Lincoln is flooded with lots of wonderful places to eat out as well as plenty of places to buy ingredients to do your own cooking. Here’s our food guide to help you get started.
Eat out
Plenty of students rush out to lectures, seminars or workshops early in the morning without remembering to eat. Thankfully Café Shanti – a five-minute walk from campus – serves some of the best waffles you’ll find outside of Bruges. Breakfast is served until 11:45am, and lunches and desserts are also available.
For students looking for a cheap bite to eat at lunchtime, I can’t think of a better spot than Bar Unico, and it isn’t your average anglicised Italian chains. Instead of pepperoni, try the spicy salami, which is basically the same but less greasy. A full pizza will set you back less than £3 because of the 50% off you can get by showing them your student ID card – cheap and cheerful!
If you and a friend happen to be going to the cinema, why not treat yourself to Handmade Burger Co? Their fantastic range of burgers are usually out of the student budget, however if you show them your cinema tickets, you can get a second burger for just an extra £1.
Prezzo – another restaurant on the waterfront – also does a number of good deals, like 2-for-1 main courses or 40% off. If you’re savvy with what you order you could eat out for two for under a tenner! Best saved for special occasions, but for my money it’s arguably the best Italian outside of the Cathedral Quarter.
Takeaway
You’ve been at uni all day, you’ve been finishing coursework all evening and you just feel like treating yourself, but don’t quite have enough money to go out. The solution? A takeaway! If you’re in the mood for a Chinese, the best one has to be Phoenix Chinese Restaurant & Takeaway. However, at around £7-9 for a main, it can be a little pricey, so try Legal Food. Most meals are just over a fiver, including the Szechuan dishes, and you could even make rice whilst it’s delivered to save some more pennies.
If not Chinese, then how about Mexican? Cactus offers a variety of burritos, fajitas and chimichangas all under £8. Waiting times aren’t the shortest but in the meantime you can ponder who in their right mind would order a prawn taco (only £7.70). Truly a mystery.
How about trying out the new Deliveroo service which begun in Lincoln last week?
Buy food
For some of the best meat in the city – if not the whole of Lincolnshire – visit Fosters Butchers on Monks Road. The historic butcher and bakery shop has been open since the late 19th century, impressing generations of customers with their high-quality cuts of meat. Deals are regularly brought out, with prices for rump steaks and Lincolnshire pork sausages often being slashed by more than 20%. A low fat range has recently been introduced. It might be a bit of a trek to get there but it’s certainly worth it.
If you’re shopping for bread and other fresh food, then head to Lidl. Many rolls, loaves and baguettes are under 25p, and the fruit and veg taste great and are usually even cheaper than at the bigger supermarkets. The alcohol is also significantly cheaper here due to a lack of popular brands.
Finally there’s the Morning Sun Supermarket – a Chinese shop next to Subway on the High Street. This little gem is unlike pretty much anything else I’ve seen in Lincoln and is great if you’re bored of your usual meals and want to try something new. Grab a bottle of Aloe Vera juice for just a pound and you’ll never look back.