Il Tricolore: a ham and cheese croissant sandwich

An Italian breakfast is sweet by default: a filled cornetto, a cappuccino, out the door. You can read how that works in what Italians eat for breakfast. Plenty of people do not want sugar at eight in the morning, and that is the gap this sandwich fills. You still get the flaky, buttery layers with your coffee; the filling is ham and cheese instead of cream.

A croissant suits the job because its dough is lean. There is little sugar in it, so it takes a savory filling without the clash you would get from a sweetened cornetto. When you do want something sweet, the Croissant al Pistacchio is a few steps along the same counter.

A croissant sandwich is messy by nature. The outer layers shatter the moment you bite, and flakes end up on your shirt, the plate and the floor. Eat it over the plate, ideally at the counter with your coffee, and accept the crumbs as part of the deal.

Butter-rich pastry is already doing a lot. Add mustard, lettuce, tomato and a second cheese, and the croissant turns into a damp wrapper for a deli sandwich. Prosciutto cotto is mild and slightly sweet; fior di latte is fresh and milky. Neither fights the butter, so the pastry stays the main event.

It is the breakfast cousin of Il Classico, which uses the same ham and cheese on pane & olio with dried tomatoes. If you like this one at nine, try that one at one.

Il tricolore is what Italians call their flag, the green, white and red, and this croissant wears it: look for the green and red stripes in the dough. There is no basil or tomato hiding inside. Order it with a cappuccino before eleven, the way an Italian would with a cornetto, and you have a morning that is Italian in rhythm if not in sugar.

The rest of the savory options, from focaccia to ciabatta, are on our panini page.