Chicken Rice Bowl from Itsu

I have heard all of the sterotypes about London: bland food, gloomy weather,  and extremely expensive. But being a born and bred New Yorker I know there is much more to a place than its stereotypes. So far I am most impressed with the amount of healthy lunch options in London compared to NYC. There is a Pret on just about every corner, somehow I missed the fact that Pret started out in London. For those of you that don’t know: Pret makes ” proper sandwiches avoiding the obscure chemicals, additives and preservatives common to so much of the ‘prepared’ and ‘fast’ food on the market today.” They also have salads, soup, and other yummy options and list calories on all of their food. While I am not a fan of calorie counting I do think it is useful and important for people to have a sense of how many calories they are consuming. Other than Pret,which most of us New Yorkers are familair with, I stumbled upon Itsu which seemed similar to the Pret Model but serves Thai food, salads, and sushi. The Itsu Motto is Health and Happiness and you can find where they source their ingredients from directly on their website. Like Pret, they also list calories for all items served. Both options are reasonably priced and pretty darn tasty. I wasn’t too surprised to find out that the ladies behind Pret are also behind Itsu. Well ladies, I think it is about time that you bring this delicious chain to the U.S of A. I would surely eat there quite often. So while the brits get a bad name for their bland food, I am pleasantly surprised that there are some tasty and healthy options to choose from.