Food at Cambridge

Can anybody comment on Cambridge's food quality, especially at King's? How does paying for food work? Do you have a certain amount of money you are allowed to spend per day? Or is it more like "all you can eat" per day? :smile:

Reply 1

Jucus

5

I can speak only about Magdalene where the food is quite good (of course personal tastes vary so what I like might be disgusting for others :smile:

) and compared to the "outside world" very very cheap.As far as I understand the system at the beginning of the year you pay the KFC (Kitchen Fixed Charge or something like that n.b.not the fast food company!)and you're given a card.Then everytime you eat you don't pay but give your card and then in the end of the term you have to pay the bill. Some food is covered by your maintenece fee (at least in Magdalene) but of course not all...hope this helps

Reply 2

FadedJade

15

It varies significantly from college from college. Jigglypuff is at Kings, when she comes online she should be able to help you more specifically. But yes there is a fixed charge, whether you eat in hall or not. You can eat a much as you want, but you will have to pay for it all at the end of term!

Reply 3

thefish_uk

14

Hmmm at my college the KFC is bundled in with the rent so to everyone else it looks like we just have extremely high rents. We have to pre-pay (probably because our college is too cheap to want to afford us credit) and wave our university card over a scanner. Of course we could pay by cash but we'd still have to show our ID card to get college member prices, and if you top up by a certain amount at once you get bonus free money so it's worth it!

I know at some colleges like Caius the have a really silly system where you have to buy a certain number of meal tickets in advance just for that term, meaning that if you don't eat in cafeteria you lose out. I think that replaces KFC though.

Also I think that technically if the cafeteria can't at all cater for your needs (eg. kosher or something like that) you may be exempt from KFC but of course would have to pay non-member prices (basically a rip off) if you ever did eat there.

Anyway food quality is very variable too. Especially when you consider formals, and how at most colleges they involve extra-nice food for a higher price. Varsity did a review of formals but it's bull****, they based their rankings on the intellectualness of the conversation had at each one or something like that.

As for King's I really don't know I'm afraid! If you want to know the technicalities (paying etc), go on their website and look for their student handbook.

Reply 4

Jigglypuff

16

Yeah hi, I'm at King's. The amount of money you spend per day is entirely up to you. Monday-Friday breakfast, lunch and dinner are served...and at the weekends brunch and dinner. You have this card called an EPOS card and you put money onto that (cash or directly from your bank) and that saves you having to carry cash around with you all day. The EPOS card can be used in the canteen, in the bar and in the coffee shop. Our KFC (Kitchen Fixed Charge) is OK- around £80 but that means your meals are subsidised and therefore quite cheap for the rest of the term. I generally have my own breakfast and dinner but always go down for lunch or brunch (it's quite cheap- around £2 for a decent meal). Some people never eat in hall, other people eat three times a day. The food's not bad, but can get a bit repetitive at times. We have formal dinners once a week which you don't have to go to, but they're fun. They range between £12-14 (wine not included) and posh food like goat's cheese is served. The food's not to my taste really at formals as I'm a bit fussy, but it's a laugh anyway. Anything more specific you want to know?

Reply 5

Jerby

Anyone know the standard of Christ's food? Varsity was complimentary, but someone there told me it was ****. Please enlighten me.

Reply 6

Ditting Suck

8

Don't trust that Varsity article. It was highly bemusing. The John's review I know to be complete *******s, and people have said similar things to me about other colleges.

Reply 7

Jerby

Ditting Suck

Don't trust that Varsity article. It was highly bemusing. The John's review I know to be complete *******s, and people have said similar things to me about other colleges.

Yeah, I was confused, too. Especially since I had only read some weeks ago in The Telegraph that John's had employed a michelin star chef, so the damning remarks were slightly incongruous with my expectations. I saw their kitchens walking through, and they seemed professional.

Reply 8

Jucus

5

thefish_uk

Hmmm at my college the KFC is bundled in with the rent so to everyone else it looks like we just have extremely high rents. We have to pre-pay (probably because our college is too cheap to want to afford us credit) and wave our university card over a scanner. Of course we could pay by cash but we'd still have to show our ID card to get college member prices, and if you top up by a certain amount at once you get bonus free money so it's worth it!.

Hmm, then I think (or rather hope) that the system at Magdalene is as it is in Robinson because the maintenance fee just seemed extremely high but as far as I understood from the info provided by the homepage it covers some food also :rolleyes:

Reply 9

minimo

15

Christ's formal food was great when I went :smile:

Dunno about regular food though.

Reply 10

spin

2

Queens' food is excellent usually. Particularly the puddings.

There's a good system of 3 main course choices (mix and match your carbohydrate and veg usually) and always a salad bar and jacket potatoes.

Reply 11

thefish_uk

14

spin

Queens' food is excellent usually. Particularly the puddings.

There's a good system of 3 main course choices (mix and match your carbohydrate and veg usually) and always a salad bar and jacket potatoes.

Yup it's pretty much like that here... one thing which went down particularly well was buy one get one free on desserts one week last term!

Something we have which people from other colleges seem to envy is a "make your own baguette" bar, where basically they leave out a load of sliced baguettes, a huge tub of butter, salad and various fillings some of which look suspiciously like last night's dinner options.

I've heard some horrific things about other colleges' catering though.

Reply 12

Phil.Murray

2

Any one know anything about Corpus?

Reply 13

coldfish

12

Corpus has a system like Magdalene's. You grab your food, give the cashier your card, and off you go. You pay for it all on your college bill at the end of term. Incidentally, you can pay in the same way at the bar...

All colleges (apart from Homerton, which is weird) work like this, they're just variations on a theme. At Queens' you can only pay by cash or by writing out a paper 'chit' for credit.

Reply 14

thefish_uk

14

At my college you can't use your card at the bar... well according to our handbook thingy I think we're allowed to use it for anything catering-related except alcoholic drinks, but the bar just dont' accept it at all even if we're getting bar food on a Sunday night.

Reply 15

puppy

Trinity food is hideous, but I eat it anyway. We just pay on our buttery card and then pay the bill for what we've eaten at the end of term. You can't use it in the bar though which is probably a good thing.

Reply 16

The Albatross

12

hmm, best hall food i've had was at Johns, followed by trinity. where i am, at selwyn its pretty rancid

Reply 17

parallelduck

Emmanuel food is usually fine, but there seem to be days when the kitchen just can't be bothered.

Formal food is pretty good though. The puddings are nice (but I hear the puddings at normal hall are good too - I just never eat them.) Formal is about £5 for us, excluding wine.