18 Days ‘Til Xmas!

Where? Refectory, Woodland Road
When? Tuesday, 12.30
What? Roast Turkey with all the Trimmings, Mince Pie
Bill: £3
Good For: Cheap, cheerful and plenty!
Bad For: Jellified Brandy Sauce

The Refectory: Bringing Christmas Cheer and a Full Belly for £3

I love the Refectory.

It’s difficult writing an unbiased review of an astonishingly cheap student eatery which has saved me from hangover hell on many a morning.

On Tuesday, the infamous fry-up haven was transformed into a Christmas gotto as the chicken pies and pasties were swapped for scrumptious turkey, gorgeous roasties, and lashings and lashings of juicy gravy.

So what was the verdict? Could the Refectory pull off a traditional English Christmas Roast for hundreds of hungry students?

I’ll put an end to the suspense and reveal that, in true Christmas panto style, oohhhh yess they did!

I arrived at 12.30 to try and avoid queuing, and as soon as I walked through the sliding doors a gorgeous waft of meaty gravy filled my nostrils.

All around me I could see seats filled with students chatting joyously over a gigantic plate of glazed carrots, roast turkey, pigs in blankets, and roast potatoes smothered in thick brown gravy.

Over my twenty years on Earth I have consumed many a Christmas lunch, ranging from nice restaurants to my home’s finest. So how did this compare?

I know the question you are all absolutely dying to ask is ‘was the turkey dry’? Rest assured turkey critics, it was not.

It was succulent and as tasty as turkey can be, complete with a generous sized lump of scrummy moist stuffing.

However, I am not going to joke about the roast potatoes. Let’s not kid ourselves, these were not goose fat covered crispies but more like Aunt Bessie’s. However, they were plentiful and tasty none the less!

Unfortunately, the brandy sauce which accompanied the Christmas pudding looked like something you would find in a 1970s Dr Who episode – jellified and possibly alive.

In fact, I managed to balance my mince pie on top of the beige gloop. But at the end of the day, who cares?

Loosing your Refectory Christmas Lunch Virginity
Cartoon: Katie Bend

Throw up a plastic tree and some tinsel and belt out from the speakers ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ and this cheap and cheerful cafe is overcome with festive goodwill.

Christmas may be commercialised beyond belief, and yes the majority perhaps forget that we are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Despite this, no one can dispute the fantastic sense of togetherness and cheer that Christmas brings, usually over a deliciously fattening Christmas Lunch, #imjustsayin!