As the contract of Sodexo will expire by the end of this semester, five dining hall vendors—including Sodexo itself who planned to renew their contract—took turns to present the Brandeis Community food samples in the past week. I had a chance to taste three of the five vendors last week, by which I will give each of them a detailed review below.

*Disclaimer: this is completely personal and might be judgemental

Nexdine:

As the first vendor that I had a chance to taste, the fancy look of the food packaging–well-designed plastic containers with customized stickers—wowed me at first impression. According to the standard of my Asian taste, the Kimbap (Korean-style sushi rolls) surprised me because this is something I have never seen at Brandeis tables (or even heard of at other college dining halls). Although frankly speaking, the unseasoned rice stuffed inside the seaweed was quite plain and the roll had a saggy taste overall, seeing this kind of unprecedented food on a college dining server’s table was still surprising in a good way.

What Nexdine truly impressed me was its detox water. With chopped pineapple and crushed mint soaking inside coconut water in a fancy plastic bag container, you can imagine one of those drinks being sold for $6.99 plus tax on Newbury Street. But today you can actually get it free in your college dining hall with a qualifying taste. I could actually taste the fruitiness from it, compared to the smell-less, tasteless, meaningless detox water from Sherman—well, I know the bar is low.

AVI:

My favorite one. Compared to other vendors’ ready-made food, AVI presented their food fresh and hot off of the stove. The menu was mind-blowing: lobster mac n cheese, wagyu burger, wagyu fried rice … Although the reality of wagyu was in doubt, the mini-size serving of all dishes in delicate wood-like containers was something I have never experienced. The chickpea hummus with a softshell was also classy. It was like having an omakase—a fancy Japanese dining style in which you get to sit face-to-face with the chef, who cooks you the minimum portion of food made out of the freshest high-end ingredients.

Bon Appetit:

As someone who spent the first of her 14 years of life growing up in China, the bubble tea from Bon Appetit reminded me of my childhood—no, I’m not talking about how authentic it was. I am talking about the over-sweetness of the tea and the mixture of overly-food-colored boba, and how they reminded me of the powder-made drink sold right across my elementary school in early 2010s China.

The chicken sandwich was also disappointing. The bread was toasted into a hard-as-stone texture, but the patty was cold and no longer crisp. The dressing was also flavorless. I was sure that it must have been made earlier that morning. To make an inadequate metaphor, the bread was the tomb of the chicken patty, and this sandwich was the tomb of my tastebuds.

Conclusion

Overall, the performance of all the vendors was beyond my expectations. Each of the three vendors had at least one dish that surprised me, either by the taste or by the creativeness. There have been conspiracy theories that all of them gave their best to win the bid, but how the actual food tastes like next year would be a different story, just like how Sodexo did (I didn’t go to their session but I heard the food taste exactly like Sherman but looked so much fancier). However, after getting tired of Sodexo food for years, it would be no doubt all the Brandesians need is to have a sense of newness in their future meals.