Pret for breakfast at the airport

19th December.

Another trip from terminal five, but rather than using one of the established restaurants, I decided to try a mix and match from the Pret a Manger outlet. The food outlets and coffee bars are very busy in the morning, and I think there is a point to having a mixture of smaller outlets competing against each other rather than one big airport cafe. I have previously written positively about the quality and price of Pret, and was not disappointed in a breakfast selection. I decided to slum it and eat and drink sat on the seating rather than at a table. I was far from alone, and despite the rising costs of air travel, the everyday economy traveler is reluctant to pay the sit-down-restaurant prices. Most BA departures for short haul don't give a meal any more, and for a mid-morning flight, they best you can expect is a drink and a bag of trail mix (20g - that's less than an ounce) so stoke up before you go.

So this is a Pret fruit salad, a breakfast roll with ham and egg, and a filter coffee for £6.03 takeaway price. The breakfast rolls are in a hot cabinet, and I was a bit worried that by the time I had queued, paid and taken away, it would have cooled down, but the packing kept it warm and I would give it a 8 on the CHOF scale which surprised me. Regrettably many staff at airport catering outlets have poor English (even in Non UK airports) and clearly have drawn the short straw. 

There was quite a good variety in the fruit salad of different kinds of fruit (not just apple or melon). I should have taken the lid off to show. One interesting thing is that the packaging for the coffee was almost bomb proof, and I knocked it over ( a common occurrence for me) and almost none spilled. Well done Pret for recognizing the problem of picnicking in airports. Whilst not the same as a sit down repast, this was good start to the day.