Everyone remembers that feeling of opening your lunchbox in the playground, famished from the day’s lessons, only to be greeted with a sad and soggy sandwich. Maybe the lettuce has gone limp, the tomato soaked through the bread, the cheese sweaty. It was enough to turn even the most ravenous of kids off their lunch, and has given sandwiches a bad wrap in the process.

These days, the culinary world is out to rewrite the sandwich rules. The new kids on the block are reinvigorating the lunchbox staple, levelling up bread, giving fillings more thought and packing them fat. Yep, the sandwich has gone from something you were disappointed to pull from your lunchbox to something guaranteed to induce envy as you unwrap it at your desk. Here, the loaded sandwiches — which you can pick up at Emporium on your lunch break — that are worth the hype.

New York Corned Beef Sandwich from Earl’s Canteen, Level 3

A Melbourne take on the Big Apple’s classic reuben. Featuring corned beef silver side, house-made zucchini pickles, provolone cheese, Earl’s mayonnaise and watercress on soft ciabatta bread. It mightn’t be packed as fat as Katz’ Deli’s version, but this one won’t have you asleep at your desk by 3pm.

The Cubano Sandwich from Little Sparrow Kitchen, Level 2

Little Sparrow Kitchen’s Cubano sandwich is not for the faint of heart. Melt-in-the-mouth pork belly meets prosciutto, creamy Swiss cheese, tangy pickles and hot mustard sauce upon slices of toasted sourdough, with a hefty mound of chips served alongside.

Crispy Pork Banh Mi from Phuoc Thanh Bakery, Level 3

With its crunchy and salty exterior and gelatinous, tender meat, Phuoc Thanh Bakery’s pork belly is top tier. Thrown in a crusty yet fluffy Vietnamese baguette slathered with butter and pate and jammed with pickled vegetables and fresh herbs, it’s a banh mi that’s very hard to beat.

Prawn Katsu Sando from Saint Dreux, Lower Ground

A Japanese sandwich as delicious and texturally delightful as something you’d find at Family Mart in Tokyo, but so beautiful you almost don’t want to eat it. Saint Dreux’s prawn katsu sando is the stuff of dreams: crispy battered prawns, wasabi mayonnaise and the fluffiest shokupan (Japanese milk bread) you ever did see.