Pembroke College (Cambridge) Students and Applicants

How exactly do things work with other colleges and eating? Are students allowed freely into other colleges to dine, or do they have to be accompanied by a student at that college? If they're allowed in freely, how popular is Pembroke? Do many students tend to forgo the (presumably cheaper due to college discounts) food at their own college to dine in Pembroke?

...current Pembroke Food & Bar officer...

If you've got any more food-related questions, I'm here to help!

As the current Pembroke Food & Bar officer, I was going to answer your questions, but I think most have been covered very well! Just wanted to cover these 2 in a bit of extra detail.

Regarding the website, don't take the menus up over the summer as standard term-time menus. In term time there are always 2 'street food' options, which are things packaged in such as way that you can easily take them away instead of eating them in hall. These are almost always £3. There are also 3 other hot options, which are listed in the price list as 'Meat', and there are 2 sets of prices depending on what the meat in the main is.

People from other colleges are allowed to eat in Pembroke, and they can pay by cash, or be paid for on your swipe card if they're coming in with you. Rules on swipe discount is that you can pay for one friend on your swipe card and get them the discount - more than 1, and a £1 extra charge will be added per extra person, as the discount is really meant for Pembroke students only.

If you've got any more food-related questions, I'm here to help!

Awesome, thanks! Just one other question - is there anything you can tell me about this elusive Emperor's Pizza (Such as what's on it, what size it is, and so on)? I can find nothing about it other than the name and price.

It's also worth saying (because she's too modest to say so herself!) that Sockpirate's really good at getting students' feedback and working with the Catering Manager to see how Pembroke's catering can be improved. She's probably got a better idea of what's been changed than I have, but there have been discussions (all co-ordinated via Pembroke Facebook group) concerning things like portion size and suppliers.

Awesome, thanks! Just one other question - is there anything you can tell me about this elusive Emperor's Pizza (Such as what's on it, what size it is, and so on)? I can find nothing about it other than the name and price.

Thank you all, that was helpful.

Idk anything about Emperor's, but here is a pro tip regarding pizza: the best quality/size/price relation prize goes to the ASDA's choose-yourself pizza. It's HUGE, I'm a big guy and would never-ever be able to take in whole in just one go; half of it stands for a decent lunch. It's just 3 or 3.50, and you can choose up to four ingredients and they are really generous with those.

Yeah, but seeing as the nearest ASDA to Pembroke is a half-an-hour walk away (no-one EVER goes to ASDA), that's not much help!

Hey, I used to go to Asda! It's not that far overall, and there are more useful shops there too (Sports Direct, B&M etc.).

If you think that's far, you should try going to the massive Sainsbury's over the bridge. That's a 45 minute walk.

You mean the Tescos? I know some rowers who go there a lot, because it's close to the boathouses. I personally stuck to either mini-waitrose by the Grafton on the way back from rowing, or Sainsburys in town. (Also, what's B&M? )

No, I know where the Tesco is ("opposite" Asda). If you head down Newmarket Road and turn right onto Coldhams Lane, you get to the roundabout near the Beehive Centre. Go over the bridge (with Homebase and stuff on your left and Asda/T K Maxx on your right), go pretty much straight for another 20 minutes to the huge roundabout and you can't miss it. I could dig out the postcode if you were bothered.

B&M is amazing - you have to go! It's like an upmarket "pound shop" where you get better quality stuff but still at low prices. Downstairs they have food, toiletries (think Superdrug-style) etc., and upstairs there's some great homeware stuff. Not sure if you saw me at the May Ball, but my bow tie was home made from two pillowcases I got there (about £3 for a pack! ).

I have to say, I've never been to that part of town! I'm notoriously terrible for never going anywhere other than where my day-to-day life takes me! My movements are generally restricted to be between Pembroke, the boat house, and sainsburys in the centre ha! I may well have to take a trip to this B&M - sounds awesome! I love cheap pound-store-like places

Yeah, but seeing as the nearest ASDA to Pembroke is a half-an-hour walk away (no-one EVER goes to ASDA), that's not much help!

So it's at most 10 minutes away on the bike and what I used to do was to buy a fair bunch of those marvelous pizzas and eat them all day long. If you have something else for breakfast the pizza is enough for a lunch and a dinner, hence you can get by 4 quid a day for food. AND you're having pizza every day. This strategy has not weak points, has it?

BTW, what about Lidl? Is there one anywhere close? Over the time I spent in the UK I managed to create a little list of where to get what to minimise expenditures, and Lidl is kinda major thing in my plan

There's an Aldi up near Castle Hill. Head up the hill until you get to a hand car wash (with Lucy Cavendish/St Ed's roughly off to your left), then turn right at the roundabout. Head straight down that road past a pub with "Grapes" in the name and an Indian takeaway and stuff and the Aldi is on your left near the Esso garage. It's only a 30 minute walk from Pembroke so you shouldn't miss it!

I think I looked into Lidl but there wasn't one close, and the Aldi should do the job.

So it's at most 10 minutes away on the bike and what I used to do was to buy a fair bunch of those marvelous pizzas and eat them all day long. If you have something else for breakfast the pizza is enough for a lunch and a dinner, hence you can get by 4 quid a day for food. AND you're having pizza every day. This strategy has not weak points, has it?

BTW, what about Lidl? Is there one anywhere close? Over the time I spent in the UK I managed to create a little list of where to get what to minimise expenditures, and Lidl is kinda major thing in my plan

Just a warning - there's no way to cook a pizza in the gyp rooms bar a microwave, which is far too small for all but the tiniest. Sainsburys is great because they cook it for you and it's still hot when you get back, but I'm not sure if either of those is true at Asda. Either way, VVF went to Asda once and was never the same again


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Just a warning - there's no way to cook a pizza in the gyp rooms bar a microwave, which is far too small for all but the tiniest. Sainsburys is great because they cook it for you and it's still hot when you get back, but I'm not sure if either of those is true at Asda. Either way, VVF went to Asda once and was never the same again

Are you referring specifically to Foundress? Because there are ovens in some college accommodation. The kitchen I had in Lensfield for 2 years had a mini-oven thing that was great for pizzas.

BTW, VVF?