Eating and Drinking

Students, townspeople and visitors all share their enthusiasm for Oxford's liberal helping of pubs, cafés, bistros, wine bars and restaurants which serve food and drink in a huge variety of settings and styles.   Oxford locals and visitors in the know explore and enjoy excellent and authentic cuisine from around the world in no-frills restaurants in the Cowley Road. 

In the city centre, the newly opened Oxford Castle site provides a dramatic setting for a host of cutting-edge restaurants from Carluccio's to the Ha! Ha! Bar & Canteen.  They are grouped around the imposing walls of Malmaison, housed in the former Oxford Prison, which itself is open to non residents.   There more  contemporary chic in historic settings at Quod Brasserie & Bar in the High, part of the award winning Old Bank Hotel, and the elegant Grand Café on the site of England's first coffee house - also in the High.  Others enjoying interesting settings include the Eagle & Child pub, the regular meeting place of J R R Tolkien and his literary group, the Inklings, Gee's restaurant housed in a Victorian conservatory that was once a florist's shop and Freud in  Walton Street, which serves up food and live music in a neo-classical former church.  

Riverside views are a speciality at the Cherwell Boathouse Restaurant and at  Aziz Pandesia, which has its own pontoon on the Thames at Folly Bridge. 

There are more details on the Visit Oxford website.