As the days get shorter and the winds blow colder, students across campus yearn for a comforting bowl of ramen, a comforting crumble pot, and comforting Lemon Press editors to review it all. The Ron Cooke Hub (RCH) sought out the two hungriest sub-editors on campus and warmly invited us to review their food, here is our story. 

A little bit about my body, on the morning of the review I was so hungover that my stationary bed induced serious motion sickness. In addition, my bicycle journey to the RCH was wet and miserable, the thought of some delicious discounted food was the only thing that kept me going as I battled wind and rain to reach Campus East. I arrived dripping wet, 20 minutes late and freezing half to death. Can the RCH ramen and other foods bring my lifeless body back from the brink? 

We ordered all the food at once, and it all arrived promptly. We started with the original okonomiyaki (£4.25) to share. We weren’t sure what an okonomiyaki really is, but as we found out, it’s a bit like a fried cabbage pancake complete with other classic vegetables and some sauces, one spicy and one sour cream. I am not used to dishes where cabbage a) tastes good and b) is centre stage, so you can imagine my surprise when the okonomiyaki tasted great, worked nicely with the sauces and had a great texture. For those who like spice, it was pleasantly booby trapped with slices of hot chilli which added some great spice to the meal. For those who don’t like spice, there’s no chilli, don’t worry about it. 

Next was the prawn ramen. My wet, tired and hungover body was in desperate need of this and it did not disappoint. I ordered the prawn ramen (£6.00) and the portion size was definitely worth the money. A flavourful broth and some thick udon noodles meant the hangover was quickly a forgotten memory. The prawns were excellent and flavoured with turmeric, I am not used to turmeric in ramen so it was a bit weird to start but I am pleased to report it was a great addition to the meal. The staining-power of turmeric is not to be taken lightly so do not eat RCH ramen through a garden sprinkler while wearing white clothes if this is at all possible for you. There was also a great selection of your classic ramen vegetables which added to the healing powers of this excellent dish. 

Finally the Biscoff crumble pot (£3.20). This was definitely the highlight for me and would be for any student who feels that a sweet little treat is something their body cries out for. Warm, sweet and served in a positively cute little glass jar, it had a layer of cream and Biscoff bits on the top, underneath was a mixture of hard and crunchy crumble bits mixed with custardy goodness and some caramel action too. Hal and I were in agreement that we could eat five of these and not get sick of them, and the portion size definitely meant the price was worth it. Gift an RCH crumble pot to that special person in your life; family, friends, lecturers, employees, lab partners, talking stages, team mates, house mates, and satire magazine editors.