Important updates on the buttery from the food and beverages working group:
Food is wonderful and important and the kitchen want everyone who eats there to enjoy it, so if you have a feedback for the kitchen, please speak directly to buttery staff, (Julie, or chef Richard) so they can do something about it. This is especially important to do on the meal service that your talking about if its about specific things so they can really understand the feedback. They want people to be honest and they don’t want people to suffer through a meal if it’s a reasonable complaint. I encourage you to say when things are good too, as this lets the kitchen know what we want to see more! Positive feedback will help the reception of the criticism too – please be constructive and please get involved!
We (MCR and JCR) are aiming to carry out a more in depth survey to find out what we want from the buttery, but as usual if you have any thoughts or suggestions for improvement do get in touch with me or any member of the MCR committee.
Ramadan provision is up and running to allow pre-ordered meals to be saved in the Wilson Court Common room kitchen that will be accessible for those people who have ordered food from 8pm. You must order it two days in advance and it will be prepared and stored for you two nights later. There is also free milk and dates to break the fast. Email Rob Clarke (Catering Manager) to book.
I have asked for brunch to be extended into holiday hours and the kitchen and bursar were happy to look into this on a once a week basis. I expect it to take the form of lunch hours on Sundays in Easter and hopefully summer holidays, 12-1pm, and they are looking at the number of students left over Christmas and at least extending bunch to the end of the undergraduate residency period. So watch this space!
At brunch, if there isn’t a label on the food, it doesn’t contain any allergens. If you still want to check, just ask the staff to ask one of the chefs to confirm, and similarly for any intolerances please feel free to ask the kitchen staff whats in what and they can check for you!
During the time of day where the coffee shop closes and the bar sets up, there is no access to the water tap. If you want to fill your bottle during that time, the buttery staff are happy for you to go to the buttery and fill it at the tap near the till (just ask the till staff if you can’t see it).
JCR gossip but good information to have: At formals, you are responsible for the behaviour of your guests. There was a (JCR, not us) incident with a person from another college and buttery staff asked to see his cam card, worked out which college he was from and wrote to his dean. This person has apparently been banned for his own college formals and potentially also the may ball, so even if Fitz can’t do anything about your guests, their own colleges might not be so happy with their bad conduct – and this goes both ways!
Uptake of cans in the buttery has been low, the initiative was sparked as cans are better for the environment, but this will probably be removed if there’s not a better response, so do consider it. Meat free Mondays have been scrapped as people weren’t coming to the buttery then. However, the buttery is working towards a most sustainable menu and has actually decreased the number of meat services, and increasing the vegan/vegetarian options.
Hope you have a wonderful day and aren’t distracted all day like I will be thinking about food now!!
All the best,
Aisha (MCR Pres)