food, reviews and of course coffee
This is a quick and easy addition to any salad or as a starter.
Halloumi s a Cypriot semi-hard, unripened brined cheese made from a mixture of goat’s and sheep’s milk. I slice the cheese into 5mm slices and these are then placed under a hot grill, cooked on both sides until browned.
For speed though I have been taking a large frying pan, using some a little olive oil and then frying the slices until browned on each side. You need to take care, as it can be easy to overcook the slices.
The last time I stayed at the Brasenose Arms in Cropredy I went with the chicken. I really enjoyed the meal, it was beautifully cooked and full of flavour.
On this visit, and having missed lunch, I was feeling quite peckish, so decided to treat myself to a starter as well as a main course.
There was a nice choice of starters and I was tempted by the mussels, however I had a suspicion that these would not be fresh mussels, but from a sealed bag (as one gets from a supermarket). That’s not really a surprise, lots of places do that, they’re also not too bad in terms of flavour, nowhere near as good as fresh, but okay. So in the end I chose the grilled halloumi – Cypriot cheese grilled and served with oven roasted cherry tomatoes, olives and tsatsiki.
The cheese was nicely cooked, crisp edges, good texture and flavour. It looked nice on the plate and was tasty.
For my main course I decided on an 8oz Sirloin. There is a large selection for the mains and in addition there are specials available too. At the time I was there they had a track of ribs as the special. The steaks are all supplied locally and come with frites and mixed leaf salad, with a choice of either red wine and caramelised red onion, or peppercorn sauce.
The steak was cooked well and had a great flavour. It was tender and tasty. My only slight criticism would be that the menu talked about frites, but my steak came with maris piper chips.
I did order the red wine and caramelised red onion, thinking that this would be a sauce, but it was chutney. It was nice, but I did think I would be getting a red wine sauce for the steak so was a little surprised. Next time I would go for the peppercorn sauce.
I didn’t have a pudding, but they have a really nice selection and from the ones I saw going to the tables of other diners, they looked really nice.
Also should point out that they have a nice selection of beers to go alongside the food.
As with my last visit to the Brasenose Arms, I had a really nice meal in a pleasant environment.
Within the Oxford Covered Market are many places to grab lunch, either to eat there, or to take back to the office.
The Alpha Bar is one of the most popular establishments, so much so, that the long queues usually put me off from buying lunch from there. Another problem with their popularity is that they often run out of their popular dishes. As a result I don’t go there as often as I probably would like to.
Today the queue was short, so I managed to grab a nice salad. There is plenty of choice, and you can choose small or large. Take a main, such as chicken, feta, tofu or as I chose, grilled halloumi. You then choose a couple of sides, I went with the orzo and pesto, with the cous cous. There are a range of toppings, including pesto, hummus or as I chose, some olives. The halloumi was freshly grilled, which was good, the rest of the salad was tasty and fresh and I thought good value at £3.95.
In addition there are a range of hot choices, such as Tuscan Beef served with potatoes or rice.
As well as food, there are a range of drinks available, and surprising for me I’ve not tried the coffee.
The Alpha Bar does have a few tables outside, but this is generally a place to buy lunch to take away. It does some great food and it is really good value for money. The only real downside for me, is that it is that good, that there are often long queues, so I am often forced to miss them out.