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The Fleece, Witney

3:30pm Wednesday 23rd September 2009

Christopher Gray reports on a fine birthday dinner at The Fleece in Witney

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The Goose at Britwell Salome

3:54pm Wednesday 16th September 2009

An unassuming brick and flint pub – as it no longer really is – in an sparsely populated corner of Oxfordshire has proved to be a centre of gastronomic excellence in the opening years of the 21st century. The Goose at Britwell Salome first attracted attention when its chef Michael North propelled it to star status in the Michelin Guide four years ago, making it the only starred establishment in the county then apart (of course!) from Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, and himself (at 26) the country’s youngest chef to be thus honoured.

In the best of taste

1:48pm Thursday 20th August 2009

Denise Barkley enjoys an evening of refined dining at a genteel Cotswolds hotel

• Dormy House Hotel

Exuberant debut for The Restaurant winners

1:43pm Thursday 20th August 2009

Denise Barkley is among the first diners as TV’s The Restaurant winners Russell Clement and Michele English launch the The Cheerful Soul eaterie

The Dog House, Frilford Heath

1:20pm Wednesday 19th August 2009

It was a Wednesday night, and the large car park at the Dog House was full, save for one single space. Occupying this were half a dozen people, all poring over sheets of paper as if sitting an examination. As they stepped aside to allow us access, I realised what was happening. “A treasure hunt?”, I called to a chap in an open top car. “No a scatter, ” he replied, clearly in the expectation I would understand what was meant. I didn’t.

The Tollgate, Kingham

2:53pm Wednesday 12th August 2009

The high profile enjoyed by the Kingham Plough – where Emily Watkins, a one-time Fat Duck colleague of Heston Blumenthal’s, tickles the tastebuds of discerning customers – has tended to overshadow the achievements of the other pub in a village once voted the favourite in England by readers of Country Life magazine. I confess that I was unaware of how good The Tollgate is – or even of its existence – until last week. Now I am delighted to sing the praises of a place that has been admired by locals for a long time. It has, after all, been run in the same style for four years by owners Paul and Annie Smith.

Michael's Kitchen, Gloucester Green, Oxford

2:14pm Wednesday 5th August 2009

Only the very oldest of my readers will remember The Old School in Gloucester Green when it actually was a school, for it was as long ago as 1934 that the last whining schoolboys with their satchels and shining morning faces crept like snails towards it. Its days as an academic institution had been short lived. The school had opened in 1900 with little fanfare since the building was considered so ugly that the Press were kept away from the ceremony.

Cibo! South Parade, Summertown, Oxford

9:52am Thursday 30th July 2009

Nearly seven years have passed – though it hardly seems possible to me – since I enthusiastically reviewed the Italian restaurant Cibo! shortly after its opening in premises in South Parade once occupied by the Co-op. Odd name, South Parade, incidentally, since it lies well north of North Parade. This has to do with the Civil War. As the invaluable (if sometimes implausible) Wikipedia puts it: “When Charles I was besieged by Oliver Cromwell at Oxford, North Parade was the location of the Royalist northern front, whereas South Parade was the Roundhead southern front during the siege of Oxford.” So now you know . . .

The Cartwright Arms, Aynho

2:53pm Wednesday 22nd July 2009

I shall state straightaway that one visit for dinner has left me very impressed with the Cartwright Hotel in Aynho. I liked the ‘feel’ of the place and the good taste shown in its decor; I admired the variety, presentation and good value of the food, in its ‘market menu’ offerings especially; I appreciated the warmth and courtesy shown by members of the waiting staff, one of the politest of whom turned out to come from Hungary — a first for me in these days of true internationalism in our nation’s catering establishments.

Loch Fyne, Walton Street, Oxford

11:42am Thursday 16th July 2009

I can vouch for the vigour and thoroughness with which the end-of-evening cleaning is done at Oxford’s newly refurbished Loch Fyne restaurant, in Walton Street. This is because Rosemarie and I were obliged to witness it during fully half of our Friday night dinner there. Customers who do not wish to feel quite so involved with the ‘engine room’ might be well advised to book a slightly earlier table than we did. Say 7pm.

Ringing the changes at the Bell at Hampton Poyle

9:52am Thursday 25th June 2009

‘It’s a pub that doesn’t sell food because its customers don’t want it,” I wrote 22 years ago about The Bell, a tiny one-room local at Hampton Poyle. If only its then landlord Ernie Soanes could see the place today!

The Merry Miller at Cothill

3:43pm Wednesday 17th June 2009

was going to prove a memorable dish indeed. Nevertheless, I pressed on, hoping that the spoonfuls that followed were going to be more easy to swallow. They weren’t. This was memorably awful soup. After three or four mouthfuls I gave up. It had been a bit like trying to eat the bristles of a brush.

Wild about Wild Thyme

12:42pm Wednesday 3rd June 2009

The commitment to local produce demonstrated by Chipping Norton’s excellent new restaurant Wild Thyme can hardly extend, for obvious reasons, to produce from the sea. The town is said to be as far from the coast as you can get in England, so the definition of local would have to be flexible indeed to embrace such delights as the juicy pearl-white turbot I enjoyed on my first visit or the delicious crab that preceded it.

The Indian Room/The Exeter Hall, Oxford Road, Cowley

1:43pm Wednesday 29th April 2009

It is a fact of life today – unpalatable though it is to some – that many pubs of the traditional English style must either adapt or close. The Exeter Hall in Cowley (but only just) is one that has adapted.

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The Bear at Home, North Moreton

5:16pm Wednesday 22nd April 2009

I was first made aware of the good things about the Bear at Home in North Moreton – some of them at least – through an article early last month in The Times.

The Thatch in Thame

5:16pm Wednesday 8th April 2009

Dined on Monday of last week in the Great Hall at Christ Church where the table decoration immediately in front of me was a beautifully detailed silver model of a horse – a trophy awarded until the Second World War at the annual point-to-point races of the Bullingdon Club.

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Gee's, Banbury Road, Oxford

10:22am Thursday 2nd April 2009

I wrote enthusiastically about Gee’s on this page after a memorable birthday dinner there last summer. There need be no apology, however, for my returning so soon to sing its praises once again. With a new chef in charge of the kitchen since December, and appealing new menus introduced under his guidance, this admirable establishment – by some way my favourite upmarket Oxford restaurant – is on a real high at present.

The Plough, High Street, Witney

9:21am Thursday 26th March 2009

I wrote at the end of January about The Lamb at Satwell, and within days it had closed, along with three other eating establishments owned by Antony Worrall Thompson, whose business had been placed in administration. A week later, I visited The Plough, in Witney, in order to review it on this page. Two days before the article was to appear, the pub was badly damaged by fire and forced to close. Could I be carrying a jinx fatal to the catering industry?

The Swan at Ascott, Ascott-under-Wychwood

2:28pm Wednesday 18th March 2009

I don’t often get out to the Wychwoods and for some reason I always seem to take a daft route.

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Oxford Brookes University Restaurant, Gipsy Lane, Oxford

10:38am Thursday 12th March 2009

Reckless in the face of the deepening recession, I lunched on consecutive days last weekend at Quod (superb pollack with winter vegetables each time, since you ask). On both occasions, the place was full to busting.