The Oxford Kitchen

Oxford's finnest?

Squab pigeon, confit leg, celeriac purée, pear, pigeon gravy

My recent London escape was a trip to Oxford, and it turned out to be a mission to find a top-level fine dining restaurant in the city. After some extended research online, it appears The Oxford Kitchen is a solid choice with some fantastic reviews from the media, Executive Chef Paul Welburn used to be the head chef at the Michelin starred Rhodes W1 and in typical modern fine dining fashion, it has an a la carte menu and a tasting menu for dinner, and a short lunch menu at a very affordable price (£27.5). The restaurant is located in an area called Summertown, a classy neighborhood on the edge of Oxford, about 10 minutes bus ride from the Oxford city center. 

Pig's head croquette

Cornish crab, curry, compressed apple, radish

Tartare of beef, smoked emulsion, pickled mushrooms

The starter of Cornish crab with curry was an interesting concept, it felt like it has taken a page from the Asian cuisine culture, with the robust profile of the curry worked well with the freshness of the crab, with both the apple and radish offered crispness to the finish. The roasted halibut was clean on the palate but came with bags of delightful tastes, the sweetness of the apple dashi accompany well with the fish, together with the rock samphire and the brown shrimp, it created a pool of refreshing sea aroma and flavours. The squab pigeon was also such a treat, moist and tender, all the ingredients synced up in harmony with the earthiness of the celeriac purée and sourness of the pear.

Roast halibut, apple dashi, kholrabi, rock samphire, brown shrimp

Mandarin, sparkling wine, Grand Marnier custard, lemon thyme

Chocolate cremeux, banana, sesame, yuzu caramel

At £42.5 for a 3-course dinner for this kind of quality, it was indeed good value for money. The mains really stood out for me, less impressive was the two desserts, I felt the level was just not on the same page as the savoury dishes. Overall, with Paul Welburn only just joined recently, the dishes are already at a well-polished level so seems like Oxford Kitchen is heading in the right direction. The website might claim it is a fine dining restaurant but the atmosphere is actually really relaxing, just how I like it. The staff are very friendly and down to earth without the over the top 5 stars hotel style services, it was a great discovery for me and the locals are lucky to have a great restaurant like The Oxford Kitchen.  


Food 3.5/5

What I paid: 
£60 pp with a glass of wine 

Average cost without drinks and services:
£42.5


215 Banbury Rd, Oxford OX2 7HQ

https://www.theoxfordkitchen.co.uk/

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