I attended formal hall at Clare last night and came away very impressed. For graduate students, there is free pre-dinner sherry (dry, medium and sweet) available in the MCR - which is spacious and painted a light blue on the walls. As always, Cambridge is a ridiculously small place and people were run-into who were not expected.
The dress code for Formal Hall itself was dressy, but gowns-optional, even for members of the college. I appreciate the tradition of gowns-required halls, but there is something to be said for actually getting to see the pretty dresses girls wear, rather than seeing them concealed under a big black gown. The Hall itself is tall, with a white ceiling and an architectural style that belies the age of Clare itself - according to my Clarite host, the original Clare buildings were either destroyed or were at a different site. Interesting for Americans dining in the Hall, General Cornwallis stares down at you from his portrait on the wall as you dine.
The meal was kicked off by wild mushroom terrine, a departure, I am told, from typical starting soup. Main course was duck with peach sauce, accompanied by parsienne potatoes and french beans. Dessert and coffee followed, "Zabaione a la Clare" drizzled with a nice chocolate sauce. Dinner was preceded with a grace but not ended with one and for some reason there didn't appear to be any fellows sitting at high table. Perhaps most interestingly, free wine is provided with dinner at Clare - and your glasses are refilled an apparently unspecified number of times ("until it runs out"). As soon as that happens, however, we simply produced a couple of bottles we had brought in and the wine continued to flow.
Following dinner, we retired to the MCR again where it was discovered that Clare's MCR bar has an extensive (probably the most extensive for any college bar) collection of whiskey - and single malt scotch in particular - at extremely reasonable prices: £2 for a double for most on the list, and £2 for a single for some rarer and more expensive malts. Port cost an absurd £1 for a double, making Clare's MCR in my view the best value bar in Cambridge that I've had the pleasure to drink in so far - great scotch selection it would take quite a while to exhaust, at reasonable prices. Atmosphere was a little crowded, perhaps, but if it weren't Friday night immediately after a formal I'm sure it would have been less tight.
Again reinforcing the impression that Cambridge is a ridiculously small world, several Johnian friends showed up, following hall at St Johns, as well as a Kingsman. On the whole, Clare's hall was extremely pleasant but the MCR and general hospitality (ie free booze) stole the show.
1 comment:
I guess the booze flows there. A lot different than in the puritanical colonies. Do I have the honour of being your first comment? Opps, my spell check says I spelled honor wrong. Do you have the same problem?
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