HONG KONG HIGHLIGHTS #7 // PRET A MANGER (& An Ode to the Christmas Lunch Sandwich)

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him eat noodles… Oh wait, that doesn’t… Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that sometimes the thought of eating noodles or rice makes my gut clench and in these Hong Kong moments I turn to an old friend: PRET.

It’s November 2007, Edinburgh, and I have just eaten my first PRET A MANGER. The urge for a 99p ‘white filter’ draws me in from the cold and I proceed to impulse-buy a “just made” half-baguette. It was love at first bite.

Fast forward to Hong Kong, September 2012, and I see that burgundy star behind a wall of glass in the IFC. I've been without a sandwich for almost a month and PRET efficiently satisfy my cravings: two slices of bread with a mayo infused filling.

Now, it's November, & just as I feel my love for PRET cannot grow deeper, this happens:

PRET A MANGER's Christmas Lunch Sandwich. 

For the brief moment in which the turkey, cranberry and stuffing flavours merge on the tastebuds, it’s like 2pm on December 25th and you can almost hear the queen’s speech. Homesickness that I haven't even realised I'm feeling subsides.

Post-consumption, as I engage in expat watching, I'm left wondering how early visitors to Hong Kong coped without it.

Share in my love for PRET? Think they use too much mayo? Leave a comment or Tweet me @chrispbone. Thanks.

PFHK