Food

Breakfast & Brunch

Open Monday – Friday, from 08:00am to 10:00am during weeks 0-9, the hall serves a selection of breakfast items including porridge, hot cooked breakfast items & continental breakfast items. 

On a Saturday during weeks 0-9, Brunch is hosted in hall 10am- noon. A weekend tradition designed for a slower, more sociable start to the day. 

No prior booking is required, payment is via your Kanpla app, please make sure you have signed up for your account via your personalised email invite.

 

Item Portion StX Student Ox Uni Guest All other StX
Members & Guests
Porridge & Toppings Bowl £0.95 £1.08 £1.35
Toast & Preserves Per Slice £0.74 £0.84 £1.05
Pastries/
Croissant		 Each £1.05 £1.20 £1.50
Premium Danish /Muffin Each £1.26 £1.44 £1.80
Fruit Fruit Salad
with Yoghurt		 Each £1.40 £1.60 £2.00
Granola Yoghurt Pot Each £1.68 £1.92 £2.40
Black Pudding Each £0.74 £0.84 £1.05
Sausage/
Veggie Sausage		 Each £0.74 £0.84 £1.05
Bacon Each £0.53 £0.60 £0.75
Egg (Fried/
Scrambled/Poached		 Each £0.53 £0.60 £0.75
Mushrooms/Tomato Each £0.63 £0.72 £0.90
Hashbrowns Each £0.63 £0.72 £0.90
6 Item Breakfast Each £2.45 £2.80 £3.50
10 Item Breakfast Each £3.50 £4.00 £5.00

 

Lunch

Lunch

College lunch represent excellent value for money, offering pay as you go options and buildable meal bundles at a heavily subsidised price for St Cross students.

Lunch is served in Hall Monday to Friday, from 12.00 noon to 1.30pm, with the Hall remaining open until 2.00pm for diners to finish their meals. Prior booking is no longer required, but please ensure you have signed up via your personalised email invite from our payment provider Kanpla to pay for meals in hall and the café. 

Lunch is available year-round, with short breaks only during:

  • One week at Easter

  • Two weeks over Christmas

  • A brief closure in late August for a kitchen deep clean

For the most up-to-date information, including closure dates, please refer to the Annual Calendar.

Alumni lunches:

If you are passing through Oxford and would like to visit College, we would love to welcome you back. Please email the Development Team, who can arrange fob access, a tour, or perhaps lunch or dinner, depending on the nature of your visit.

Alumni are entitled to take lunch in College twice per term. Please contact the Development Team with at least a day's notice if you would like to come in to lunch. Payment can be in hall on the day.

Should you wish to come into College for lunch more frequently, you might consider Membership of Common Room, which entitles you to lunch five times a week.

Lunch menu:

View lunch menus on the dedicated lunch menu tab.

Lunch price list:
Lunches   STX Student Oxford Uni Guest All other St Cross
Members & Guests
Soup   £1.50 £2.50 £3.00
Deli Sandwich   £3.50 £4.95 £5.94
Salad Bowl Small   £3.50 £3.50 £4.20
Salad Bowl Large   £5.00 £8.00 £9.60
Main Meal   £5.00 £8.00 £9.60
Bistro Dish   £5.00 £8.00 £9.60
Dessert   £1.50 £2.50 £3.00
Fruit   £0.75 £0.95 £1.14
Lunch Menu

Lunch menus are updated weekly, and full descriptions and calorie breakdowns are available in Hall. Menus are also subject to change due to supply chain and seasonal availability of best market produce.

W/C 26/01/26 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Soup Butternut squash & coconut Classic leek & potato Parsnip, carrot & lentil Roasted Tomato and Basil Roast Celeriac & Fennel
Deli Bar Slow cooked beef brisket on focaccia Salami, capicola, mortadella, emmental on roti roll Turkey & avocado club sandwich Classic reuben sliced beef on rye bread Chicken pesto focaccia
Global Kitchen
(Protein)		 Slow cooked beef chilli,
coriander rice, tortilla
crisps & street slaw		 Butter chicken curry with basmati rice Provençale lamb shoulder ragu Crispy chinese chicken,
sweet & sour sauce, vegetable spring roll & jasmine rice		 Battered Haddock Fillets, Mushy Peas, Curry Sauce, Chunky Potato Chips, Tartar Sauce
Global Kitchen
(Vegetarian)		 Five bean & sweet pepper
chilli , coriander rice, tortilla crisps & street slaw		 Vegetable & chickpea tomato curry with basmati rice Provençale tomato & vegetable ragu Crispy bean curd with bamboo, vegetables & noodles,
sweet & sour sauce, vegetable spring roll & jasmine rice		 "Moving Mountains" Plant-Based "Fish" Fingers, Chunky Chips, Peas, Tartar Sauce
Bistro Dish Hand raised chicken & mushroom pies, seasoned brickcut chips Spicy chipotle alfredo gnocchi Prawn & cherry tomato baked orzo Turkish Style Lamb Kofta 4oz onglet hanger steak with
baked new potatoes
Dessert

Sticky toffee pudding
with caramel sauce

Lemon & polenta cake
& raspberry compotee

Passion fruit posset

Orange & cardamon cake with orange blossom honey

White chocolate Cheesecake & honeycomb

Peach & almond crumble cake with sauce anglaise

Vegan peach crumble
with vanilla custard

Salted Caramel Brownie with chocolate sauce

Vegan Tiramisu

Carrot orange & walnut
cake & chantilly cream

 

If you have any questions about your dietary requirements, please speak to a member of catering staff in Hall.

Hall

Hall

Hall Dinner happens in College on Tuesday nights throughout each term. It is a themed formal, served, three-course meal for which College members are encouraged to wear gowns. 

Hall booking closes each Friday at 10:00am in advance of the Tuesday sitting. Members are permitted up to three guests for Hall nights. Members may only book two dinners of the same kind per term.

Please ensure any special dietary requirements for you and your guests are indicated at the time of booking. Wine pairings available to pre-book (£14, two glasses plus a top up). Alternatively, members attending a college hall or dinner, may purchase drinks by the glass in the bar ahead of their meal and take them upstairs to finish with their meal.

For details on the dates and themes for Hall dinners, as well as how to book, please visit the events page.

If you have any queries, please contact the team at mealbooking.queries@stx.ox.ac.uk. 

Café

Café

Open Monday – Friday, from 10.30am to 3pm, the Café serves fresh barista style hot drinks, cold drinks, pastries, snacks, plus hot lunch selections, such as paninis, sandwiches, salad bowls and soup.

The café is a great place to work, catch up with friends and have lunch in a more informal setting.

No prior booking is required, payment via your Kanpla app, please make sure you have signed up for your account via your personalised email invite.

The Bar

The Bar

The Bar is an informal space for members to enjoy an evening drink.

Located in the basement of the College's Main Site, the bar has a range of inexpensive drinks, and is run by students but frequented by the entire college body.  

The bar has ample seating as well as a foosball table, dart board, board games, piano and guitar, and a TV and large screen projector. 

The bar is open weekly Tuesday to Saturday throughout term, from 6pm - 11pm (with last orders at 10.30pm).

Members attending a college hall or dinner, may purchase drinks in the bar ahead of their meal and take them upstairs to finish with their meal.

Kanpla FAQs

Our new catering team is now providing all meals in College including lunch, and we have introduced Kanpla to make lunchtime simpler and more flexible for the St Cross community. The FAQs below explain how Kanpla works, how to register, and what you need to know when buying lunch in College.

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Kanpla is the catering system that all St Cross members will need to register with, in order to make purchases at hall lunch or in the cafe. Once you have registered your account and included all your dietary requirements, these will be held on file for the catering team. You can then scan your personalised QR code from the app at the tills to unlock your personal membership pricing. 

To join Kanpla for St Cross dining you will need to use the personalised link for your account, that can be found in the email invitation your received at the end of 2025.

Email mealbooking.queries@stx.ox.ac.uk to request a joining link, we will need your full name, email address and membership category eg. Student, Governing Body Fellow, MCR etc.  

Whilst we recommend using the app for a smoother, quicker transaction in hall, you don’t have to download the app itself. Instead you can sign up using the web browser, ignore the prompts to download the app and set up your account on your chosen browser. Once your account is live, the till operator will be able to look you up via your name in the system so even if your forget your phone or you prefer not to use the app, you’ll be able to come to lunches! 

Your account authorises your member benefits automatically via your unique user set up. If you don’t set up an account either via the app or via the browser, we cannot lookup your account and will need to request your member status every time you want to take meals in hall. From September 2026, Kanpla will also be where you book dinners, if you don’t have an authorised account you will not be able to book in for dinners.  

The app requires a stable internet connection, we recommend being connected to WIFI when in hall to ensure the best connection. If you’re still experiencing issues, please try force closing the application or deleting and re-installing. If you continue to experience issues with the app then please report it via your application platform as the app is managed by Kanpla, not St Cross.

Email mealbooking.queries@stx.ox.ac.uk who will look into this for you. To note, as part of our catering review, we have reviewed dining entitlements to ensure they reflect student bursaries, fellowship and college responsibilities. You may notice that your Kanpla status differs from your usual college status. This is because additional college roles and bursaries carry specific dining benefits, which are now reflected in your Kanpla account and may supersede standard college membership settings. If you received an alternative member type in kanpla, you should have received an email confirming your entitlement from the Domestic Bursar, if you are unsure, please contact the mealbooking.queries@stx.ox.ac.uk. 

Email mealbooking.queries@stx.ox.ac.uk who will look into this for you. 

You will notice multiple till points in hall- this is to help with queue busting and reflects the new buildable pricing model. However, if you know you’d like the usual 3 course meal option, please just let the till operator know at you’re the first till you go to and they will process this via one transaction for you- then when you visit the next station you’ll be able to show your complete payment in account history on your app. 

For dinners – the process remains the same as in previous terms/years.  

For Breakfast/Brunch/Lunch - please inform the till operator as to what guest type they are (Ox Uni Student etc) and they will apply to corresponding pricing structures. If your guest is college or fellowship hospitality allowances, please ensure you let the till operator know as they will manually apply to entitlement to your account. Please do not pay for guests using your main account, it must be under a guest account. 

If you are intending to bring more than 3 guests to lunch, please inform the catering team in advance via mealbooking.queries@stx.ox.ac.uk

Theres a feedback form in the app and physical forms in hall. The team are also always happy to receive verbal feedback, look for any member in a green t-shirt to chat about all things food and hall!  

Not yet – Currently all halls and dinners in college should still be booked through the Meal Booking system as usual, however we plan to move this process over to the Kanpla in due course.  

Special Dinners and Feasts

Special Dinners and Feasts

The College hosts regular formal dinners for its members, as well as feast and tasting dinners throughout the year. Members are welcome to book up to 3 guests to dinners, with the exception of feasts, which are reserved for members only. 

Formal Dinner types:

  • Special Dinners feature a set 3 course menu and includes a pre-dinner drinks reception in the common room. 
     
  • Special Black-Tie Special Dinners are a 4 course menu and includes a pre-dinner drinks reception in the common room. Members are encouraged to wear black tie. 
     
  • Feasts are a 5 course menu, and includes a pre-dinner drinks reception in the common room. Members are encouraged to wear black tie and gowns.
     
  • Tasting Dinners are where our catering team really show off, a 7 course extravaganza of culinary creation, includes a pre-dinner champagne reception in the common room. 
     

Booking is essential for all these events and happnes twice per term (Week 0 and Week 3) . As they are popular, they quickly get booked up once open. Please indicate any dietary or seating preferences at time of booking. Premium wine pairings available to pre-book (£24, three glasses minimum plus a top up). Alternatively, members attending a college hall or dinner, may purchase drinks by the glass in the bar ahead of their meal and take them upstairs to finish with their meal.

Please visit the events page for formal dinners, feasts and tasting dinner dates and booking.

Dining Price List

Dining Price List

Evening Meals
Hall Students and their OU guests £16.00
Guests of students £19.20 (inc. VAT)
Senior members and their guests £21.40 (incl. VAT)
     
Dinner Three-course Special Dinner Student  £30 (incl. VAT)
Three-course Special Dinner Fellow £36 (inc. VAT)
Four-course Special Dinner Student £34 (incl. VAT)
Four-course Special Dinner Fellow £41 (incl. VAT)
Wine & Non-Alcoholic Wine Option £24 (incl. VAT)
     
Feasts Senior Members £41 (incl. VAT)
Students  £34 (incl. VAT)
     
Supervisors' Dinner Student + supervisor £16.00 (incl. VAT)
The Meal Booking System

Using the Meal Booking System

From January 2026, lunch in hall does not require an advance booking. Members may walk in and pay on the day at the tills in hall. Members must download the app Kanpla from their individual email invite (due to be circulated on Friday 12 December). If you are having trouble downloading the app, or did not receive an invite yet, please contact: Mealbooking.queries@stx.ox.ac.uk

Booking for dinners:

The College's meal booking system allows members to book online onto Halls, Special Dinners, Feasts, wine tasting and other internal events in advance. When booking onto meals, you can also add dietary requirements and guest details.

How do I log in?

If you are a member of the College (student, Fellow, MCR) you can register an account at the login page. To book for College dinners, use your booking system login and password, then select the date and time to process your booking. Make sure to Log in/Register before processing your order.

If you are having trouble logging in, or any other queries, please contact: Mealbooking.queries@stx.ox.ac.uk

Instructions

Step-by-step instructions on using the meal booking system are available using a PDF file here.

Dining Terms and Conditions

All of the below terms and conditions for booking and dining at St Cross can also be found on the Annual Calendar.

If you have any queries please contact mealbooking.queries@stx.ox.ac.uk 

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  • Bookings close for Tuesday Halls on the Thursday prior to the event at 9am, and for Friday Dinners, the Tuesday prior to the event. Please see the website for all other individual event dates. 
     
  • All dinner and event bookings should be made online at St Cross Meal booking and must be paid for at time of purchase.
     
  • Members must specify all dietary requirements & names before the Event/Dinner booking closes. If provided after booking closes we cannot guarantee we will be able to accommodate these changes. Requests must be made to mealbooking.queries@stx.ox.ac.uk no later than 1 working day before the dinner. 
     
  • Changes on the night are at the discretion of the catering team and are subject to availability.
     
  • For Evening Meals, allergen and dietary cards will be provided to those who have signed up with a dietary requirement if your declared requirement requires a change to the standard menu. These must be displayed throughout the dinner. Please note the card may not denote your diet, rather it reflect what meal you will be served to accommodate that dietary requirement.
     
  • Please note that all catering and bar opening times are subject to change. Any changes will be communicated with at least 24hours notice. 

  • Members can bring up to 3 guests for Halls, Special Dinners and Tasting Dinners. Guest names must be declared at point of booking.
     
  • St Cross Members must meet guests at the Porters’ Lodge and guests must be accompanied by a member at all times. 
     
  • If you wish to sell your ticket to another St Cross student, you must submit this information before booking closes to mealbooking.queries@stx.ox.ac.uk.  
     
  • Guests are welcome with a St Cross member - non-St Cross members cannot attend dinners without a St Cross host. 
     
  • The minimum age at all Evening Meals is 16+, charged at the adult rate. Children under 16 are only permitted at Family Hall. 
     
  • Children are welcome to attend all lunches at the College. Those under 12 are free of charge and do not need to be booked in. Children over the age of 12 will be charged at the adult rate. 

  • Please arrive 15 minutes early for all Dinners to allow time to be seated.
     
  • There is no seating plan for Tuesday Halls but you should arrive with those you wish to sit with. Please note seating is on a first come, basis. Please do not leave gaps on the table, fill in all the places to allow us to fit more members in. 
     
  • For dinners where seating plans are used (specials, black tie, feasts and tasting dinners) please ensure you include seating requests in the additional details box at point of order. Requests after the bookings close cannot be accommodated.  
     
  • Wine is sold in a number of ways:  

    • “Paired with meal” for Special Dinners, Feasts, Tasting Dinners & Governing Body Dinners, which means our Wine Steward will pair a wine with each course on the allocated menu. 

    • By the bottle for Tuesday Hall in advance via our booking platform 

    • By the glass/bottle on the night of all Tuesdays Hall from the college bar. 

  • Family Hall is open once a term to all ages and College welcomes families to join with us. 
     
  • The evening starts at 5pm with a family activity, and dinner served at 6pm. 
     
  • When booking please specify if you need a highchair. Please note we have limited furniture for young children. 
     
  • Please specify your child’s age in their booking. Under 12’s will be charged at the rate of £6 each for catering. 12+ will be considered an adult for catering purposes. 
     
  • Where you have a specific dietary need (such as formula or baby food), please be aware that we cannot warm bottles etc. We will also need to provide a waiver for you to bring in additional food, which can sent to you via email. Please send a request to mealbooking.queries@stx.ox.ac.uk and we will provide this for you and book your child in for free. 

  • This dinner is intended to allow Postgraduate Research (DPhil and MRes) students to invite their supervisors to dinner. 
     
  • Please arrange to meet your supervisor at the drinks reception and arrive together at the dinner as there is no table plan and seating is on a first come, basis. Please do not leave gaps on the table, fill in all the places.