Pret’s Grilled Cheese and Soup is a Winning Winter Combo
In a sea of overpriced gourmet grilled cheeses (see: Exhibit A, Exhibit B, and Exhibit C), it’s easy for us to roll our eyes at a new contender. But here’s the thing: a girl still gets a craving for a good grilled cheese and tomato soup combo every now and then, and she’s gotta get it somewhere. On a recent dreary day, I noticed that Pret has a new Grilled Cheese Toastie on the menu, and when I saw that one of the rotating daily soups that day was Tomato & Basil, I knew what I was having for lunch.
The Grilled Cheese Toastie ($5.99) contains parmesan, brie, roasted tomatoes, basil, black pepper, and Pret seasoning on Pret’s sigature 7-grain bread. I found it to be decently sized, with two large slice of bread holding in a generous portion of delicious brie, sweet tomatoes, and pungent basil. Most importantly, this sandwich had plenty of what I like to call “goo factor,” it had enough cheese to give that explodey cheesy feeling when you bite into it. I suspect that the juicy roasted tomatoes were key here as well, because the sandwich didn’t leave me feeling weighed down as much as you would expect with this level of goo. You grab it from the case and they grill it right in front of you, so it’s guaranteed to be piping hot and melty as long as you don’t have too far to go before you eat it.
The small order of soup ($3.99) was very fresh tasting in that it wasn’t creamy, but more chunky and tomatoey than I expected. The tomato and basil complemented the tomato and basil in the sandwich, making this a perfect combo meal. If you’re still hungry after all of that, they even throw in a free roll with the soup. Yes, it’s $10, which is a little much to pay for such a simple childhood throwback meal, and Pret isn’t usually our cup of tea. But the $5.99 price tag for the sandwich is still below that of a comparable sandwich from Melt Shop or Gorilla Cheese, and it’s tasty to boot. So if you’re feeling a little nostalgic I would say this is worth a try, and there’s enough veggie goodness in here that you might even be able to trick yourself into thinking it’s a healthy meal!
Pret a Manger, Multiple Locations
Posted by Anna at 11:45 am, February 16th, 2012 under Pret a Manger.
11 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
11 Comments
-
-
I do love pret even though they are $$$. I usually get coffee from there. I think I feel better about the price because I buy into their whole philosophy of fresh food.
This sounds amazing and I will have to try it!
-
A bit off topic, but I get coffee there, too, which I like better than SB (the only nearby palatable option).
-
-
its funny that “what you get vs. what you pay” was brought up because that kind of echoes buying, say, organic vs. not organic. pret prides itself on using fresh ingredients and making everything day of, etc. and you would assume thats why their prices are as they are, right?
-
The soup and sandwich look good.
That being said, organic or not, I’d still feel downright dirty for paying 10 bucks for grilled cheese and tomato soup.
-
thats a fair assessment and the same conclusion i came to when i walked by the gorilla grilled cheese truck not too long ago.
not to get into a whole discussion about the “organic” label, i just think it’s interesting that when we’ve been told that something is somewhat better for us, the environment, etc., it still comes down to “how much is it?” -
I felt sodomized after buying a 9 dollar “muffalletta gril cheese” from the morris truck….Any grill cheese that they charge more than 4 bucks for is a load of horseSh*t….Those trucks prey on sheeple, not anyone with good sense. I temporarily lost my good sense last week, and am still furious with myself for it.
-
Six bucks for a decently-sized grilled cheese with other stuff in it is a downright steal, comparably. Which makes me sad.
-
-
“Organic” is a nebulous term at best. You are buying premium priced food items prepared in a truck with no bathroom, in the middle of a polluted urban center. I think If I am willing to overlook those two elements, you should meet me halfway.
-
Hooray, 51st and Park is going to be another Pret in Midtown. How lucky.
-
Sucks to be you?
-
I usually abhor Pret at lunch because I think it’s a rip-off in terms of what you get vs. what you pay, but this combo is making my stomach growl. And knowing in advance the cost, well one day I’m going to break down and do this because it’ll be satisfying. I’ll just probably be hungry 2 hours later.