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. 

The Rickety Press, Cranham Street

Another week, another visit to a local restaurant I've been meaning to try for ages. This time I ventured into Jericho's back streets to visit the Rickety Press, one of Oxford's holy trinity of new and popular gastropubs (the others being the Rusty Bicycle, which is under the same management, and the Magdalen Arms).

The Jam Factory, Hollybush Row

Anyone who arrives in Oxford for the first time by train must be unimpressed by the bleakness of Frideswide Square just outside the station. But it is enlivened by the Jam Factory, a splendid brick building where Cooper's Oxford Marmalade was originally produced. It's now made elsewhere, which is rather sad, as a delicious smell of boiling oranges must once have wafted over the city.

Branca, Walton Street

This week, back to Oxford, and to one of those restaurants that I've often meant to visit. Branca in Jericho has been serving Italian food (that's as specific as the menu is) for as long as I've been here, in what its website informs me used to be a Victorian locksmith's premises. It's now been converted into a very smart-looking restaurant, with a pristine and airy interior, ornamented by impressive spiral staircases and an olive tree growing under glass at the back of the room.

[Out of Oxford] Sartori, Covent Garden

Even provincial food bloggers get to go to the big city sometimes. When I set myself the task of finding a decent, reasonably priced restaurant in Covent Garden that wasn't a tourist trap, universally favourable reviews directed me towards Sartori, and fortunately they were not wrong. In fact, I went back with more people two weeks later.

(photo from http://www.sartori-restaurant.com/)

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.

[Out of Oxford] La Perle, Milford-on-Sea

Milford-on-Sea in Hampshire boasts a nice beach and a fine view across to the Isle of Wight, but this seaside village is not an especially appealing place in winter. On a cold evening in February the dark main street was lit up only by the lights of La Perle.