Three College Lunch

I am one of those people that need a hot meal for lunch, and ideally a bit of sunlight to an fro. One of my goals is to eat at all the colleges in Cambridge, either lunch or dinner. I am slowly making my way through the colleges, and after three years in Cambridge I have Christ, Clare, Emmanuel, Magdalene and Sidney Sussex left on my to do list.

A while back I compiled a list of which colleges you as a University Member could go to and pay cash. If you want to try a new place for lunch then perhaps this list could be of interest. Let me know if I have missed a college that lets you pay cash.

Pembroke College (cash or pre-charged card)
Downing College (cash)
Selwyn College (cash)
Fitzwilliam College (cash)
Churchill College (cash)
Robinson College (cash)
Girton College / Wolfson Court (cash)
Queens’ College (cash)
Murray Edwards College (cash)
St Edmund’s College (lunch coupon from porter’s lodge)
Lucy Cavendish (weekend brunch?)
Homerton College (cash)
Newnham College (cash)
Clare College (cash? – unconfirmed)

Yesterday we did something a bit different: a Three College Lunch. It all started as a joke over lunch a couple of months back but somehow the idea stuck. With me were Ellese Cotterill and Stephen Kissler.

hjorthmedh-three-college-lunch-pre-queens — 12:27 – It was a pretty grey day, but we were on a mission and would not let a bit of water stop us. If you had asked me I probably would have said that yes it was cold, but I would have wanted bigger puddles to play with.

For something like this to work you need to make sure you do not get stuck in any unnecessary queues. I guess it helps that term just ended. We began our lunch with a starter at Queens’ College, which opens their lunch serving at 12:30. Then from there to King’s College for the main course. We rounded off with a nice dessert at Trinity College that closes their lunch at 14:00.

hjorthmedh-three-college-lunch-ellesse-queens — 12:33 – Starter and a bit of bread was really cheap. The soup was delicious, I could make a habit of this. Here just a quick snapshot, since I did not want to hold up the line. Plus I was hungry!

hjorthmedh-three-college-lunch-new-hall-queens — 12:36 – We were early. This might look empty, but there was a set of tables behind me that was full of people. The New Hall might not be as fancy as their Old Hall, but it looked pretty nice. I liked the touch with the logo on the trays.

hjorthmedh-three-college-lunch-ellesse-kings-snapchat — 12:56 – Fast forward to King’s College. Ellese snap chatting her food to her friends.

hjorthmedh-three-college-lunch-johannes-stephen-kings — 12:56 – It is not every day that I end up in a photo, and this time I was in two! This photo was taken by Ellese and the cover photo at the top was taken by Stephen.

hjorthmedh-three-college-lunch-ellesse-stephen-trinity — 13:21 – On to Trinity College for dessert.

hjorthmedh-three-college-lunch-ellesse-trinity-deserts — 13:25 – Crème brûlée, a great way to end our grand lunch.

hjorthmedh-three-college-lunch-ellesse-stephen-trinity-end — 13:42 – Just had to snap one more photo on the way out. I liked how they were silhouetted in the doorway.

Queens’ College, King’s College and Trinity College were a pretty great combination. It felt like we had a sort of Royal Theme to this lunch. To be honest, we could probably have done a fourth college as some of them start serving lunch at 12, which makes me wonder, how many colleges can you eat at in one day?

– Johannes

2 Comments

Silas S. Brown

November 4, 2015

Here’s my list so far: http://people.ds.cam.ac.uk/ssb22/buttery.html
- Silas S. Brown
  
  October 2, 2019
  
  Unfortunately my link had to change; my list is now at http://ssb22.user.srcf.net/buttery.html

Related

2 Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply