The Cambridge Blue

(£££) ***½ The Cambridge Blue (Gwydir Street) friendly and large neighbourhood freehouse, Cambridge’s other non-smoking, non-mobile-phone public house. Favoured by academics, The Cambridge Blue nonetheless has a more relaxed atmosphere than The Free Press. It’s decorated with old rowing paraphernalia, and has a good selection of real ales and ciders, many sourced from producers in the area directly around Cambridge. It makes an ideal summer pub, with a long and beautiful garden sloping down to Petersfield Cemetery, through which you can cross to the streets near Parker's Piece. A wide variety of healthy, organic food is on offer, and the staff is friendly.

College Halls

College Halls open to all members of the university and, in practice, the cash-paying general public include King’s, Peterhouse, Pembroke, and Downing. All serve passable food, although King’s has a wider choice of meals, generally offering three or four main courses and an extensive salad bar. Downing offers by far the highest quality of food, although choice is limited. Its plasticy dining hall is much less interesting than those of the other three colleges, whose interiors warrant a visit for their decoration alone. All four charge an additional guest fee of £1

The King Street Run

Y (££) *** Though not a venue for live music, the King Street Run (King Street) plays good indie music at high volume in its most uniquely-decorated upstairs room, which feels like something between a pirate ship and a scene from the Wild West. Popular with sixth-formers and goths, it’s a nice and convivial place to come for cheap drinks in a big group, on one’s way out for a big night. Not recommended for a quiet pint.

The Mill

(££) *** The Mill (Mill Lane), popular with students who buy beer in plastic glasses to sit on the banks of the nearby Mill Pond, is also a pleasant and central place to sit inside in the winter months. It has old wooden tables, and a diverse selection of beers. For a convenient, central drink after work, you could do much worse. We prefer the Mill to its obvious local rival, The Anchor (Silver Street), which has had a fairly generic redecoration, and caters to a more obnoxious crowd.

The Geldart

(££) **½ The Geldart (Ainsworth Street) is best visited in the early evening or late afternoon. The charm of this local Irish pub in one of the lesser-known areas off Mill Road lies in the fact that it has seen no re-decoration since the 1950s, and manages to preserve an almost out-of-time quality. It features painted walls, wooden furniture, and intriguing decorations. However, once punters arrive and the big screen televisions in both bars are turned on, however, the charm disappears. The selection of beers is below average, and the pub does not serve food.

Peking Restaurant

Y (££££)**** Described by the Sunday Telegraph as the ‘best restaurant in Cambridge,’ this small room in a tiny building next to the Grafton Centre that is Peking Restaurant (Burleigh Street) serves exquisite Chinese food. Dishes are rich, intricate, and very copious—well worth the slightly higher-than-average prices. Dining here is a unique experience. The plain, wood-veneer panelled room is often empty, and there is a slightly eerie silence pervading the whole place. Cash only.

The Live and Let Live

Y (££) ***** We are still in love with The Live and Let Live (Mawson Road), perhaps Cambridge’s finest local pub. It's a real ale aficionado’s dream with a large and ever-changing variety of stouts and bitters, mostly from small breweries in the East of England. Low ceilings, old wooden furniture, and a local busker playing protest songs on his guitar at weekends complete the atmosphere in this popular freehouse. Staff and regulars are friendly, and, unlike some of the other Cambridge real ale pubs, unpretentious. Soups, a plate of bangers and mash with red cabbage, other traditional pub fare and marvellous desserts are on offer as well.

Cotto

(£££) ***½ Tucked away in a little courtyard off of a rather dismal section bit of the East Road, Cotto serves up tasty, healthy and innovative lunchtime cuisine. The ambience is warm and friendly, with wooden furniture and pots of herbs growing in the windows. We had a nutty soup of parsnips and cashews, a trio of salads including a tasty green lentil and spanish sausage combination, and cheddar cheese sandwishes with caramelised onion chutney. With a 50l carafe of French wine, it all came to a very reasonable £22. This is an oasis of organic, creative fare, and the only drawback is that both staff and clientele - who tend towards smug Guardian-readers with loud, boastfully precocious children - are all too aware of this.