Thirstplace, 25th January 2008

UEA Sportspark

University of East Anglia

Norwich

Norfolk

NR4 7TJ

01603 592398

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There's something nice about swimming pool cafes. Maybe it's the smell of chlorine, or perhaps it's the feeling that you've actually earnt the chocolate muffin(s) you're about to eat. Once seated in the cafe, as diners you're all in the same sporty boat. Never mind the fact that you've just spent forty minutes thrashing around ungracefully in the pool, that's no longer relavent. You're an athlete. Sort of. Still, you never expect the food to be anything more than average. Frozen pastry goods, shipped in from outside vendors and microwaved til near death. A wide plethora of unhealthy, fried products to replenish all those spent calories, the same familiar story. This is why Thirstplace is all the more surprising, it's far better than it has any right to be. It's not just good by swimming pool cafe standards, it's good by restaurant standards. The menu is adventurous, chicken and mushroom linguine, cajun chicken stirfry, goat's cheese salad and parma ham are just a few of the dishes available. There is of course, no getting away from the fact that you're eating in the same standard swimming pool cafe-esque surroundings. From the restaurant, you can see straight in to area of the Sportspark where they have rock climbing taking place on a large synthetic wall. It grabs your attention, you can't not look at it, it's like a traffic pile up on a motorway. Some of these climbing enthusiasts are complete lunatics, climbing with no safety gear what so ever with their crazy facial hair, bead necklaces, wifebeaters and a complete disregard for their own health. Whether you consider this adjacent freak show a positive or negative addition to your dining experience is really down to personal preference.

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I ordered a burger, I was in the mood for one. Given the other more elaborate options, I felt almost dirty for doing so, but I stuck to my guns and went for it. £5.10 for the standard burger with chips and onion rings plus two toppings from the menu which included mushrooms, bacon and cheese amongst other things was the deal on offer. First impressions, it was massive. Huge. Gargantuan. It came inside a large ciabatta, and as a whole was equivalent in size and weight to the hardback edition of the final Lord of the Rings novel. It came with a mountain of chips, but crucially no ketchup. That was extra. In my mind, condiments should be free, or included. It's just unecessary penny pinching in my mind. This small quibble aside, it was perfect, if anything the only issue was that there was too much of it. By the time I'd finished it, I was in no mood to swim and barely capable of walking home. This is probably more a result of my perception of the burger as a challenge to my masculinity than a fault of the restaurant itself.

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Verdict: Overall, brilliant value for really quite exceptional food given what you might expect. The surroundings aren't exactly in keeping with the food on offer, presumably they want to showcase the quality of the Sportspark to as many people as possible, but it's still an interesting addition. Even if you aren't the sporty type, it's almost worth paying the 50 pence spectator charge just to get in to the restaurant, a brilliant find.