Good For The Stomach And Soul (Pret a Manger)

Member Name: SkyscraperFanClu

Product:	Pret a Manger
Date:	16/04/09 (134 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent food quality, praiseworthy ethics, great value

Disadvantages: Dearer than some, especially the fruit juice .

The two key qualities of Pret A Manger are as follows: the food is extremely good and the companies practices are respectably ethical. I have no major complaints about this excellent fast food outlet.
The Pret A Manger food range covers a large range of sandwiches, a variety of soft drinks plus coffees, pastries and savoury snacks. What consistently strikes you about Pret A Manger's food is the quality of it, the use of organic and chemical-free ingredients and the slightly higher price relative to its competitors which is more than justified by the high standards used in producing the food in the first place.

Pret sell an extensive variety of sandwiches, all of which are prepared on the premises on the day of purchase with fresh ingredients - preservatives therefore are unnecessary, improving the flavour greatly. Sandwiches come in either the classic triangle pack form on white or granary bread, on a small baguette or in a soft tortilla wrap. All are generously filled with a delicious selection of ingredients: I heartily recommend the goats cheese and char grilled peppers, feta cheese and romaine lettuce, or Pret's excellent chicken Caesar.
Salads are also available, not just in the standard lettuce, leaf and dressing form but also in the popular, more strongly flavoured couscous-based varieties. For the truly adventurous try the range of sushi dishes which look extremely nice and as exquisitely prepared as the other products - my lack of fondness for fish prevents me from being able to comment on how nice they are.

Aside from the ubiquitous Coca-Cola at 60p per can, Prets soft drinks are a little on the dear side. The various fruit juices on sale are extremely tasty but disappointingly small for the price. The coffees, however, are exceptional value and very good, the mochas even rivalling those of the mighty Starbucks. At around £1 per cup these are a more reasonable proposition than the fruit juices, and extremely tasty. The range covers the usual suspects: Cappuccino, Espresso, Mocha, Latte and so on.
Finally the cakes and pastries are, like the rest of the foods, of very high standards and make a excellent treats. Indeed, with their selection of croissants and other breakfast pastries (and great coffee) Pret is a pretty good place to start the day for those of use without enough time to eat at home. Dessert items include heavenly chocolate brownies, slices of pecan pie and other decadent delights priced around the £1 mark.

Part of the reason that Pret's food stands clear of the opposition is their use of natural ingredients, which makes a clear difference even with the sandwiches. The vegetables are GM-free and full of flavour*. Likewise all the dairy products used are organic - and their cheeses are among the best I've tasted on a pre-made sandwich, and the Lattes have a delightfully smooth texture which I can only put down to the lack of preservatives in the milk.
Going hand in hand with this ethical outlook on food comes a pleasing moral attitude to food. Obviously, if you are going to make food without preservative and insist on making it all on-site then waste food is going to be an issue as that left on the end of the day cannot be used tomorrow. The Pret solution is simple and brilliant - give it to charity, especially local homeless organisations.

I think this moralistic approach to economics is highly laudable, and would far rather pay extra to eat here as a result given the extra food and the highly respectable attitude of Pret's owners. Compare this, for example, to the cheap, tacky, synthetic and exploitative world of McDonalds, and you'll soon see why I find Pret's food far easier to swallow on many levels.

*I'm not stating that GM-free food necessarily tastes better than food grown by other techniques, but the fact remains that Pret do not use genetically modified foodstuffs and their food tastes extremely good.

Summary: Good For The Stomach And Soul