Kings Cross Cornish Pasty Lunch Picker for Art Students

Crit day is the most nerve-racking day of the week for Isla, Kofi and Mei, three first-year art students who spend their mornings pinning work to walls and waiting for tutors to pull it apart. By lunchtime they are drained, slightly shaky and running low on money. They need something hot, cheap enough to justify, filling enough to last a long afternoon in the studio and easy to eat with charcoal on their fingers. This cornish pasty lunch picker explains how they choose a pasty around Kings Cross and why the canal steps became their spot.

Art school days run long and irregular. Some afternoons are spent standing at an easel, others hunched over a cutting mat, and lunch has to fit into whatever gap appears. A pasty works because it holds heat, fills you up properly and needs no cutlery or table. It is the same reason Cornish miners carried pasties underground for generations: a complete meal sealed in pastry, ready to eat wherever the work happens to be.

Kofi also likes the honesty of it. Beef, potato, swede, onion, pepper and pastry, with nothing pretending to be something else. After a morning of tutors asking what his work really means, a pasty that simply means lunch is a relief. Mei calls it comfort food with a clear brief, which is the highest praise an art student can give.

Students learn quickly that the cheapest option is not always the best value. A pasty that leaves you hungry an hour later means a second snack, which costs more than buying a substantial lunch once. The trio picks the most filling pasty on offer rather than the smallest, and they split a bottle of water and a piece of fruit between them to make it a proper meal.

Another trick is sharing. Isla often buys a large traditional pasty and swaps half with Mei, who chooses a vegetable or cheese and onion version, so both get variety without paying for two. On days when money is especially tight, they bring flasks of tea from the studio kitchen. The pasty is the treat; everything else stays simple.

Around Kings Cross, pasties are sold in station kiosks, bakeries and cafes, and quality varies. The students have developed an eye for it, which suits people trained to look closely. A good pasty has a deep golden, glossy surface and a firm crimp along its side. A pale, soft crust usually means it was baked too long ago or has been sweating in a warmer. Fresh pastry should crackle a little when you press the bag.

Look at the base, too. A soggy bottom is the classic failure, and it matters more when you are eating on stone steps with nowhere to put a dripping pastry down. Weight tells you about the filling, so lift the bag before you pay. If staff can tell you the filling and when the batch came out of the oven, you are probably in a good place. Note that only pasties made in Cornwall to the protected recipe can carry the Cornish pasty name; plenty of good London pasties are simply called traditional.

Once the pasties are bought, the trio heads to Granary Square, the large open space in front of the old Victorian granary building that now houses Central Saint Martins. Wide stone steps lead down to Regent's Canal, and on dry days they fill with students, office workers and visitors eating lunch in the open air. The steps face south, so they catch whatever sun London offers in November.

Sitting by the water after a hard crit has a calming effect. Narrowboats moor along the towpath opposite, joggers and cyclists pass by and the fountains in the square play in neat rows when they are running. Mei likes watching children dodge the jets. Isla prefers the quieter western end of the steps, where she can stretch her legs and finally stop thinking about her tutor's comments.

When there is time to spare, the students take a short loop before heading back. Coal Drops Yard, just north of the square, is a pair of long Victorian buildings that once handled coal arriving by rail, now restored with shops and cafes beneath a striking curved roof. The old brickwork, iron columns and cobbles are a gift for anyone who enjoys drawing texture and structure.

Further along the canal, Gasholder Park sits inside the restored iron frame of a Victorian gas holder, with a circular lawn and a mirrored canopy around the edge. Kofi likes lying on the grass and looking up through the ironwork. It is a peaceful spot for the last few bites of pasty, and only a few minutes' walk from the studios, so nobody risks missing the afternoon session.

Charcoal, ink and paint have a way of ending up on food, so the students keep a pack of wet wipes in their bags. They hold pasties by the crimp, which Cornish folklore says miners did for the same reason: the crust acts as a handle that keeps dirty fingers away from the filling. Some stories say miners threw that crust away, though Kofi refuses to waste any pastry at all.

Keep your work safe as well. Portfolio tubes and paper drawings do not mix with gravy, crumbs or the canal breeze. The trio stacks bags and tubes behind them on the step before opening any food. Seagulls and pigeons patrol the canal area at lunchtime, so do not leave a half-finished pasty unattended while you chase a drawing blown towards the water.

If you study or work around Kings Cross, the Karpo APP can help you shortlist pasty and bakery stops near the station and the canal. Tell it how much time you have, whether anyone is vegetarian and that you want somewhere to sit outdoors, and it will suggest options that fit. It saves the daily debate in the studio about where to go.

Isla, Kofi and Mei now plan their crit-day lunch the night before, which takes one worry off a stressful morning. Whatever the tutors say, there is a warm pasty and a seat by the canal waiting afterwards. Last week Mei got her best feedback of the term, and the three of them celebrated with a second round of pasties on the steps.