Pret a Manger hardly needs an introduction, the British sandwich and coffee chain that's ubiquitous in working areas and has become a favorite among HK white collars. 'Pret a Manger' means 'Ready to eat' in French, but of course, my mom loves to tell me that she's at 'Pret a MANAGER'.
The sell here is freshly made, no additive, soups, sandwiches and, salads that can be plucked straight off their shelves and consumed. There are 4 types of each food category (e.g. 4 different types of wraps - meatball, chicken tikka, pulled pork, falafel) every day, with one being a meatless choice. The quality of everything is decent, price is a bit higher than average (A salad costs HKD 5X and a hot wrap is HKD 4X). It is worthy to note that they bake everything in the morning and their cookies are surprisingly good - you can smell them if you pass by in the morning.
Everything is sold same-day, everything left at day-closing is donated to Feeding Hong Kong, a charity that picks up their foods to serve the lesser privileged in the city. Not all stores do this though, but you can help, according to their site - "Tragically a few of our shops have no regular charities able to collect from them. If you are a Hong Kong registered charity and interested in collecting unsold sandwiches on a long term basis, please contact Gabrielle Kirstein at Feeding Hong Kong on Tel: 2205 6568"
Pret checks all the boxes to become a go-to lunch spot: convenient location (the Quarry Bay one is INSIDE Taikoo Place, no need to even go outdoors), quick service, fresh ingredients, decent flavor, reliability and a conscience (CSR is all the rage among young professionals). With just one drawback being the lack of variety - 4 choices of salad means you can only go so many times before repeating yourself - Quarry Bay Pret has become a canteen of sorts for the Taikoo Place workers, expect a bustling Monday to Thursday lunch, and emptiness during Friday (people actually eat 'out') and all dinnertimes. read more