Vanbrugh House Hotel, St Michael's Street

The Vanbrugh House Hotel has been a fixture in St Michael's Street for a while now, but the only time I'd previously been in, a couple of years ago, was to point to the reception staff it might be better if they stopped calling their restaurant a 'brassiere' (sic) on the sign outside. Not the kind of thing I do normally, but it had been annoying me for months. I think the rather uninterested response (though they did say it was about to be changed) was one reason why I didn't proceed to try the restaurant, but as I continued to walk past I decided that two courses for £9.95/three for £12.95 sounded like a good deal, and at least there was no underwear involved.

Bamboo, Park End Street

Frideswide Square isn't one of Oxford's more glamorous locations: it's a place to be hurried through, on the way to or from the station. It is home to the well-regarded Dosa Park, though - and also to Bamboo, a Korean restaurant that occupies the ground floor of the aspirationally-named Royal Oxford Hotel.

1855, Oxford Castle

1855 was, apparently, a seminal year for French winemakers, as it saw the introduction of a new classification system for top Bordeaux wines and the châteaux where they were made. 2013, meanwhile, marked the opening of Oxford Castle's 1855, described on its website as a 'wine bar bistro', which has over the past year has become something of a destination for local oenophiles. Run by a knowledgeable team, it certainly feels different from - and in many ways superior to - most of Oxford's other bars. But this review is not going to be about wine, but food.

The Great Oxford Dumpling-Off

If you're in Gloucester Green on a Wednesday or Thursday, around lunchtime, the chances are you will see a lot of people with plastic forks and beige polystyrene boxes. These don't contain kebabs; during the day, Oxford's tastes extend further east. Gloucester Green market, once home merely to the famous momo van, now hosts no fewer than four stalls offering Chinese, Japanese and Tibetan dumplings. I tend to visit one or other, often influenced by not much more than relative queue lengths, but now I've decided to be - a bit - objective.

My Sichuan, Gloucester Green

Even though My Sichuan hasn't occupied the old school house in Gloucester Green for that long, several effusive reviews in national newspapers have acclaimed its authentic, spicy and slightly esoteric cuisine. I've talked to people locally who corroborated them. So perhaps we were unlucky - but we found it hard to see what the fuss was about.

Itsu, Cornmarket

On a working day, finding lunch can create challenges. Of course, those of us who don't have access to a canteen would ideally be bringing in a healthy and interesting packed lunch every day, but life isn't always that simple. So that leaves the bought sandwich, but eating filled bread can seem monotonous after a while.

St Giles' Café, St Giles'

I feel a bit sorry for the people running the all new St Giles' Café. An internet search for their establishment produces numerous references to its former incarnation as an old-fashioned greasy spoon: only at the bottom of the page does the new owner's website appear. Well, here's one more hit.

Bill's, St Michael's Street

It was the desserts that did it. After a few weeks of walking past and being tempted by a menu that included lemon meringue pie cheesecake, warm mini doughnuts and marmalade and brown bread ice cream, I had to try Bill's. 

Ashmolean Dining Room, Beaumont Street

I was going to begin this review with some thoughts on being a provincial food blogger: given that most Oxford restaurants charge less than their London equivalents, should we expect lower quality, or at least less finesse? Or does good food come at a more reasonable price outside the capital? I thought that the restaurant at the Ashmolean, which after its high-profile opening in 2009 was hailed as a significant new addition to the Oxford dining scene and reviewed in most national newspapers, would be an ideal testing-ground for my theories. Unfortunately, though, my experience there was disappointing by any standards.

Combibos, Gloucester Green

I've been busy recently so I thought I'd do a quick review of somewhere well known to me and to many other people who regularly pass through Gloucester Green. With its crumpled newspapers, genuinely friendly staff, and the lowest and squashiest sofas in Oxford (from which you have to peer up at the person opposite you), Combibos always has a pleasingly familiar feel.

The Big Bang, Castle Quarter

The original Big Bang in Jericho closed in August 2011 and is currently a building site. It wasn't easy for Oxford's only sausage and mash restaurant to find a replacement venue but a few months ago it reopened in the Castle Quarter. How is it faring in its new surroundings?

St Aldates Tavern, St Aldate's

I admit I was a tiny bit cynical about the St Aldates tavern. Another city centre pub, part of a bigger group (although you wouldn't know it), claiming to serve fresh, seasonal dishes? Aren't there enough of those already? But I was impressed by the good food and relaxed service, and the independent, busy feel of the place.

Byron Burgers, George Street

I'm not sure when burgers got so popular in the UK. When I was younger they were cheap, squashy but strangely delicious things you had in McDonald's as an end-of-term treat (until BSE happened, anyway). At some point they must have started turning up on pub menus and now there are whole websites devoted to them and several chains claiming to produce the 'best burger in town' at a price that would have bought at least half a dozen Happy Meals in the early 90s.

Organic Deli Cafe, Friars Entry (breakfast)

I’m not sure how interesting an ‘Oxford Review of Breakfasts’ would be: most of the time one cafe’s £5 fry-up looks very much like another’s. But there are a few places that devote more creativity and care to the first meal of the day. I’d noticed the loaves of expensive but tasty-looking bread in the windows of the Organic Deli Cafe in the passageway between Magdalen Street and Gloucester Green but had never thought to try eating there until I heard the rumour that they did a very good breakfast. The rumour was correct.

Gino's, Gloucester Green

Gino's is not found in one of Oxford's more glamorous locations: situated amid the glorious 80s brickwork of Gloucester Green, it affords an excellent view of the bus station. Still, the garish turquoise exterior hides a rather pleasant dining room with an impressive map of Italy on the the ceiling and in any case the restaurant is usually busy and offers a good value 'two courses [or, more precisely, one and a half] with a drink for £8' lunch deal. However, our meal didn't exactly outshine the surroundings.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen, George Street

I can be a bit inconsistent sometimes. Only the other week I was complaining about all the chains on George Street and here I am reviewing one. In my defence, GBK isn't quite like any other restaurant in Oxford and has enough quirks (good and bad) to make it worth commenting on.

Cafe Opium, George Street

George Street is not Oxford's most promising location for eating out. There are a couple of good cafes (Granola and the OFS) and Byron Burgers are opening there in the summer but otherwise it's mainly standard high-street chains and pubs - and Cafe Opium. While I'm not sure my meal there was quite good enough to redeem George Street entirely, it was certainly more characterful than most of the other options nearby.

Crisis Skylight cafe at the OFS, George Street

A few days ago Starbucks had a special gimmick for a morning - you got a free coffee if you introduced yourself to the staff. This was advertising the fact that from now on they'll be taking customers' names, so that each hot drink can be matched more easily to the person who ordered it. Being a privacy-loving, sporadically misanthropic kind of person, that was enough to make me resolve to avoid buying coffee in Starbucks in future (which will save me all of about £3 a year). Still, this post won't debate the respective merits of big chains and small coffee shops, but will focus on a new(ish) Oxford establishment which is definitely worthy of your custom.

Makan La, St Michael's Street

There are restaurants that I want to like. The omens for Makan La were good. It's tucked away in St Michael's Street, an escape route from Cornmarket with a good pub and some characterful buildings (and the Oxford Union and the homeless shelter on either side as a nice illustration of the two extremes of Oxford life). Underneath its English cousin the Nosebag, and staffed by one rather laconic waiter, the restaurant feels like a tearoom but actually serves a menu of reasonably priced Malaysian food until quite late in the evening. I'd love to say that this is a great local standby, good for a quick dinner when you can't be bothered to cook, but we left quite disappointed, for several reasons.

Momo, Gloucester Green

The disappointment of the great dim sum debacle has left me all the more keen to find some decent dumplings. Oxford does boast a couple of restaurants that claim to do proper dim sum but, before I'd got round to going, a friend told me about a mysterious 'Chinese dumplings van' that used to be found at Gloucester Green market on certain days. Further investigations and some on-the-spot research revealed the truth: the dumplings - 'momos' - are actually Tibetan and Nepalese-style, and the van of the same name appears on market day - Wednesday.