Limerick Dining: Canteen Watch, EL's occasional series of tart assessments of third-level food offerings, hasn't yet got around to the University of Limerick. But not to worry: a PR company has got there first, circulating an ode to UL's eateries of which Keats himself would be proud. Harry Browne reports
The screed, from Brendan Bracken PR, was faxed to this office last week. In keeping with its overall verbal fecundity, it carries three titles wrapped up in one: "Food Glorious Food, Food to Live for rather than Die for, Focus on Food".
The studious denizens of suburban Limerick will surely agree that its pages reflect their daily enjoyment of what the release calls "café society at its best": the "lovely sunny terrace" of Café Aroma, with its "strong emphasis on Euro Asian style food"; and the piped opera music at Café Allegro, where "you could almost imagine you were in Verona".
Unlike any genuine Veronese establishment, however, Café Allegro is popular with "people from the nearby Plassey Technological Park".
Interestingly, the long release makes practically no claims about the actual taste of the food on offer at a baker's dozen of campus establishments. Instead, we read about "food style, concept and design" and desserts that are "beautifully displayed with panache and style" in a "contemporary designed space". While Café Allegro attracts "discerning students", the large main restaurant does offer "unusual sandwiches" beside its "standard student options".
Whatever about the food, the names of UL's food outlets are certainly mouth-filling: Sizzling Sausage Bar, Sandwiches to Grab & Go, Café Sportif, Wake Up and Smell the Coffee - which, despite previous demurrals, offers "hot chocolate to die for". However, as the press release moves away from the Campbell Catering outlets to the ones managed by independent caterers Castleoaks Catering, the names and claims turn more pedestrian. The Plaza Café, for example, boasts only of being "situated on the way into the library" and having "pleasant staff". (It is the only outlet to claim the latter quality.) The Paddock Restaurant offers "standard options with a slightly Mexican style" - no mention of feeling slightly like you're in Tijuana.
And the one word that's nowhere to be found in this lovingly crafted document about student food in the environs of Castletroy? "Chips".
