Back to school dinners..

We’ve all had that time when our stomach starts rumbling between lectures and that short walk back to halls of residence to get some food seems just that little bit too far. Not to mention the fact that once you get back you still have to prepare the food. When you really just can’t be bothered your next best choice for a quick and easy hot meal would be a visit to the SU Canteen.

Over the course of the week the canteen has 22 different dishes available, with 1 different meat, fish, vegetarian and pasta dish everyday. However on a Tuesday and Thursday there is a special ‘Budget Buster’ meal available, but I do find myself wondering how budget busting this deal is with it being just 10p cheaper than a regular meal. This means that in comparison to the regular dishes you would have to spend £26 to save just £1 with a ‘budget buster’. Being a student every penny saved does help but this really doesn’t seem like a worthwhile deal for students.
The dishes are quite varied ranging from ‘pan seared salmon steak’  to the standard ‘cheeseburger and chips’ so im sure over the course of the week there will be something that will appeal to everyone.

Ignoring the ‘budget buster’ deal, the food in the canteen seems quite reasonably priced with a standalone meal setting you back £2.60, it won’t break the bank. For those of your with a larger appetite you may be interested in the £3.20 deal which includes 1 side or the £3.40 deal which includes 2 sides. Basically, if you go with £4 you should be able to go away very full and still have a bit of change in your pocket. I do think that the food is quite reasonably priced and the quality of the food is as you would expect for a student canteen, it’s no 5 star Michelin restaurant but it will leave you feeling like you got your moneys worth.

Mike Smith

Hangover Cures

Headache? Feeling weak? Feeling sick? Feeling…dead?!  If you answered yes to all of those, the chances are that you, like many other students today, are suffering from a hangover. Other than taking a few paracetamol, drinking lots of water and curling up back in bed there are a few more things you can do to help yourself get back on top form.
Firstly drink Orange juice and eat some fresh fruit such as Strawberries, Oranges or Melon as these all contain alot of Vitamin C, this will increase the rate at which the alcohol is broken down in your body.
Eat some soup, not only will this be easy on the stomach and very easy to cook but it will help your body to replace lost salts and potassium. Another good way of boosting your potassium levels is to eat a banana. Bananas are a type of ‘hangover superfood’, they are proven to help settle your s

tomach and so will help with nausea. Eating a banana can also reduce your blood pressure as they a

re high in magnesium, so this will help with easing that pounding headache.
We’ve all heard that a fry up will cure any level of hangover, well scientists have actually found that the best way to cure a hangover is to eat a bacon sandwich! Firstly, eating anything on a hangover is a good idea, it won’t ‘soak up’ the alcohol but it does help speed up your metabolism whic

h will make you feel heaps better and it will also boost your energy levels making you a bit more active.
But what makes the bacon sandwich so special? Researchers have found that having a heavy binge on alcohol reduces the amount of neurotransmitters in your brain, but bacon contains a high level of amino acids which tops these up, giving you a clearer head.
Next time you wake up after a night out and feel like the grim reaper try one

of these ‘cures’ and hopefully you will feel just that little bit better.

Mike Smith

Fast food treat

Being students, on some days cooking a meal can seem like a lot of time, effort and money. Especially when we have had a heavy night the day before or we are bogged down with lots of essays, so getting a quick cheap takeaway can often seem like a very appealing treat!
A fast food shop which I would recommend is Kenton Kebab House . Located no more than a five minute walk away from my Westminster University halls, it is very quick and convenient to get to.
On first impressions it is as you would a kebab shop to be, however if you walk through the white panelled door at the back you can sit down and eat. Not only this but there is a fully stocked bar with reasonable prices, now what student wouldn’t find that appealing?
Like the bar, the food is also reasonably priced. I’ve paid less for kebabs, burgers, etc elsewhere but the quality of the meat at Kenton Kebab does seem of a higher standard than some of the cheap dodgy burger vans I have visited. My personal favourite is the £3.10 chicken burger, it is not your usual reformed chicken with a breadcrumb coating, this is a whole succulent chicken breast, so you are comforted that what you are about to eat is 100% chicken.
It’s not just burgers and kebabs that you can buy, there is also a selection of Jacket Potatoes, Pies, Desserts, aswell as a wide choice of around 15 pizzas ranging in size from 9” to 15”.

Without trying to sound cliché, there really is something for everyone.
The negative points about Kenton Kebab is that for a ‘fast food restaurant’ it is not particularly fast. I have found that it is not uncommon to find yourself waiting over 5 minutes to get your food, whilst this could be seen as a good point as the food is not lying around and instead is being cooked on request, when you are hungry 5 minutes in a takeaway shop can feel like a lifetime.
They also deliver but again in my experience this service can take a little while (around 45minutes.)
Whilst this isn’t the healthiest of options there is nothing wrong with treating yourself every now and again  after a rough day of lectures!

Mike Smith