At Southampton Crossings, we asked our international students where are the best places to eat, shop and visit when they are missing home food.

I hope you’re feeling hungry, because we have listed some of the top restaurants in Southampton to eat and shop during your stay here. International students take note, if you are missing homecooked food, you’ll find a few places you’ll have to try out this weekend.

Top International restaurants in Southampton.

We have listed the top Asian restaurants in Southampton, offering the delicious Asian food, tried and tested by our residents.

Xionggi | 186-188 Portswood Road, Portswood, Southampton SO17 2NJ | 15 minute bus trip

To help you find the top Chinese restaurants in Southampton, visit Xionggi. Xionggi offers Chinese hot pot which is recommended by lots of our international residents.

Hotpot is a dish with a bubbling pot of broth, and you cook meats and vegetables in the broth. They also offer a sauce station to make your own custom dipping sauce.

Xionggi hotpot cooking is inherited from traditional handicraft of the early 1940s from the Sichuan and Chongquin provinces.

Nara | 82D Bedford Place, Southampton SO15 2BX | 2 min walk

Nara Japanese restaurant Southampton has been voted the top sushi restaurant in Southampton by our students on site. Votes for its good value, and excellent sushi. They offer bento boxes which include a mixture of sushi, gyozas and hot foods. If you visit, the salmon teriyaki comes highly rated.

Ordinary Japanese Taste with Special Recipe. Even though Nara have hundreds of dishes, their aim is to make traditional and delicious food with fresh and simple ingredients. A dish requires many steps from preparation to finish.

Watermark West Quay | West Quay Shopping Centre SO15 1QF | 15 min walk

Whether you are looking for Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Italian, Indian, Mexican or Continental food, you’ll be spoilt for choice – even the fussiest eater is challenged to find something they don’t like at Watermark West Quay.

COSMO prides itself on offering excellent choice and value in welcoming and luxurious surroundings including a Chinese buffet restaurant in Southampton. Other buffets include thai, korean, indian, traditional British, Spanish and lots more. This restaurant is the perfect place to eat with friends and family. The live cooking stations provide not only the entertainment, the sounds and aromas but also freshly cooked dishes straight to your plate. Best of all, you can eat as much as you’d like for a set price.

Other eateries that we highly recommend in Watermark West Quay include Zizzis (Italian) and Thaikun (Thai Street Food).

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International markets in Southampton.

U-Market | 12 Bedford Place, Southampton SO15 2DB | 2 min walk

U-Market is the closest international food market to Southampton Crossings. It specialises in Chinese goods and is thoroughly recommended by our students.

Hai Bao | 6-8 Civic Centre Road, Southampton SO14 7FL | 5 min walk

Hai Bao is a great supermarket to stock up on your hotpot supplies whilst you are studying in the UK. With only a short 5 minute walk from our accommodation you can easily pop in to this store on the way back from university to pick up a tasty dinner after a long day of studying.

International Foods | 164 – 168 Portswood Road, Portswood, Southampton| 15 min U1C bus

International Foods market offers a Halal butches, a wide selection of international fruit and vegetables along with great choice of other cupboard staples.

British Supermarkets | M&S Food, Waitrose, Lidl & ASDA

Lots of our students shop at M&S and Waitrose, but on the budget side there’s a LIDL only a 15 minute walk away, and an ASDA a 10 minute walk away, ASDA have a great selection of international food offerings.

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Places to visit in Southampton.

Waterside | Accessible by the U1C | 15 min bus ride

Waterside Southampton has a lot of great places to visit, here are three of our resident’s faves.

• Mayflower Park – pretty and right by the waterside.
• Historical spots: The Watergate ruin, Canute’s place, Medieval Merchant’s House, and perfect for photos.
• Ocean Village: Lots of great restaurants, Mango, Banana Wharf, Bacaro and the Harbour Lights Picture House – Arthouse Cinema.

Southampton Common | 20 min walk | 10 min bus

The Southampton Common is a great place to visit, it has war graves, a duck pond, an ornamental lake and reservoir and lots of places to take great photos. If you find yourself wanting a day out in the summer, you’ll find it filled with ice cream vans, concerts and funfairs.

Our students love coming here to relax and have some much needed fun.

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Have you sorted your accommodation for September yet?

Southampton Crossings. Hassle-free, all bills included student accommodation in the heart of Southampton.

You can choose from En-suite rooms arranged into four, five and six-bedroom cluster flats. With your own private bathroom and shared kitchen. Also available are our self-contained studios with their own kitchen and bathroom if you’d prefer something more private.

Life at Southampton Crossings could never be described as slow; not with the large selection of facilities on-site for you to use to socialise with flatmates and friends, or if you want time to yourself – you can always find somewhere to just be.

As always with Host, there’s a dedicated maintenance team who will take care of any issues that may crop up during your time with us. You can therefore focus on having the best student experience.

Book a virtual viewing today with our team to see for yourself.

And don’t forget our current promotions.

No Place no Pay | Book a room at Southampton Crossings today, but if you don’t obtain the grades you need for university and no longer require the room, you won’t pay a penny.

No Visa No Pay | Book a room at Southampton Crossings today, but if you don’t get your Visa approved for studying in the UK, and no longer require the room, you won’t pay a penny.