As a student, spare money is something of a premium, that tends to get blown on Xbox games and alcohol. But there is another way to spend money that not many students indulge in, despite it being an always enjoyable experience.
That’s going out for a meal. It’s rare, unless the place was atrocious, to see people exiting a restaurant without a smile on their face. They go in, they order what they want to eat, they eat it, of course it’s going to be nicer than food cooked themselves (unless they happen to be a professional chef), and everyone leaves happy.
However, when people leave a review for a restaurant, they will often comment on the price. When you’re eating, you don’t worry about the cost, just the quality. But in hindsight, when you get home and you glance again at the receipt, you realise you just spent £20 to have tea. That’s what puts students off. It’s not the food quality, its knowing that they’ll need to save up if they wish to go again.
This is where I propose a new solution. Sainsbury’s Café. Of course it isn’t glamourous, that’s not the point. If you want to spend a week’s wages on a tiny plate of food in a room with “ambience”, then by all means go ahead. But if you want to eat nice food, without the regret, your common old garden supermarket café is the place to go. I’d recommend Sainsbury’s Colchester Avenue.
I’m a fan of restaurants, in particular places like Nandos, and if I had the money I would visit places like this all the time. But in the real world, I don’t, and not many people do. As the menu shows, popular meals such as an all-day breakfast are only £5, so you can fill your boots without breaking the bank. And it’s not like the meals are cobbled together, they’re cooked to order and tend to be served with a coffee too. A full meal costs much less than a tenner, and there’s no doubt that if you go to eat in St Davids, you’re spending a tenner on the starter alone.
All in all, we all could do with changing our eating habits, and we should all start with ditching the big restaurants, in favour of Sainsbury’s.
Rating: 5 stars