Tasty Tuesday: Pret A Manger Chocolate Chip Cookie

Famous chocolate chip cookie from Pret-A-Manger

Doesn't that look sinfully delicious?  But first, some housekeeping.

From the messages I keep getting from everyone, it's clear that a lot of people have not caught onto the new posting schedule yet!  So to explain it once and for all, on Sundays I post essays about all kinds of things and issues that matter to me, on Tuesdays I post about food, and on Thursdays I post about beauty products, although so far I've focused only on nail polish.  And then occasionally there will be a non-scheduled post here or there.

Back to that beautiful chocolate chip cookie.  Now that I'm
sort of trying to be healthy, I'm cutting back on things like this, which is a good thing, essentially, but I've gotta tell you: on really, insanely, awfully craptastic days, like yesterday, one of these would go a long way towards soothing my soul.  Is there anything more satisfying and heartwarming than a quality chocolate chip cookie?  No there isn't, and if you say otherwise, I won't believe you.


However, thankfully, I wasn't sort of trying to be healthy on my recent trip to New York (such plans tend to get put on hold when I'm on vacay), so after consulting Serious Eat New York's Best Chocolate Cookie list, I happily made my way to a Pret-A-Manger, a UK-based "healthy" quickie food chain that can be found everywhere. 

Their corporate site makes them look really appealing - apparently, they give away unsold sandwiches to charities for the homeless (instead of selling them the next day) and all of their head office people have served at least two days at a store, making sandwiches and serving customers, so that they understand the business from the front lines.

Since there are lots of Pret-A-Manger stores in Manhattan, I went to the one on 42nd & 5th, right by Bryant Park.  I was really in need of a break then, so I was really happy to settle down in their air-conditioned restauraunt.  I ordered some kind of a fruit tea - raspberry green tea, I think - and I was very happy to taste that it didn't contain sugar, but wasn't sour at all.  It was really refreshing for a hot summer day.

Then their cookie - well, it was quite good.  It was quite expensive for a single cookie - I think it was about $2 USD - but the quality was solid.  Tender on the inside, crisp on the edges, good semi-sweet threaded throughout...yum!  Also, to my delight, it was the only place I've ever been to that kept their cookies and other pastries in a heated cabinet, which ensured that the chocolate was slightly melted, in a rich and velvety way.  Also, in our maybe 20 minute rest in their restaurant, I saw them pulling out small batches of fresh pastries about twice, so that was nice!  Fresh pastries are far superior.

Only thing is, I kind of prefer my cookies to be more buttery.  And actually the center was a bit raw for my liking.  But overall, it was very nice and an excellent respite for our sore-from-pounding-5th-Avenue-pavement feet.

For all of their locations, please visit their website or Google Maps.