A Taste of The World at the University of Sheffield

Written By: Rishi Parwani

Every year the International Students’ Committee puts on a myriad of spectacular events ranging from the International Cultural Evening, World Week and most recently; The World Food Festival. This year, 12 societies took part and stepped up to showcase their dishes to an audience of hungry students, myself included. World Food Fest is one of my favourite events by the ISC because as I’m sure you may have gathered by now from my blog posts, I’m a massive foodie!

How the World Food Festival works is quite simple. The event takes place over a two-day period and all the participating societies are in competition with each other to win us over with their national delicacies. So I visited on the Saturday and the participating societies on the day were:

• Malaysian Society
• Romanian Society
• Hungarian Society
• Arab Society
• Filipino Society
• Sri Lankan Society
• Sheffield Market Society

Upon arrival at the Octagon Centre where the event was taking place, I was stumped because it’s been a long time since I’ve been presented with so many options for a meal. Such is life for a student, don’t you think? I spent the first 15 minutes walking around getting an idea of what I should eat which wasn’t an easy feat at all.

After a brainstorming session consisting of mental pros-and-cons lists (just kidding, I’m not crazy), I finally decided to have a main course meal from the Sri Lankan Society. Our friends from Sri Lanka were serving Fried Rice with Prawn Curry which was spectacular. I was so lost in the bursting flavours of this dish that I only remembered to get a picture of it after I had finished eating all the prawns.

My craving for dessert lead me to the Filipino Society, who were serving a Mango Float cake for dessert. This was essentially a cake consisting of a sweet mango cream with crushed digestive biscuits and I can’t emphasise how good it was. It was genuinely my favourite dish from the entire event and I’m definitely going to be spamming the Filipino Society Facebook page for their recipe! My photos definitely don’t do it justice but you’ll just have to trust me on this one.

Still craving for more, I paid a visit to the Arab Society because having grown up in the Middle East, I absolutely love eating Arabic food. I was over-the-moon to discover that they were saying Um-Ali, a traditional Arabian dessert that combines the creaminess of bread pudding and cinnamon nut stuffing of baklava. Its warm and soft texture transported me back home. Kudos to Arab Society!

By this point I was absolutely stuffed to eat more from the other societies but both Romanian and Hungarian society had some excellent dishes on offer, not to mention their desserts which looked incredible.

I rounded off my food-eating marathon with a smoothie from the smoothie-stall run by the Sheffield Market Society, a brand new society that is in contact with local markets and sources fresh ingredients. There was a huge variety of smoothies to choose from however after the amount of food I had just consumed, I decided to go down a healthier alley and tried the banana smoothie which was so refreshing.
So there you have it. The amalgamation of cultures and cuisine at the Food Festival just supports how much I love studying here in Sheffield. The international exposure at this university is second-to-none and it just goes to show that an engineering degree at this university is so much more than you can ever imagine. A massive thank you to the ISC for pulling off such a fantastic event!

Student Hotspots: Peddler Night Market and the delights of Kelham Island by Rishi Parwani

Just when you thought there wasn’t any other restaurant or food-related event left that I could review, I bring to you what was one of the more interesting food experiences I’ve had since coming to Sheffield! Taking place on the first Friday and Saturday of every month (which is perfectly fitting for this coming weekend), the Peddler Night Market is definitely a must-attend event if you are looking for a different eating out experience.

Having grown up in the Middle East, I’m quite lucky in the sense that the weather has afforded me the opportunity to go to a lot of outdoor food markets so when I heard about Peddler Night Market, my first thought was whether or not it would rain – putting me off from going during my first year. I finally went this year and I’m so glad that I did! I will stop yacking about my life now so I can tell you a little bit more about the Peddler Night market.

Located on Kelham Island, Peddler Night Market is an event attended by masses of people from Sheffield. Essentially, the market consists of food stalls of a variety of cuisines including American, Chinese, Italian, Brazilian, British, Japanese and the list just goes on. The market is also dotted with some really funky food trucks consisting of calorie-inducing desserts and there is also a bar on site selling traditional craft beer. You can’t begin to imagine how many times I walked around the market trying to find something to eat because when it comes to food, I feel the need to make the optimal decision on what to get. My friends already had their food in minutes but I took my sweet time and finally settled for a Brazilian Linguica (sausage).

The piping hot sausage was drizzled in caramelised onions and sauce in a toasted roll. Coupled with the rainy weather, this delicacy went down like a treat instantly warming me up. It was absolutely delicious and I instantly felt satisfied with taking my time to find my dinner.

The atmosphere at Peddler Night Market is absolutely brilliant too! Despite the rainy weather, live bands were there in full force singing and playing their hearts out. There is usually also a DJ playing a set which really does make for a fun and relaxed evening out. Our dinner didn’t end there though because how can we forget dessert?

Upon recommendation from a friend, we went to the Depot Bakery situated very close by to the market in Kelham Island. I had heard of this bakery for the longest time but never made the trip down there so I was excited about finally trying it out. Depot Bakery’s hipster and surprisingly quiet ambiance was a break from the music playing outside in the market, it’s a perfect place to nip in for a coffee and catch-up after grabbing some dinner.

The donuts (pictured above) looked absolutely heavenly but I decided on trying their famous brownies which one of my friends raved about. I must confirm that the brownies were absolutely amazing, they weren’t too soft nor were they too hard and the flavours were so unique. From what I can remember, there was a cheesecake flavour, a chocolate flavour and a Bailey’s flavour – all of which were just impeccable. I definitely recommend trying them!

So there you have it, a perfect evening consisting of live music and good food, what more could you possibly want? The market will be taking place on 3^rd and 4^th March so don’t miss out for this month!

Location: 92 Burton Road, Kelham Island, S3 8BX

Timings: 5-11pm on Friday and 2-11pm on Saturday

Student Hotspots: Let's Sushi by Rishi Parwani

For those of you that know me, you’ll know that when it comes to sushi I’m slightly obsessed. And for those of you that don’t know me, I will (to your misfortune) become your best friend if you get me some sushi! I’ve tried nearly every single sushi joint in Sheffield but there’s one that I’ve surprisingly never been to before. What’s more surprising is that it’s so close to the Diamond that I’m quite embarrassed I went for the first time just last week.

So what did I end up doing on an hour long break in between labs? With a few fellow sushi-loving course mates, I went to ‘Let’s Sushi’ on Division Street. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, Division Street has an impressive list of eateries in the quirkiest of settings, there’s always something interesting food-wise. ‘Let’s Sushi’ is located right at the end of Division Street just a minute away from Sheffield City Hall. We arrived just in time for opening and quickly grabbed a table knowing how busy it gets for lunch.

What struck me about Let’s Sushi was its prices. I’m not proud of how much I’ve spent at other restaurants (it’s my favourite food guys please don’t judge me) but I have to say that these prices were the most affordable I’ve seen for sushi, such a refreshing change. ‘Let’s Sushi’ offers packaged sushi platters or separate Maki rolls that can be ordered from the menu. I decided to go for the Mixed Maki Platter (Maki is just another word for roll in Japanese) and on top of that I got something that I found really unique.

So if you look to the left of the picture below, you’ll see a salad of sorts. That salad is made up of ‘scrap’ sushi rolls. Basically, when you make sushi, you start off with making the roll and then cutting it into smaller pieces. You always end up with pieces at the end which don’t look as good as the rest of the rolls and most restaurants tend to throw them away. However, I was really impressed with this item on the menu and how ‘Let’s Sushi’ uses these end rolls and puts them into a salad instead of throwing them away. And you know what? It was absolutely delicious and so filling. You know what’s even better? It costed just £1.45. You read correctly! My inner student was very satisfied.

My mixed maki platter was perfect as well and oh-so-reasonable at £5. It had a combination of California Maki as well as normal maki rolls. For those of you that don’t know, California Makis basically just have rice on the outside rather than on the inside as you’d normally expect. The platter had rolls consisting of crabstick, cucumbers, salmon and tempura and it definitely fuelled me up for my 4 hour Electronics lab!

I have to say, I wish I found this place earlier. With its interesting concepts, delicious sushi and very reasonable prices – I can definitely see myself becoming a regular at ‘Let’s Sushi’ and I’m already looking forward to my next visit. So there you have it, affordable sushi very close by to the uni buildings!

Location: 14 Division Street, Sheffield, S1 4GF

Timings: 11:30am – 10pm on weekdays and open till 10:30pm on weekends

The Sheffield Malaysian Games 2017 by Muhammad Zainudin

Website : sg.smsa.org.uk

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/SheffieldMalaysianGamesSMSA/

The famous Sheffield Malaysian Games was initiated by SMSA, a Malaysian society based in the University of Sheffield under the Student Union. The first Sheffield Malaysian Games was in 1999 where only a few sports were played amongst the member of the society. It has now grown massively and has numerous events across the British Isles. There can be up to 2,000 spectators every year. Participants registering for SMG 2017, was at a staggering amount of more than 1,000 players in 11 major sports. These include sports like Badminton, Ultimate Frisbee, Football and various others. Aside from sport, SMG2017 offers exquisite delicious Malaysian cuisine such as Nasi Lemak (Coconut Milk Rice), Roti Canai (Pratha) and Nasi Ayam Masak Merah (Spicy Chicken with Rice). In addition to this, we provide a day-care service for parents coming to the event with children. There are also non-food booths selling shawls, concert tickets and free-to-enter games such as the cyber games and mini traditional games.

I can still remember when applied to become a committee member for the SMG2017. This took place in October last year (2016), just few days after I arrived in Sheffield from Malaysia. I received a call the following day for an interview in the Students Union with the Director of SMG2017 and the president of SMSA. I was competing against good candidates but I made it through and was elected as Vice Director (MASSOC) of SMG2017. This year was the first time SMSA had ollaborated with MASSOC (Malaysian and Singaporean Society) and Sheffield Hallam University, so three Vice Directors were needed to represent each of the societies.

A lot of hard work and organisation went into making this year’s Sheffield Malaysian Games a successful one. It took a tremendous amount of dedication and effort, from the committee of SMG2017, which began in October 2016 right through until the day of the event, 18^th February 2017. We held fund-raising events, approached various sponsors, promoted SMG2017 through social media by making videos and had numerous meetings in between. Fortunately, we received generous funds from two sponsors, Chaffinch and MABEC. I was responsible for the Major Games, the Protocol Unit, the Equipment Unit and the Volunteering Unit as I was the PIC (person-in-charge).

On the day of the event, all the committee members arrived very early at the venue (King Edwards Lower School VII) at 6 am in the morning! We set up the food stalls, the sports equipment and signage to guide the players and spectators. At 7am, players began to arrive and the food vendors began serving their food. The Games then started at 8.30am as some players were coming all the way from Ireland and Scotland.

I was stationed at the Football Astroturf field to supervise football matches, as they were the most popular with numerous fixtures that needed managing. The Games were a great success with all the  sports running smoothly.

The event ended at 4pm and prize-giving ceremony which was presided over by our VIP guest, the Head of MARA UK, a government body that sponsors Malaysian students to study in the UK. He carried out an inspirational talk, acknowledged the great organisational work carried out by the SMG2017 committee and was very complimentary about the event. The Games officially ended with the presentation of medals to the winners from each sport.

I was very happy with the first event I successfully managed during my first year at the University of Sheffield, supported by a dedicated team. I learned so much from this event such as working with groups of different people with different backgrounds, communicating with sponsors and managing the committee to ensure everyone was doing their job. Even though I had a more senior role, I worked very closely with the advising them and was hopefully a good mentor.  I hope that SMG will continue its great legacy and approach more international participants in the coming years. 

Student Hotspots - Proove Pizza - by Rishi Parwani

Back by popular (pretty questionable) demand, I bring to you another gem of a restaurant my flatmates and I stumbled upon a few weeks ago. Now let’s face it, we are no strangers to the delights of pizza. We’d queue up in a blizzard for a free personal pizza Domino’s if we had to but recently, I found this perfect little pizza place and can’t wait to share my experience with you guys.

Situated on Fulwood Road perfectly located for the first years in Endcliffe or Ranmoor on their commutes to and from university is Proove Pizza. I had heard of this restaurant for a very long time and word has it that it’s one of the few pizza places in Sheffield that uses a traditional wood-fire oven so if that’s something that you’re after, keep reading.

 

Have you ever had those moments when you go to a restaurant, read through the menu and get so confused on what to order that you secretly wish you’re a vegetarian so that it’d be easier to decide what to get? Just me then? Alright. All of the pizzas sounded incredible and to make the decision even more harder, the specials menu for the day looked really appetising too. After careful consideration consisting of mental decision matrices and pros and cons list (I’m kidding, I’m not that lame…maybe), I decided to order the Funghi Pizza. This consisted of roasted Portobello mushrooms, truffle infused extra virgin olive oil, tomatoes and mozzarella. Because we were a group of people, we also ordered some dough balls to share as well as garlic bread. I must add as well that the service had been excellent up till now.

Our starters arrived and this is where I have to chime in with yet another one of my whacky observations. Where I originally come from, I associate garlic bread with separate pieces of bread with a garlic and butter spread on top however the UK is the only place in the world where I’ve seen it served in the same style as a pizza. Nonetheless, it tasted really nice and exactly the same as normal garlic bread but it’s just an interesting comparison to other places in the world if anything. The dough balls were good too albeit a tad bit burnt however we chomped up our food feeling very satisfied up to this point. The dipping sauce really did enhance the taste of the food. 

  

And finally, the main attractions were served. You can’t begin to imagine how happy I was too finally be able to try this pizza I’ve heard so much about it and I have to say that I wasn’t disappointed. The pizza bread was just cooked to perfection in the wood-fire oven with its combination of fluffy and crusty texture. Along with the sauce and the toppings, this pizza was definitely a winner and I finished it feeling very satisfied.

So there you have it. A pizza place right in the middle between the university and student halls which serves excellent pizzas. Moreover, I also noticed that the deserts looked incredible but at that point my flatmates and I were far too stuffed to even consider sharing an ice cream or a cake. To add the icing to the (unordered) cake, I must say that Proove Pizza has very reasonable prices for what it offers. With a full Margherita Pizza costing GBP5.90 you really can’t go wrong given the quantity. Bottom line, if you’re ever up for a pizza which is different to your standard Domino’s, definitely try Proove.

Address: 261 Fulwood Road, S10 3BD

Timings: 11:30am – 10:30pm from Sundays to Wednesdays and 11:30am – 11pm from                   Thursdays to Saturday

Student Hotspots - The Steam Yard - by Rishi Parwani

Have you found that perfect little coffee shop that just effortlessly ticks all the boxes? Be it you want a perfect place for a date, a place where you can soak in a hipster-like ambiance or even just a casual setting where you can indulge in heavenly donuts with your friends? I’m happy to report that Sheffield is home to one of these coffee shops.

Situated on Division Street not very far from the Diamond, the Steam Yard is a small coffee shop tucked in Aberdeen Court that is quite easy to miss when going the first time. Believe me though, you wouldn’t want to miss it any subsequent time after! Established in 2014, the Steam Yard is another addition to Division Street’s quirky and alternative list of establishments.

So how does one objectively review a coffee shop? Well I don’t know how others would do it but I took a fellow foodie along with me so that we could order a spread of items from the menu. I went with my standard order of a Café Latte and pursued the menu for something unique to the coffee shop itself. After a bit of advice from the cashier, we ordered two Peanut Butter-Marshmallow S’mores donuts as well as a Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

Our food and drinks finally arrived and after a long (longer than I am proud to admit) session of taking photos of our food from every single angle imaginable, we finally tucked in. I have to admit though, when it comes to food photos, nothing beats a good ol’ bird’s eye view. See for yourself.

And wow, we were in heaven at this point. The s’mores donut was absolutely delightful. The texture was just incredible with the combination of the warm, gooey marshmallows and the actual donut itself. I normally gobble my food down without really giving it a second’s thought but I genuinely felt the need to eat this donut slowly so I could enjoy its texture and taste longer. It really did hit the spot and the culmination of the peanut butter and marshmallows lingered in my mouth. My friend offered similar reviews, raving about his donut and grilled cheese sandwich. The coffee, while standard, definitely hit the spot especially given how cold England can be.

I left the Steam Yard feeling very satisfied and I can’t wait to go back and try their Kronuts which everyone seems to be raving about on social media! So there you have it, a coffee shop not far from the university where you could easily walk over to during a break! Hopefully over the next few weeks I’ll be writing about some more student hotspots so stay tuned.

Address: Unit 1-2 97, Aberdeen Court, 95-101 Division St, Sheffield S1 4GE

Timings: 9:30am-5:30pm everyday