Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Review: Pret A Manger


...the one in which I put my body into shock by eating "healthy"....


We left our travelers yesterday as they were leaving Tiffany & Co, with not one but TWO of the signature blue Tiffany boxes...Happy Birthday to Me! After our earlier subway fiasco, we were fortunate that we could avoid the subway for our next leg of our journey - as it was a very short walk to our hotel. Whew. No chance of "abandoning" Hubby when we only have a three-block walk to the hotel.

Why the hotel?

Besides dropping off our packages, I needed to change clothes. I had been wearing a skirt all day, and as we were heading to the Empire State Building this evening, I wasn't sure how "behaved" my pleated skirt would "behave" later...if you get my drift.

As we all remember, Marilyn Monroe created an iconic moment in New York City in 1954, when a subway grate elevated her gorgeous white dress to unheard of heights:


I love this movie...


Coincidentally, that scene was filmed at 52nd and Lexington - which was about two short blocks from our hotel, and very near the subway station that we utilized a lot during our trip. I was wearing a blue pleated skirt this day, and recognizing that it would most likely be a tad bit windy atop the Empire State Building, the LAST thing I wanted to do was to "recreate" a Marilyn Monroe moment...(although, in all honesty, I found out that subway grates do, INDEED, elevate your skirts up to new heights. I can't tell you how many unsuspecting people I inadvertently flashed - until I learned to sidestep subway grates if I heard a train whizzing by down below. Gah.)

So, a quick change into some pants at our hotel, a short walk back to the subway station, and soon we were headed a short distance downtown to grab a quick bite of dinner before heading over to our destination for the night.

For dinner, I had chosen a non-typical fast-food chain, Pret A Manger, that was located at 389 5th Ave, which was conveniently VERY close to the Empire State Building. As in, a one-minute walk.



I really hate to call this a fast-food restaurant....Pret A Manger focuses on gourmet, ready-to-eat food that uses natural ingredients. Everything is made fresh daily - and what isn't sold by the end of each day is donated to a local charity. The chain receives good reviews on TripAdvisor, as well as Yelp, so I figured we would give it a try.

We arrived at approximately 6:15 pm, and had the place to ourselves, which is almost unheard of in Manhattan. I chose the mozzarella & pesto toasted sandwich; Hubby chose the avocado pinenut wrap; and Daughter chose an egg salad & arugula sandwich. Throw in a few drinks, chips and cookies & yogurt for dessert, and our GRAND total - for dinner for three of us - was $34.03.

DID YOU SEE THAT???!!

I'll repeat it - simply because it's so awesome and amazing and unbelievable:

For dinner for three of us - in New York City, of all places - we spent approximately $34.00!!!

So, yes...you can certainly dine on a budget while in the city...this was especially helpful to us, considering what our tab had been on our first night in town.

Speaking of cookies, the Harvest Cookie is delicious, although it doesn't exactly look tasty in my photo:


Oatmeal, cranberries, walnuts and raisins...delish!


For drinks, besides the usual sodas and such, they have some delicious juices, and my favorite, frozen Chai tea:


Oh, Chai...how I love thee!


We sat by the window, where we had a birds-eye view of the street scene in front of us:



We enjoyed our dinner here at Pret...it was fast, delicious and affordable. There are locations all over the city, which makes it very convenient to stop in for a quick bite. I would definitely recommend it - especially if you're on a budget.

And after our shopping trip to Tiffany's - we were definitely now on a budget!

Next - the Empire State Building...

...x three.


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