My annual treat is to go to the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery at St Catz … ( where the college cooks produce stunning menus led by guest chefs ) … the problem is finding anywhere nearby to eat the night before so tips would be most welcome …
Anyone heading to Oxford really needs to eat at Pompette these days. They also have a pretty good (if painfully expensive in places) wine list. Did you get there? I suppose we'll all have to wait for the more detailed piece to find out.
I don’t know much about Oxford, to be honest, despite the fact that my Sister has lived there for years.
Liked the sound of that restaurant though, and your shot of the wine list. I’d go for the 2012 Nuits St George myself, as that was a good year for that wine.
I’m disappointed to read that women still don’t get treated well in restaurant’s, particularly if on their own. Was recently talking to a female relative of mine. Whenever her and her husband go shopping in garden centres, for gardening equipment, the salesman always addresses him. She is a technical genius. He isn’t.
I remember a visit to a Tuscan winery with my late husband where they knew I was a wine writer when I would ask a question and they would direct their reply to him. 🙄
I have fond memories of the Cherwell Boathouse from my student days. A wild extravagance on a student budget. Also fond memories of punting, and somewhat less extravagant riverside picnics. Fuelled with cheap Valpolicella I imagine - mercifully no memories of that!
No memories of Oxford here I’m afraid Fiona, being an alumna of Bristol (150 years old this year - the university not me!) but I have always hankered after being punted along the Cherwell by a well-toned swain. Though as I rapidly approach 70 I fear those days are over before they started!
However I do have a very soft spot for Burgundy though my pocket isn’t deep enough to afford it very often. Your £12 glass with steak frites sounds perfect. And I’m longing to hear how you cleverly worked your knowledge of Cretan Vidiano into your request for an outside table. More please!
Well it followed the request for an outside table which had been discoouraged. So I asked if I could have a drink and that's what I picked on. Sadly doubt if I'd have got it so promptly if I'd ordered a pinot grigio. Women on their own still don't get treated that well in restaurants. (Not that I was treated badly just that, up to that moment, I wasn't a prioriety for them!)
Don't give up hope of being punted. You're not even 70 for heaven't sake!
When I worked in Swindon way back in the 80s and early 90s, we had team-building outings a few times punting on the Isis and starting at the punt point there. We used to take our own drinks and picnic food and all my memories of it are golden, sun kissed and mellow. The joys of youth and selective memory 😜
I was completely unaware until I read your post that there was a real restaurant named the Cherwell Boathouse.... Outsize pepper pots made me smile too.... It all sounds fabulous 😍
My only experience of punting was when I fell into the River Neckar in Tübingen.. some lovely reds there, Spätburgunder and Trolling error....
Trollinger rather than the other thing
Didn't even know they HAD punts outside the UK though why and earth shouldn't they? Glad you survived!
My annual treat is to go to the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery at St Catz … ( where the college cooks produce stunning menus led by guest chefs ) … the problem is finding anywhere nearby to eat the night before so tips would be most welcome …
Well do dive into that list of Pascal's. Went once to the Symposium but haven't got round to going again. I should
Anyone heading to Oxford really needs to eat at Pompette these days. They also have a pretty good (if painfully expensive in places) wine list. Did you get there? I suppose we'll all have to wait for the more detailed piece to find out.
You will but not long 😉
I don’t know much about Oxford, to be honest, despite the fact that my Sister has lived there for years.
Liked the sound of that restaurant though, and your shot of the wine list. I’d go for the 2012 Nuits St George myself, as that was a good year for that wine.
I’m disappointed to read that women still don’t get treated well in restaurant’s, particularly if on their own. Was recently talking to a female relative of mine. Whenever her and her husband go shopping in garden centres, for gardening equipment, the salesman always addresses him. She is a technical genius. He isn’t.
I remember a visit to a Tuscan winery with my late husband where they knew I was a wine writer when I would ask a question and they would direct their reply to him. 🙄
I have fond memories of the Cherwell Boathouse from my student days. A wild extravagance on a student budget. Also fond memories of punting, and somewhat less extravagant riverside picnics. Fuelled with cheap Valpolicella I imagine - mercifully no memories of that!
Well Valpolicella would have been quite classy in my student days. Seem to remember drinking particularly disgusting cheap Spanish whites!
Fiona, was that the Don Cortez or Santa Maria
Wasn't up to noticing brand names in those days 😉
No memories of Oxford here I’m afraid Fiona, being an alumna of Bristol (150 years old this year - the university not me!) but I have always hankered after being punted along the Cherwell by a well-toned swain. Though as I rapidly approach 70 I fear those days are over before they started!
However I do have a very soft spot for Burgundy though my pocket isn’t deep enough to afford it very often. Your £12 glass with steak frites sounds perfect. And I’m longing to hear how you cleverly worked your knowledge of Cretan Vidiano into your request for an outside table. More please!
Well it followed the request for an outside table which had been discoouraged. So I asked if I could have a drink and that's what I picked on. Sadly doubt if I'd have got it so promptly if I'd ordered a pinot grigio. Women on their own still don't get treated that well in restaurants. (Not that I was treated badly just that, up to that moment, I wasn't a prioriety for them!)
Don't give up hope of being punted. You're not even 70 for heaven't sake!
When I worked in Swindon way back in the 80s and early 90s, we had team-building outings a few times punting on the Isis and starting at the punt point there. We used to take our own drinks and picnic food and all my memories of it are golden, sun kissed and mellow. The joys of youth and selective memory 😜
I was completely unaware until I read your post that there was a real restaurant named the Cherwell Boathouse.... Outsize pepper pots made me smile too.... It all sounds fabulous 😍