Review: SIX Restaurant at the Varsity Hotel

Delicious food, beautifully boozy cocktails and amazing views albeit slightly above a student budget, the SIX Restaurant in the Varsity Hotel and Spa is an excellent place to take your family (especially if they are paying for brunch). 

The Tab’s senior editor team (Oliver, Shani, Hannah and Rory) were treated to our choice of the menu, an alcoholic drink, and a dessert. All in all the food was superb: a menu with plenty of inspiration taken from Australia (with the full breakfast being an ‘Australian Breakfast’, and Avocado on Toast) the brunch choices were the perfect mix of sweet and savoury.

From traditional options with sausages and eggs, to more unique options such as the ‘Spicy tomato baked eggs’ or ‘Turkish eggs’ in yoghurt and chilli butter, there was something to suit all taste buds.

Summer views will be gr9

Deputy Editor Hannah had the avocado and eggs on toast with a peach bellini. Turns out alcohol at breakfast is the ideal way to cure a hangover (hair of the dog always does the trick). This choice is perfect if you don’t fancy anything too stodgy or meaty for breakfast, but it is really tasty and fairly healthy, filling you up for the entire day.

Dessert consisted of a Creme Brûlée. Although smaller than the huge deserts everyone else was presented with, the consistency and taste was perfect, and the size meant that it was polished off in no time.

Gazing lovingly at my avocado on toast

Oliver went for a similarly cliche choice, opting for the full breakfast. It was certainly plentiful and flavoursome, but didn’t really justify the £12 price tag. The warm hazelnut chocolate brownie was a different story, and there’s probably a joke to be made about cream somewhere.

For Dep-Ed Rory, the meal consisted of Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, followed by a rather indulgent Rocky Road sundae. This was then washed down with a Mojito at the totally socially acceptable time of 10:47 am (take note freshers, drinking in Cam need not be restricted to Wednesday Cindies). The light breakfast was the perfect pick-me-up for the morning after a drunken-trip to Life, while the sundae offered a hearty portion size without being too sickly-sweet. While the Mojito may not be the best of moves for an early brunch, SIX also offered a wide selection of virgin cocktails and brunching-favourite Prosecco.

Rory however persevered with his cocktail, attesting to the lovely waiting-staff at SIX, who gave no visible judgement.

Don’t judge me

Shani had lunch for breakfast and went with the pork belly and finished off with the cheesecake for dessert. The FOMO at missing out on everyone else’s delicious-looking brunches was more than compensated for by the incredibly mix of flavours and complemented well by the vodka martini (#classy, amirite).

nom nom nom

The exciting menu maybe one to save for when the parents are visiting, but isn’t much more expensive than other student favourites such as Bills and Sticky Beaks. For the stellar service and panoramic views all over Cambridge, it’s definitely worth a few extra pennies. Vegetarians may be a tad more limited in their brunching, although the veggie mains on offer were a good alternative to the meaty options.

Overall, SIX left four Tab hacks as very happy punters (omg a Cambridge pun, what?!).

Go with fellow Cantabs for a celebratory meal, and any visiting relatives for the best views of Cambridge. 

Rating: 4/5 Stars