Imperial offers three square meals a day, no?
With ten cafés, seven restaurants, and four bars at South Kensington campus, there are dining options from 8am till 9pm every weekday.
Imperial’s lack of a central caféteria is fulfilled by smaller restaurants selling pizza, Japanese curries, vegan lunches, salads, pastries, and pre-packaged sandwiches. These cafés, restaurants, and bars are either in central areas such as the Junior Common Room (JCR), Senior Common Room (SCR), and the student Union, or hidden with departmental buildings, such as the Royal School of Mines (RSM) café and the Lumen Café in the EEE building.
Cafés and co.
Every café opens between 8 and 9am and closes around 3 to 4pm, to sell coffee, vegan and non-vegan pastries and cakes, fruit, salads, drinks, and sandwiches. You can find the same items at every venue. Only the library café is open late in the evening, to serve coffee or any of the packaged food. During the week, the Library and City & Guilds Café sells delicious hot meat and vegetarian lunches.
For lunch, Sherfield becomes crowded with students buying pizza from Neo Pizza, vegan food from Plantworks, Japanese curry from Kimiko, and other warm meals from Feast and the SCR cafeteria. Queen’s Tower Rooms serves Indian food, but only when exams are not taking place, and Kokoro at H-Bar below the stairs next to the security office, serves sushi, and curries with rice or noodles. In the evenings, only Kokoro stays open for a hot meal.
In the evenings, student societies often socialise at FiveSixEight, a large bar east of Beit Quad, designed for people to sit in for many hours with friends. The menu accommodates, serving chips and burgers. During the week, the bar hosts daily drink deals and happy hours.
Prices
Prices for a meal will float between £5 to £9 for staff, and slightly less for students. There are many places to go for lunch at Imperial; however, many students and staff will either bring their lunches or walk down to South Kensington station, which hosts many restaurants and cafés with to-go options at slightly higher prices.
Coffee on campus is cheaper than at any coffee shop elsewhere, yet a single-use cup will add a 30p charge. Hence, it is best to get used to carrying a reusable coffee cup and a water bottle, as water stations are placed all around campus. Single-use cutlery at restaurants is only available for paying staff and students.
On campus, everything is paid by card, and student discounts are offered by tapping a valid student ID card on the little black reader. More discounts and rewards are available with Yoyo Wallet, a loyalty app used around campus.
The Convenience Store
Snacks are most affordable at the grocery store. However, for convenience, the store on the Sherfield Walkway across the Union merchandise store (open from 9 am to 5 pm) offers fruits, sandwiches, drinks, chocolate, chips, energy bars, and a wide variety of mochi ice creams and Asian snacks. They also sell stationery and basic sanitation items, medicine, and cables.
Students will also spot many vending machines with sodas, chips, oat bars, and protein bars stocked inside. Modern machines use a weight-sensing system to detect the removal of any items after opening the front door. To open the door, a £5 deposit will be charged to the student’s bank account. While vending machines are not nutritious sources of food, they do occasionally sell nuts and dried fruits.
