Cambridge Eating

When most people think about Cambridge, they think Cambridge University. It's a beautiful town (check out the gondolas in the picture above!), and although it is very much a student town, the offerings in food here ain't half bad either! There's plenty of very interesting and novel shops and restaurants to check out. Here's my take on cool Cambridge eats.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen

Gourmet Burger Kitchen
43-45 Regent Street City Centre
Cambridge CB2 1AB

Telephone: 01223 312598

Think Handburger, then add a dose of the most delicious beef you could imagine on a patty. Although I only had a cheeseburger, I assure you that this was anything but an ordinary cheeseburger - the beef was nicely grilled with only the tiniest bit of crispy on the outside! The skinny fries were really, really skinny, although you can't really see it properly in the picture above... But they were only about 0.5cm across the width of them! Them being skinny, though, they were also very crispy and not overly or underly salted. Love this place!

Hardy's Original Sweet Shop

Hardy's Original Sweet Shop
17 St John's Street
Cambridge CB2 1TW

Absolute candy heaven! A bit Willa Wonka-esque, but sells everything you can possibly imagine. Toffee apples, liquorice, Wonka Nerds, lollipops, chocolate... All the candy you could possibly think of! If only for the novelty of being in the Muggle equivalent of Honeydukes more than anything, this is definitely a shop to check out.

Hotel Chocolat

Hotel Chocolat
3 Petty Cury
Cambridge CB2 3NE

Telephone: 01223 367082

This looks like an edible mix of a laboratory, a make-up counter, and Lush. I love how the chocolate (in what looks like hundreds of different flavours!) is displayed nicely on the shelves. There's even chocolate that comes packaged with an envelope and a gift card! I tried the sea salt praline chocolates, and they are delicious. Cool shop!

Jamie's Italian

Jamie's Italian
The Old Library
Wheeler Street
Cambridge CB2 3QJ

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver owns a chain of affordable Italian restaurants all over the UK, from York to Edinburgh, Cambridge to Nottingham, and several other locations besides. I'm not usually a huge fan of Jamie Oliver, but who am I to pass up an opportunity to eat at a celebrity chef's restaurant eh? ;)







Housed in an old library, Jamie's Italian Cambridge has a stunning interior, with a beautiful high domed ceiling. It manages to effectively blend old-world posh and modern design, creating a restaurant that is stylish without being intimidating.

The prices on the menu aren't half bad either - with meals averaging from £7 to £15, it's definitely an affordable eating place! (And thank goodness, too - I was fearing £30 antipastis ha ha)

There's calamari, and then there's Jamie's Italian crispy squid. Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, the crispy squid is definitely a dish to take note of! The garlic mayonnaise complemented the squid without overwhelming the taste of the squid, as most mayonnaises tend to do. Delicious and must try!



As much as I wanted to love it, I can't say that the tagliatelle bolognese was as brilliant as I'd imagined it to be. Mom ordered it, but it was a bit disappointingly ordinary, and the texture seemed to remind my dad of mee pok... :x



There's a first time for everything, and this being the first time I've ever had rabbit, it's surprisingly delicious. Rabbit tastes a bit like chicken with the texture of pork! The wild rabbit tagliolini was very good, although I felt the pasta was slightly overcooked and stuck together too much in the bowl. Still, no complaints about the taste!

Unfortunately I didn't manage to take pictures of the black angel spaghetti (dad started eating before I could take any photos omg!!! Hungry dad) but it was very good, scallops and some other seafood. I only had one bite out of my dad's bowl but it was awesome ;)



The mango, passion fruit, and apple sorbets were good, as is to be expected from a sorbet. I guess sorbet is sorbet anywhere you go, right? You can't go wrong with a passion fruit sorbet.



This Jamie's Italian warm brownie was great! Not overly sweet, with the chocolate just nice without leaving you feeling gelat (that's the only word I can think of to describe it!). The brownie wasn't heavy, which was nice, and the chocolate, raspberry and amaretto sauce on the top with the vanilla ice cream complemented the brownie very well indeed.

That's it for me eating my way through Cambridge... Who would've thought food would be so interesting here? I just hope I can still fit into my jeans after all this!

Cheryl Keit xx