Food News: The Graduate - From student grub to vegetarian paradise

Melting pot of dishes available on new menu which is being served up after revamp.

The Graduate pub on Surrey Street has long been a favourite of Sheffield’s many students.

The offers of ‘dog bowls’ full of tasty pub grub for just a few quid and convenient city centre location mean that it has provided the perfect meeting place for those on a budget for years.

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Today, following a refurbishment of the pub and the introduction of a new food and drink menu The Graduate is still very popular with undergraduates but is attempting to corner a new market.

I love going out to eat, but as a vegetarian it can often be frustrating due to the often limited selection of food on offer for us herbivores.

Seeing only one or two vegetarian dishes on a menu when you’re preparing to part with your hard-earned cash can often leave you feeling quite short-changed.

And so seeing an entire section of The Graduate’s menu devoted to vegetarian and vegan dishes, entitled the Green House, was an unexpected, if pleasant surprise.

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What’s more the veggie section offers a real melting pot of dishes, including a Lebanese-style aubergine crumble and Khidici which is a curried cauliflower dish full of Asian flavours such as coconut milk, spinach, lemon, mustard, coriander and turmeric. Not your typical student fare.

I opted for the pad Thai with noodles, mushrooms, baby corn, pak choi, mixed peppers, baby spinach, tamarind and chilli, served with a side salad of crispy fried noodles, red pepper, lime and baby spinach (£7.95.)

It tasted absolutely gorgeous with an incredible fusion of flavours, and the portion size was also very generous.

My friend is a coeliac and it was a bit of a disappointment that the menu did not provide any sort of guidance about which dishes were gluten-free.

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After explaining this to staff they were very apologetic and were more than happy to provide her with a list of the coeliac options on the menu, of which there were four.

She went for the beef patty, without the bun, which came with skinny fries.

The new cocktail menu included the delicious Bohemian Rhapsody (consisting of cream soda, Absolut Raspberri vodka and lime topped with raspberry bonbons and mini marshmallows) for £6.25.

The new menu, combined with the recently refurbished surroundings, made for an enjoyable budget dining experience.

We paid £23 including drinks.

Star ratings out of five:

Food: 4

Service: 4

Atmosphere: 3

Value: 5

Three more to choose from

Iraaj Curry House - Chesterfield Road, Woodseats 
Saigon 68 - Vietnamese Food - London Road
Butlers Curryhouse - Broad Lane, Sheffield