Food at Cambridge.

I had a meal one lunchtime at Trinity. I had a lovely veggie option (baked potato with quorn chilli) and although I didn't have one, the desserts looked lovely! I'm not sure how expensive it was though as the college used cashless catering and my friend paid for it :tongue:

Reply 45

gethsemane342

11

Original post by kpatb

I did find the food quite rich - I don't think I'd be able to eat it every day. Hahah, what DO they do to the carrots? I'm not used to posh dinners - My family and I follow a very simple and improvised attitude to cooking, so my standards probably aren't comparable to Michelin star restaurateurs :P
I think I would rather I had some food readily available than having to cook 0 :smile:

Ha ha, you'll find out next year. But, basically, you can tell what they've done (sort of) depending on the shape:

Stick-shaped = undercooked (occasionally feels raw...)
Baton-shaped = overboiled.
Circle-shaped = cooked fine but tastes oddly of oranges (this is the one which really confuses us. Not that oranges are bad, it's just bizarre to taste them when you eat carrots :tongue:

)

To be honest, i think some of us just complain for the fun of it. I've never had a dish which i couldn't eat (unless i was ill already/ it was a sandwich which do tend to be horrible) although i know some of my friends will occasionally not be able to face the prospect. And i do know someone who is now adding copious amounts of ketchup to every meal... I think it does depend a lot on what you're used to and if you're a picky eater (I'm not). And they actually cater very well to people with allergies.

Some people do cook for themselves but a lot of people just find that too time-consuming. Also, going to hall is a good way to catch up with friends if you're especially stressed and don't have time to go out...

Reply 46

John's has a Buttery which is canteen-style. 70% of the food is really good, 10% makes you say "who thought to put that with that?!" (chicken meatballs with sour cherries and pine nuts being a prime example), and the other 20% is stupidly pretentious vegetarian food. There was a dish where the only word in it that I understood was avocado...

But yeah, on the whole you can find something every night, but some nights you might resort to soup or jacket potato.

We have formal hall every night except Saturday, which is handy if you have friends from home or family visiting. The menus can either be three courses of amazingness, or a bit meh. But if you have it without wine, it's only £4.85 for three courses, which is really not bad at all! Other colleges charge upwards of £10 not including wine!

Reply 47

Original post by SoapyDish

John's has a Buttery which is canteen-style. 70% of the food is really good, 10% makes you say "who thought to put that with that?!" (chicken meatballs with sour cherries and pine nuts being a prime example), and the other 20% is stupidly pretentious vegetarian food. There was a dish where the only word in it that I understood was avocado...

But yeah, on the whole you can find something every night, but some nights you might resort to soup or jacket potato.

We have formal hall every night except Saturday, which is handy if you have friends from home or family visiting. The menus can either be three courses of amazingness, or a bit meh. But if you have it without wine, it's only £4.85 for three courses, which is really not bad at all! Other colleges charge upwards of £10 not including wine!

Does the veggie food look edible/ is there a lot of fish? What are the portions like, I can't be living on posh food that's barely there, you know when you go out for tea somewhere nice and afterwards you could still eat fish and chips? Thanks :biggrin:

Reply 48

hslt

im a fan of corpus food. though you get bad days like everywhere!

and its very central (like a lot of colleges) meaning plenty of nearby places to eat

Reply 49

Original post by Smelly Ellie

Does the veggie food look edible/ is there a lot of fish? What are the portions like, I can't be living on posh food that's barely there, you know when you go out for tea somewhere nice and afterwards you could still eat fish and chips? Thanks :biggrin:

The portions are huge, so that's not something to worry about. Although the rugby boys can often be spotted asking for double helpings of everything, but they don't count :p:

I'm always full after a meal there :smile:

If you go on here, it's got the menus for the rest of the week. Today the veggie lunch is vegetable and cheese lasagne, and dinner is "Swiss chard, chickpea and tamarind stew"...They put a lot of chickpeas in stuff. And bok choi - so many vegetarians are sick of bok choi! There's fish quite often - I think we have some "brain food" accreditation that means we serve oily fish at least 3 times a week, and then Friday always has battered fish and chips :biggrin:

Reply 50

Original post by SoapyDish

The portions are huge, so that's not something to worry about. Although the rugby boys can often be spotted asking for double helpings of everything, but they don't count :p:

I'm always full after a meal there :smile:

If you go on here, it's got the menus for the rest of the week. Today the veggie lunch is vegetable and cheese lasagne, and dinner is "Swiss chard, chickpea and tamarind stew"...They put a lot of chickpeas in stuff. And bok choi - so many vegetarians are sick of bok choi! There's fish quite often - I think we have some "brain food" accreditation that means we serve oily fish at least 3 times a week, and then Friday always has battered fish and chips :biggrin:

I might be joining the rugby boys if I come, northerners are pretty greedy and cheeky :smile:

Oh wow thanks, looks amazing!! That's cool, I like chickpeas, and I'm one of those cheating veggies so I love fish mmmm! And obviously fish and chips is a sure winner! Thank you very much! Can you get breakfast and lunch too, and do you get a kitchen? Sorry to bug you. Thanks for your help so far :biggrin:

Edit: looked at the menus, breakfast and lunch are there :smile:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 51

Original post by Smelly Ellie

I might be joining the rugby boys if I come, northerners are pretty greedy and cheeky :smile:

Oh wow thanks, looks amazing!! That's cool, I like chickpeas, and I'm one of those cheating veggies so I love fish mmmm! And obviously fish and chips is a sure winner! Thank you very much! Can you get breakfast and lunch too, and do you get a kitchen? Sorry to bug you. Thanks for your help so far :biggrin:

Yeah there's lunch and dinner every day, and breakfast every day except Sunday. And possibly Saturday, I'm not sure. But Saturday lunch is always "all-day breakfast" which means FRY UP :biggrin:

The veggie option for that is actually really nice, they do this thing that's a cross between a veggie burger and an undercooked hash brown...sounds worse than it is :p:

Everyone has access to a kitchen, which will have at the very least a hob and a fridge. Most people bring their own microwave/toaster/kettle. Also if you miss Buttery o'clock, you can get toasties and hot Yorkshire pudding wraps and pitta bread and pancakes and waffles from the bar :coma:

Reply 52

Original post by SoapyDish

Yeah there's lunch and dinner every day, and breakfast every day except Sunday. And possibly Saturday, I'm not sure. But Saturday lunch is always "all-day breakfast" which means FRY UP :biggrin:

The veggie option for that is actually really nice, they do this thing that's a cross between a veggie burger and an undercooked hash brown...sounds worse than it is :p:

Everyone has access to a kitchen, which will have at the very least a hob and a fridge. Most people bring their own microwave/toaster/kettle. Also if you miss Buttery o'clock, you can get toasties and hot Yorkshire pudding wraps and pitta bread and pancakes and waffles from the bar :coma:

I want to be there right now :smile:

Sounds amazing. I will definitely be bringing a kettle, can't live without a cuppa! The hash brown thing sounds pretty dodgy though :tongue:

mmmm I'm hungry now!

ps what's a hot Yorkshire pudding wrap? :confused:

hahahaha

Reply 53

Original post by Smelly Ellie

I want to be there right now :smile:

Sounds amazing. I will definitely be bringing a kettle, can't live without a cuppa! The hash brown thing sounds pretty dodgy though :tongue:

mmmm I'm hungry now!

ps what's a hot Yorkshire pudding wrap? :confused:

hahahaha

It's literally a big Yorkshire pudding, wrapped around sausages or roast beef or roast turkey, rolled up with some sort of sauce, heated in a microwave and enjoyed by all involved.

Reply 54

Original post by SoapyDish

It's literally a big Yorkshire pudding, wrapped around sausages or roast beef or roast turkey, rolled up with some sort of sauce, heated in a microwave and enjoyed by all involved.

Wow, a toad in the hole to go :smile:

I thought it was a typo heehee! Sounds mint, but I doubt it will be good as my mum's Yorkshires!

Reply 55

mundanemeddling

OP

3

Original post by ultramarine

Yup, no food every Tuesday and every other Friday due to formal halls. Technically you can go to another college for dinner, but I'm not sure how many people actually do that. I tend to cook myself anyway so dunno what the others do really :tongue:

You CAN?! Won't the people there stare at you as if you're some kind of mutation? :P Since they've never seen you before and suddenly you're sitting down at the same table to eat with them...

Original post by SoapyDish

It's literally a big Yorkshire pudding, wrapped around sausages or roast beef or roast turkey, rolled up with some sort of sauce, heated in a microwave and enjoyed by all involved.

God that sounds absolutely heavenly... :flip:

Reply 56

IQ Test

17

Is self catering simply not an option, then? If so, that sucks.

Reply 57

Original post by IQ Test

Is self catering simply not an option, then? If so, that sucks.

You can definitely self-cater. I cook most of my meals at home, I've only been to the Buttery four or five times this term.

Reply 58

mundanemeddling

OP

3

Is Downing convenient for self-catering? Is it near to any supermarkets?

Reply 59