Nov 15

Pret a Manger, Heathrow Airport Terminal 3, London UK

British Mayo

Category: ,

Ordered from Pret a Manger in London Heathrow's Terminal 3.

Overall Score 72.7/100
Presentation 8.2/10 Meat Quality 6.7/10
Fruit / Vegetable Quality 6.9/10 Bread Quality 7.3/10
Mayo / Sauce Usage 6.2/10 Value 7.2/10
Ingredients Ratio 8.2/10 Sides 7/10
Holdability 8.1/10 Overall Taste 6.9/10

I lived off of Pret a Manger when I was a student in the UK. Sadly, since moving back to Boston, nearly all of their locations were closed, and even on a recent trip to NYC, most of their locations were closed… so it was a treat to see them thriving in London.

I knew my flight back to Boston from Heathrow airport would be empty. Still, I was surprised that I got interviewed twice by airport staff before getting my ticket and boarding. Why were we always interviewed going to America, but literally no one cared when going to Europe from America? There must be a good reason for that, one day Ill find out.

I was dreading the airplane food on the flight back. It wasn’t worth the risk waiting to see if it would be palpable, so I very smartly opted to bring Pret a Manger onto the flight with me. How could that be a bad decision??

Their club sandwich literally was starting me down as I perused their selection. Perfectly compacted into their triangle packaging, it was the standard fare I lived off of at university. Layered with care and appreciation of ratio, you could tell the chefs at Pret a Manger were to-go sandwich making masters.

Halfway through the flight I tore open the box and pulled a half out, excited for the taste of nostalgia more than anything else.

I was greeted with muted flavors and somewhat soggy bread, with way too much mayonnaise. Not the impression I was going for. Were my hopes and expectations too high? Perhaps – but nevertheless, this did not change the reality that most of the ingredients, especially the bacon, were closer to fast food quality than gourmet, and I wasn’t reminiscing in the moment like I should have been.

It wasn’t a bad club sandwich, but I wasn’t in the mood to finish it. The croissant and smoked salmon salad I had also grabbed from Pret appeared, and were, more appetizing than the club sandwich, and so I feasted on those while watching the map move in front of me, pounding away at emails on a mission to have an empty inbox when I landed.

Location

Comments are closed.