkey is so common a substitute for chicken that many people think it's the protein of choice - point of order: unless the turkey is very, very juicy and the chicken at hand is very, very dry, it's not… so turkey doesn't count, nor does the common addition of a fried egg. Sometimes the classics are best left alone. Alone, that is, with chips.
For a century now, no hotel stay has been complete without this double-decker sambo.