Day in, day out, the tiny scowling woman behind the counter at Lime Cafe serves up hearty meals for less than £4 to University students and staff, while her sidekicks, the dim blonde girl and the sullen Manc chef all assist her in some kind of wonderful, balletic routine. And the food's not bad either.
If you're on campus, you have a billion options for nosh. You could go to the big bean tin (University Place), or Kro, or risk the sarnies at Big Hands. It all depends on what you actually want to eat. If all you want is a jacket potato or a simple sarnie, Lime Cafe is a safe bet. The baked potatoes here are MASSIVE, and absolutely loaded with filling. The best value baked potato filling is beans and cheese, for a ridiculously low £2.20! If you fancy spicing it up a bit, the chilli and cheese option is still a steal at £2.95. I'm a huge fan of their potatoes; they're so fluffy and tasty, and they have that lovely thick skin that I cannot get enough of!
As well as baked tatties, Lime Cafe offers several daily specials. These change every day, but there's always chilli, a curry, and a meat and vege option for a chinese dish. Expect to see pork in plum sauce, vegetable chow mein, lamb rogan josh and chicken tikka. These specials are £3.50, and the chilli and curries are served with rice.
The fridges by the side hold a multitude of sandwiches, cold drinks and yoghurty dessert things, and there's also a soup of the day for £1.25, including a bun. They sell a variety of biscuit-type things from the Wicked Cake Co, but they're all a bit disappointing, really. You're better off with a piece of fruit (40p). Word has it that you can grab a breakfast bacon buttie here for less than £2, but I've never seen evidence of this; probably because in all my years as a student in the Sam Alexander building, I was never there around breakfast time!
Lime Cafe really is one of the campus' best Uni-run eateries, with tasty options made fresh in front of you. The sandwiches might be a little ropey, but when there's fresh chicken stir fry on offer, who cares about the state of the egg and cress? read more