I didn’t do any food writing last week so as I promised and to help me catch up I’m going to feature a food post all five weekdays this week. Enjoy!

Yes, Pret A Manger is a chain and no I usually do not endorse chain restaurants especially in NYC where there are so many carts that offer good low price, food options. However, I work in the Financial District (at least until the end of 2009 I do) and the options down here are few and far between and a lot of my favorite spots are a good distance from my office.

Pret opened a few month’s back replacing the much loved and hated Zam’s sandwich shop. I loved Zam’s for about my first month down here and then grew to hate it. Here’s the deal with Pret, nothing and I do mean nothing is going to blow you out of the water. The soups are always freshly made, taste good and offer a nice variety. The sushi is the same that it is in almost every deli and the salads are so so. There are two areas I think that sets Pret apart from it’s biggest sandwich chain competitor, Subway.

They offer both fresh teas, juices and sodas. The usual selection might include iced green tea with natural mango flavoring, cranberry smoothies, freshly made old time iced tea as well as cans of Pret A Manger brand ginger beer and sparkling orange soda. It is nice to have these options instead of Subway’s standard soda fountain and Snapple beverages in the sliding cooler.

Finally the sandwiches (usually a few new selections are introduced each week) are pretty good. All of the sandwiches are pre-made but are made and replaced with such speed that you rarely ever bite into something that tastes stale. Sandwiches are offered on regular white sandwich bread, or baguettes and most if not all are offered in half sized portions so that a small soup and a half of a sandwich with a nice beverage really is a good, affordable lunch option. There is a wide variety of sandwiches to choose from that range from chicken salad to turkey clubs, to avocado and basil to goat cheese and tomato and there are always vegetarian options. Pret also makes decent hot wraps and sells fresh baked good which usually includes an excellent hot ham and swiss croissant with roasted tomato.

I’d figure I’d show pictures of a few things I’ve eaten from Pret over the last month or so and will readily admit that  I usually wind up getting lunch there at least two days a week.

This is a typical mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich in a half size. All half sized sandwiches on regular bread are packaged like this and sometimes it’s fun to get two different halves of sandwiches instead of a whole one. It cost’s a little bit more two get a half of a sandwich than it would whole ratio wise but the difference is very small.

This is a half of a rare roast beef with sandwich with mustard and arugula. This sandwich is usually offered on a daily basis.

Pret’s sparkling orange beverage “contains no nasties.” This means that there are no preservatives, high fructose corn syrup or chemicals in the beverage. The can of soda contains sparkling water and orange juice and it tastes like it should.

The special sandwich a few weeks ago featured excellent curry chicken with a spicy chutney that if I remember right had some raisins tucked in their for good measure.

Pret occasionally offers some innovative soups and the “Super Reuben” was a perfect example of this. A Russian dressing tasting broth was a fantastic base for chunks of fatty corned beef and strands of tangy sauerkraut.

The Yoga Bunny Detox sparkling drink is excellent. It claims to have a lot of natural ingredients that are supposed to revitalize and help detox but I’m not sure if I buy any of that. It’s a wonderful only lightly sweet soda that tastes a lot like the Bitter Truth’s celery cocktail bitters. That’s a good thing.

Pret is directly across from my office and therefore is a safe, healthy and relatively cheap choice. Add in convenience and how I could I not go so often? I would not recommend for someone to go out of their way to eat at Pret but if you’re ever near one stop in and let me know what you think.

Pret A Manger (multiple locations) but the one near my office is at – 60 Broad Street, NY, 10004, (212) 825-8825

Filed under: Sandwiches Tagged: | avocado and basil, Bitter Truth Celery Bitters, chicken salad, Corned Beef, cranberry smoothies, curried chicken, Financial district, Ginger Beer, goat cheese and tomato, ice tea, iced green tea, mozzarella, NYC, Pret A Manger, raisins, rare roast beef, russian dressing, Sandwich Chains, Sauerkraut, Snapple, sparkling orange soda, Subway Sandwich Shop, super reuben, tomato basil, turkey clubs, Yoga Bunny Detox, Zam's Sandwich Shop