Oxford’s Dreamy Pub Scene

Oxford is famed for being a “city of dreaming spires" but it is also home to many dreamy public houses (pubs), which are a popular drinking establishment choice for residents, students and tourists of Oxford.

One of our favourite pubs is The Royal Oak, which is situated along the Woodstock road. It is a short walk from the city centre and offers a wide range of world beers, wines and spirits – including English potato vodka (obviously something not to be missed!) It is a cosy 18th century pub with many small rooms and corners to relax and drink in. I would thoroughly recommend the traditional Sunday lunch, which is very comforting on cold, winter day. 

Another firm favourite is The Trout, a 17th century pub in Wolvercote, North Oxford. This pub is a great summer option with its large terrace which opens onto the river Thames, it is a perfect place to sit and slowly sip on cold drinks on a summer’s day. I would recommend a gin and tonic (double). The Trout is also a form favourite in Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse novels and in the television adaption. You may spot a star here while enjoying a pint!

Another absolute cracker of a pub is the Perch Inn. Ensconced in the heart of beautiful Port Meadow, this 17th Century pub has been a place of much pleasure for all the Oxford community. In the winter months, the blazing wood fire oozes a warm tingly feeling throughout, and in summer its delightful beer garden overlooks the weeping willow trees and meandering waters of the river Thames. The garden also boasts a giant Alice in Wonderland-style chess set and a children's recreation ground to keep the little ones entertained.

Finally, it would be rude to talk about pubs in Oxford without making reference to one of the city centre's finest (and oldest - 13th Century would you believe!). Yes, you've guessed it, it's the Turf Tavern. Anyone who has been (including Bill Clinton, a regular visitor in his University days) will tell you  that this hidden gem has a very special feeling about it.  The mouth watering selection of real ales and the top quality traditional pub food it serves is a killer combo.

I think you will agree that a pub crawl in Oxford is more than just a beer or two in any old boozer. We, at OISE Oxford, see it as a cultural experience which is why it makes a regular appearance on our leisure programme. Even if beer and ale is not your 'cup of tea', grab a pie and a glass of OJ and soak up the traditional vibe of Oxford's Dreamy Pub Scene.

Grab Some Grub in Oxford

Oxford is a lively city with many pubs, bars and restaurants to keep all the locals, students and tourists entertained. Sometimes when you're visiting a city for a short period of time, it's hard to know where to go. Of course, there are online reviews and guide books to point you in the right direction, but wouldn't it be nice to hear what the locals have to say? With this in mind, the OISE Oxford team have chosen three restaurants that they would recommend to all of Oxford’s beloved visitors.

Quod Brasserie

The Quod is conveniently located a very short stroll from OISE Oxford, along the High Street.  It is a popular meeting spot for lunch, afternoon tea, evening dinner and drinks.  It has a friendly, relaxed feel with attentive, smiley staff and the service is quick.  Thee menu choices are varied, though rather limited for vegetarians.  The scones for afternoon tea are just delicious and are a great British treat!  There is a terrace area to the back of the restaurant which is perfect for summer lunches, however as it is heated it can be a year round option for hardy diners!  


Pizzeria Verde

Trattoria Verde is a family-owned Italian restaurant on the Cowley Road situated in East Oxford. They serve excellent food and the staff are very friendly and helpful. I would recommend the Pasta Frutti di Mare (pasta with shell fish), not to mention the delicious selection of thin based pizzas on offer! There are also many other restaurants with cuisine from around the world, including Greek, Morrocan, Indian, Thai and Chinese. While this area of Oxford is not known for being the most historical or traditional, it is very multi cultural, has a lot of character and is home to the majority of Oxford's student population.


Jamie’s Italian

Jamie’s Italian, located in the restaurant hotspot of George St, is a relatively recent addition to Oxford’s food scene. Nevertheless its popularity is evident from the queues of people who can often be seen waiting for a table and its buzzing atmosphere. It is certainly a trendy place to eat with its industrial modern interior, graffitied brick walls and basement dining area. The menu, too, steers away from the traditional Italian staples, experimenting with fresh, new, seasonal dishes and wacky names. It is a little on the pricey side but there is a good choice, friendly service and in my view, it is worth paying a bit extra for the experience.

Warming Beverages for the Weekend

As we get deeper into winter, it is natural to turn to warming drinks for comfort and cheer.  At this time of year the great British pub starts serving a super selection of warm drinks for the discerning punter.  My winter favourites include mulled wine, hot spiced cider and eggnog.  

Indeed, at the weekend to embrace the cold weather and as an offering to a Thanksgiving celebration I decided to make eggnog.  The result was rather mixed...  

Eggnog is a popular drink throughout the United States and Canada, and is usually associated with winter celebrations such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year. 

The origins and the ingredients used to make the original eggnog drink are debated. Eggnog may have originated in East Anglia; or it may have simply developed from a medieval European beverage made with hot milk. The ‘nog’ part of its name may stem from the word noggin, a Middle English term for a small, carved wooden mug used to serve alcohol.  The British drink was also called an Egg Flip.  It was during the 18th century when the drink crossed the Atlantic to North America.

I somewhat followed a combination of two recipes.  It consisted of milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, brandy, rum, nutmeg and also many lumps – which were not included in the original ingredient list.  The lumps I thought added extra texture, but sadly were not to everyone’s taste.  For future attempts I will consider using a sieve.

This weekend I would recommend to all readers to make a warming beverage as the temperature is set to plummet.  Here is a very handy list provided by BBC Food.  At OISE Oxford, we look forward to hearing the results.

"Afternoon Tea" by Stephen Smith

If you consult an English Dictionary, you will find that "tea" can be a drink or a meal.

High Tea is a (usually cooked) meal served in the early evening, when the children come home from school, in place of a somewhat later dinner or supper.

Otherwise, "tea" means Afternoon Tea, normally taken in the late afternoon, consisting of cake and a pot of tea - most often the black English breakfast tea. Popular cakes include crumpets and teacakes - the latter containing dried fruit. Both are eaten hot (the teacakes sliced), with butter.

The Queen, however, of Afternoon Teas is the English Cream Tea, a cornucopia of scones (small, round cakes made from flour, milk and a little fat), jam - most commonly strawberry jam - and thick, clotted cream (ideally, the famous, rich Devonshire clotted cream), again with a pot of tea. You slice the scones, spread a thick layer of jam on each half, and then a thicker layer of clotted cream on top of the jam. Two scones per person will probably suffice. On balance, this mini-feast probably excels even the Great English Breakfast as Britain's finest contribution to the pleasures of the table.

There are tea shops (or Olde Tea Shoppes) in many of our villages, so you can combine this delight - perhaps enjoyed in a typical English garden on a hot summer's day - with vigorous country walk, to burn off any extra calories absorbed.

Although we live in an increasingly global market, good scones, crumpets, teacakes, clotted cream, lemon curd, rhubarb crumble and other English specialities are usually difficult or impossible to find outside their country of origin - so make the most of them whenever you have the chance.

Have your Cake and Eat it!

Whilst British cakes may not have the world-renowned reputation of the French patisserie, they are nonetheless a delightful, and I would say essential, addition to the British diet. Not long ago we did a feature on the afternoon tea and no afternoon tea is complete without a good slice of cake to accompany a steaming cup of tea. As a huge cake fan myself (and I really would be huge if I ate all of the cakes in this blog post), I feel it is my duty to share the very best of British cakes with you so that you too can experience the pleasure of these delicious delicacies. Here are some of our favourites:

The Bakewell Tart (voted by Sam, our Client Manager)

I had the pleasure of visiting the birthplace of this specialty whilst visiting the quaint Derbyshire town of Bakewell, not far from my university in Sheffield. Mr Kipling put icing and a cherry on top of this shortcrust pastry treat, but the Bakewell pudding (a puff pastry and almond paste delicacy) is thought to have been made as a mistake by the cook of Derbyshire landlady Mrs Greaves who misunderstood her instructions.


The Scone (voted by Will, former Sales Executive)


A traditional choice, the humble scone is a must-try for anyone educating themselves in English specialties  Traditionally served topped with jam and clotted cream, the scone is of a bread-like consistency and originates from Scotland. Simple but tasty.



The Eccles Cake (my choice)

This lesser known treat is ram packed with flaky, buttery pastry and currants and can sometimes be topped with demerara sugar. It is named after the English town of Eccles in Manchester.





You may also like to try:- Victoria Sponge, Battenburg, Lemon Drizzle, a Chelsea bun, a Welsh cake or a Fondant Fancy.

Dig in!

Big Brits Bellies Out

In a recent article (Nov 2012) published by The Independent newspaper, 'Britain is the fattest nation is Western Europe, with more than a quarter of the population ranked as obese.'1 

'The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which represents nearly every doctor in the UK, said ballooning waistlines already constituted a "huge crisis".'2 There are a number of illnesses that are increased by obesity, including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, asthma, arthritis and some forms of cancer. Unfortunately, there are no signs of obesity slowing down, either.

So what can we do to prevent this problem? 

Education has to be at the heart of where the problem lies, but there are other factors that are also to blame, including advertising and low prices of unhealthy food and drinks. 

In yesterday's papers, doctors were calling for fizzy drinks to be heavily taxed and for unhealthy food ads to be banned until we have seen a dramatic decrease in the UK's obesity problem. Click on the image above to read the full article.

Applying taxes to unhealthy food and drink, like they do with cigarettes and alcohol, would no doubt have an immediate impact, but would it be a long term solution? For it to have a long term effect, ideally this regulation would also introduce subsidies for fruit, vegetables and other healthy foods, and more access to information in schools around the country to build awareness of the issue.

What are your views on how to tackle the problem of obesity? 
Do you think the government should be able to tax unhealthy food?

Big Bellies and Cheer

Christmas has been and gone and our stomachs are now looking and feeling considerably bigger than a week ago. The crispy Yorkshire puddings and bread crumb sauce were just irresistible, not to mention the juicy traditional Christmas turkey! On a more positive note, our hole ridden socks have now been replaced with brand new ones thanks to Father Christmas' recent visit.

So, it's now time to turn our heads to the New Years Eve celebrations. The man without a plan is frantically scrolling through his mobile phone contacts list to see if there are any parties he can crash, while the ones who already have a plan are hoping it won't be an anticlimax.

Here at OISE Oxford, we wish you all a happy New Year and hope that it is filled with much love, good health and prosperity! We hope this little poem puts a smile on your face:

New Year, Cheers!

The season's tidings have brought much cheer
But the time has come for a brand new year.

2012 has flown by so fast,
At OISE Oxford, we've had a blast.

As we all think of how to best progress,
We wish you all joy and happiness!

The art of British cocktail making

Blue Lagoon, Mai-Thai, Singapore Sling, Last Mango in Paris, Negroni, Woo Woo, Sex on the Beach, Mojito, White Russian, Black Russian, Raging Bison, Cosmopolitan, Margarita, Martini (shaken, not stirred), Long Island Ice Tea, Strawberry Daiquiri  Yes, you've guessed it, these are all names of alcoholic cocktails that are widely consumed throughout the UK the rest of the world.

There are no shortages of cocktail bars in Oxford, either, and there is one bar in particular that deserves a special mention. Raoul's Bar, located 10 minutes walk north of the city centre, has been independently voted as one of the world's top 50 bars of 2012 (Sunday Times Newspaper), and the staff have won a splatter of awards for their expertly made cocktails. One factor that separates them from a lot of other cocktail bars is that they only use fresh fruit rather than artificial purees. This makes all the difference!

The space itself is a bit squashed, but one cannot deny that the cocktails are simply sublime! So, if you are in Oxford, and over the legal drinking age of 18, it's definitely worth a visit. 

When is an appropriate time to start talking about Christmas?

(NOTE: Please listen to this song while reading this blog post)

The office staff at OISE Oxford are torn. Half of us are adamant that we simply cannot start discussing Christmas festivities until at least the beginning of December, while the other half are finding it hard to suppress their bubbling excitement. 

Some of the dangers of starting Christmas too early:

• Too many mince pies can lead to a sharp increase in body mass
• Christmas tunes can lead to acute irritation with everyone around you
• By the time Christmas day arrives, you have already had enough of it all

Personally I can't get enough of it all. The more Christmas related chat, the better. Bring it on, ho ho ho. This Friday the Christmas lights will be turned on in Oxford, and there's an evening of festive cheer to follow. Get your crackers and stockings out and let's have a good time!

The image above is of a character called Scrooge from Charles Dickens' famous novel, A Christmas Carol. Click on the image to read more!

Oktoberfest has come to Oxford!

Thursday marked the start of Oxford's very own beer festival, with over 160 different types of lager and ale to choose from!

Our very own OISE Oxford representative made her way to Oxford's Town Hall yesterday evening, and here's what she had to say:

"A huge choice of ales, a friendly atmosphere in a hall charmingly lit by chandeliers.  There was great mix of people in very "good spirits", and the night went on relatively late by Oxford's standards!"

The festival will be on until Saturday 13/10 and admission is £2. Please click on the image below for more information.