France - University Cafetaria Food

Another thing I love about France is the awesome university cafetaria lunch menu. There is no other choice than the 3.10-euro 3-course meal, but for 3.10 euros I really think these meals are simply too awesome.

Amazingly, some people still express their insatisfaction towards the lunch meals. Ok, the veggies tend to be overcooked, but I think for most part the dishes are great. I've had far worse meals back when I was living in a dorm in Singapore. Overcooked veggies? Check. Veeery tiny portion of meat? Check. And the soups were as plain as they could be. And back then, we only had a microwave. We shared a common fridge, with a lot of fridge thieves that made you practically couldn't store anything delicious in the fridge for more than half a day (my friend's birthday cake was munched by unknown someone after leaving it for 1 hour in the fridge and the leftover pieces were left in the fridge). I'm not trying to complain about how sad my food history during the 6 years of middle school and high school was, but my point is, sometimes you'd just have to be more appreciative of things. I guess I learned it the hard way.

Well, back to the topic. Basically, you will get 1 dish with a type of carbohydrate (potatoes, pasta, couscous, rice or whatever is available on that day), vegetables (boiled green beans, legumes or sometimes ratatouille), and a type of meat (normally they offer 3 choices of meat). What's fancy is that the menu changes every day.

Cordon bleu and ham with sauteed potato and vegetable, with a mousse dessert and apple sauce

Bread and butter is free, and so is water (you can drink tap water in France).

Then you can get 2 side dishes of any types: salad, pâté, quiche, apple pie, soup, yoghurt, fruit or packaged desserts. You can choose any of the two, and if you get an extra item, you pay 40 cents. Sometimes I would get two appetizers instead of 1 appetizer and 1 dessert, and at times I would get 2 desserts instead. Well, it's good to try everything :)

Roasted chicken with rice and mixed vegetables, with pâté and vanilla pudding

White fish in cream with rice and ratatouille, with quiche and salad

Beef steak with green beans and pasta, with smoked duck salad and apple pie

Beef with couscous and green peas, with salad and terrine

Beef with white part of leek and couscous, vegetable soup and salad

Chicken with rice and sauteed vegetable, with quiche and camembert salad