Prune Organic Deli & Workshop – healthy takeaway breakfasts and lunches in Sai Ying Pun

If you live in the Sai Ying Pun area and are in need of a great takeaway breakfast or lunch – or are willing to make a mini detour from your usual Soho or Sheung Wan haunts in the quest for good grub – then I have a new go-to spot for you: Prune Organic Deli & Workshop.

Located right next to its sister restaurant Grassroots Pantry and helmed by the same chef extraordinaire (and former That Girl) Peggy Chan, Prune is the ideal place to enjoy a quick bite inside its charmingly cosy space, or simply stop by, grab and go! Chuck away that Starbucks’ muffin or PCC sandwich, folks; with a menu boasting an array of wholesome and hearty vegan, vegetarian, raw and gluten-free dishes with an emphasis on fresh, local, organic produce, this is one meal you certainly don’t have to feel guilty about.

With a communal table, some bar seating and a small counter proudly displaying their freshly-made salads, sandwiches and desserts, Prune is a venue that’s definitely more of the “small-but-perfectly-formed” variety. Nevertheless, with cute touches like a blackboard telling you what veggies are in-season and rabbit-shaped salt n’ pepper shakers, it’s kept every bit of Grassroots’ homespun, heart-warming charm. The space can also double up as small dining room for private parties, or a workspace for cooking demos and workshops (currently, Prune does not open for dinner though).

The food itself is simple but bursts with flavour. I can see the salad medley being a popular lunchtime choice; whenever I eat salad, I always think of our food blogger Ale crying “rabbit food” but thankfully, Prune’s combinations were interesting, unusual and dressed in style. For a change from your usual sad-looking Caesar, try the Thai cabbage slaw with spicy cashew kaffir dressing or the curly kale salad with dried apricots, sprouts and toasted almonds with lemon garlic olive oil.

Many of Prune’s items change daily, including their sandwiches; I tried the seared curry tofu with avocado. It was nice to be served ripe avocados for a change in Hong Kong, but the shining star here was Gregoire Michaud’s Bread Elements’ multi-grain toast, which was to die for!

In fact, I ended up saving my bread to mop up the “Bowl Of Goodness”… and what a perfect name for a dish that was! A vegetarian Moroccan tagine and quinoa with an appetisingly moreish blend of spices and hearty veggies, this would be just the thing to warm your cockles on a winter’s day.

There is also a huge raft of homemade desserts to pick from… come on, even healthy meals need a small touch of sin, right?! I’ll admit that I often find vegan, raw and gluten-free desserts to be pale imitations of the real thing and although they looked the part, I felt that the texture of Prune’s double chocolate chip cookies and Mexican chocolate torte with raw chocolate glaze were a little odd. Much better was the gloriously moist courgette choco loaf, the indulgently gooey salted caramel pralines and the fruity raw tropical snowball truffles.

Prices at Prune are pretty decent too given their quality provenance – most of the breakfast and lunch items cost between $50-90, and they’re so packed with superfoods that they’re likely to keep you fuelled with energy for hours. With a whole range of in-house juices and smoothies also available, plus other goodies from Bread Elements, Stephen James Organics, Happy Cow vegan ice-cream, Choice Cooperative gluten-free items and of course, Grassroots Pantry’s in-house line of preserves and other products to takeaway, Prune should have you more than sorted for breakfast, lunch and beyond!

Prune Organic Deli & Workshop  Prune Organic Deli & Workshop, 14 Fuk Sau Lane, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong
2873 3353  www.facebook.com/…