The Mensa is the university’s canteen, open to both students and staff. The food here is subsidised and therefore very low-priced.

The Mensa building (D4 1 on the campus map) is situated on a little hill just above the MPI-INF. The building has quite a remarkable design of coloured concrete (it won an architecture prize in the sixties), so you can’t miss it.

The Mensa offers lunch from Mondays to Fridays.
In the Mensacafé on the ground floor, you can have breakfast and lunch from Mondays to Fridays. During the semester, they also serve dinner.

There are different categories of food: Komplettmenü (a non-vegetarian set meal with soup, salad, main course and dessert), Vegetarisches Menü (a vegetarian set meal without meat or fish, with salad, main course and dessert) and a Freeflow area (single courses from which you can assemble your lunch, slightly more expensive than the other categories) with low fat meals, low priced Tellergericht meals (a single plate with a main course and a side dish) and a salad, vegetable or pasta buffet (where you pay by weight).

The easiest way for paying in the Mensa is to use your student identity card, which you can charge with money at machines on the ground floor and upstairs. In case you forgot your student identity card, you can pay cash at the registers close to the free-flow area.

You can find the menu (updated weekly) and the opening hours on the website of the Studentenwerk.

Right in front of the Max Planck Institute building E 1.4 you can find iCoffe where you can buy snacks and sit outside.

There are several other cafés and restaurants on campus, e.g. AC (Ausländercafé), Canossa, KHG-Café, Juristencafé, Unique, Starbooks, etc.
You can see all menus online.