Subway Chicken Nacho Ranch

The Subway Chicken Nacho Ranch costs £7.49 and comes to 504 kcal in a six inch, which makes it the cheapest Signature sub on the UK menu. It is also the one with actual crisps in it, and that is not a gimmick so much as the entire structural idea.

The build is fixed and specific: rotisserie-style chicken, mozzarella and cheddar together, Doritos Cool Original nachos, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and red onion, then buttermilk ranch sauce and crispy onions on top. Two cheeses and two crunchy elements is a lot of decisions already made, which is what you are paying the Signature premium for.

The taste is creamy and savoury with a tang from the ranch, and texture is the whole point: soft chicken and melted cheese against nacho shards and crispy onions. That contrast is the reason the sub works, and it is also the reason it has a clock on it. Eaten straight away the crunch is real; left twenty minutes in a bag the Doritos soften and you have a different, lesser sandwich.

It suits people who find plain chicken subs boring and want texture rather than heat. The honest catch is the timer, and one thing worth knowing: it is not a spicy sub despite the nacho association, so if you came for heat the Tex Mexan or Furious Chicken are the ones that deliver it.

Against the rest of the Sandwiches menu, the plain Rotisserie-Style Chicken is the same meat for less money and none of the theatre. The Tex Mexan uses the same Doritos idea with chicken breast, salsa and a spicy sauce, and carries considerably more protein. This is the mild, creamy end of the crunchy chicken family.

On value it is the sensible entry to the Signature range: cheapest of the nine and a genuinely different eating experience from anything on the classics board. Order it to eat now rather than to carry, and take the drink rather than a crisp side, because the crunch quota is already met.