Chicken & Avocado Salad

DAY 4: PRET A MANGER

Pret A Manger's Chicken & Avocado Salad

I’ve been traveling to London on business for many years. I remember the first time I went into the Pret A Manger sandwich shop that was across the street from my company's London office. I was struck by the amount of mayonnaise on everything. I also remember there being a lot of sandwiches with fish. Not just tuna, but things like crayfish, smoked salmon and prawns. There were a lot of squirrelly combos too. Cheddar and pickles on a baguette, anyone? Not quite my cup of tea.

Hop the pond and jump ahead a decade, and how things have changed.

Pret started expanding into the U.S. several years ago. I was pleasantly surprised to see a wide range of healthy sandwiches sans the mayonnaise and funky fish varieties that seemed to permeate the menu in London. Pret’s American-style sandwiches and soups worked their way into my lunch routine.

Pret recently opened a new café across the street from my office. I’ve started putting some of their salads into my lunch rotation. They’re a little higher in calories than some of my other regular lunch picks, but they’re still within range and very fresh. I also appreciate that calorie counts are clearly listed for every single selection. With plenty of choices under 500 calories, there’s no excuse for going over my target.

On Day 4 (which was actually Friday), I was craving Pret. Possibly due to the unseasonably cool, rainy, London-ish weather that’s settled in Chicago all too frequently this spring.

The salads at Pret are premade, but they're assembled on site and brought out to the coolers all day long. There’s a good chance your food was prepared within the hour—and if you go during the lunch rush, the food will probably be even fresher. At that time of day it typically flies off the shelves so fresh food keeps coming out.

My choice, the Chicken Avocado Salad, is beautifully arranged in a nice-sized cardboard container with a plastic top, much like the to-go containers used at Panera. There’s a thick bed of mesclun with thin strips of seasoned grilled chicken, huge chunks of ripe avocado, sliced tomatoes, dried cranberries and walnuts.

Dressings are served on the side, so you can pick whatever sounds good to you. I chose the Skinny Vinaigrette, which adds only 15 calories to the salad without sacrificing flavor. It's modeled after a traditional champagne vinaigrette, but it's oil-free so has no fat. The overarching taste is acidic, but there's a layer of sweetness that comes from honey. It seems more robust than 15 calories.

My salad was super fresh, with bright green avocado grabbing my attention first. Avocado is one of my favorite salad ingredients, so I love that Pret puts two generous chunks—practically half an avocado—in this dish. It goes really well with the seasoned chicken and sweet cranberries, while the walnuts add crunch plus nuttiness to round out the flavors.

If I had one complaint, it would be that the tomatoes were pretty tasteless. I’m curious to see if the taste improves once we enter peak tomato season.

With only five ingredients plus greens, I wouldn’t call this a complex salad. Nothing overpowers or distinguishes this from salads you might eat elsewhere. But it’s so bright and carefully prepared. That makes it stand out from some of the others that are thrown together in a pretty sloppy fashion. It’s filling, too. I ate at noon and didn’t feel hungry until I boarded my 6:30 train.

The week ended with another salad success.

ITEM
Chicken & Avocado Salad

EATERY
Pret A Manger, 120 South Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL 60606

MENU DESCRIPTION
Grilled chicken (antibiotic free), avocado, tomatoes, mesclun, cranberries, walnuts, Pret's seasoning.

CALORIES
455

COST
$8.28 with tax

RECOMMEND?
Definitely