Gardies

The Gardenia (known colloquially as Gardies or "Gardi's") is a takeaway restaurant near Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. The shop, located on Rose Crescent, is well known to most students at the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University. The owner, Vasilis Anastasiou, covers the walls with pictures of student-customers.

Menu

The menu comprises mainly traditional Greek dishes such as souvlaki and Dolma, but also items like chips or pizza.

Lease Renewal

In 2003, the landlords, Gonville and Caius College, announced that after the restaurant's lease, due to expire in 2005, ran out it would not be renewed and student accommodation would be built in its place. The student newspaper Varsity launched a campaign to 'Save Gardies'. A petition sponsored by the newspaper received more than 8000 signatures including those of MP Michael Portillo and comedian Stephen Fry. The college decided to allow Gardies to stay until 2011. The decision inspired not only widespread jollity but also Gardi's: The Opera, a comic musical which premiered at the Fitzpatrick Hall Theatre, , on 9th November 2005, running for four nights. The opera was performed twice more the following summer, at the Cambridge Union, on the 17th and 18th June 2006.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu