Free cocktails and a change of management persuade KATHERINE MacALISTER to revisit the scene of one of her worst meals – and this time she was won over.

A cocktail master-class wasn’t just dangling the proverbial carrot, it was more a case of opening the organic veg box and saying ‘take anything you want, plunder me’.

So plunder we did. Sadly, for obvious reasons, the meal that followed is rather blurred, but I did at least break my vow of abstinence and venture back into the Living Room for the first time in five years.

Why? Did you not read my last review there? You’d remember it if you had. It made people actually squeal in pain. Readers winced so hard their cheekbones hurt and nails dug into hands drew blood. Not good then...

But having been recently sold and with a new crew running the Oxford Castle site restaurant, and more importantly the bar and kitchen, a cocktail master-class seemed as good a way as any to break the ice and put it in a glass.

So there we were, empty stomachs ready, offering ourselves up into the safe arms of Richard Kyprios, above, assistant general manager, head barman and cocktail aficionado, to do with us what he must, poor bloke. And as he led us into the private room, complete with bar and reclining leather beds, we wondered what we had let ourselves in for.

However, Richard is an ardent professional and concentrated hard on the job in hand, masterfully ignoring our ever increasing chatter and giggles as the cocktails got stronger and our resistance got weaker. But he soldiered on, leading us through the maze of cocktail dos and don’ts, and ensuring that next time we throw a house party at least we’ll be able to give everyone a night to remember. Even if we can’t remember the night in question.

And to give you an idea of what our livers had to cope with, we first learned the differences between a good vodka, gin, rum and tequila, while sipping Champagne, before we were taught how to make a proper mojito, daiquiri, cosmo, and of course a James Bond Martini (the difference being the vermouth, don’t you know). There was also something called a chocolate cake which was amazingly clever. Oh, and a porn star martini (a martini with a champagne chaser).

Winding our way to our table after all of this lot was quite an achievement, I can tell you, as was focussing on the menu. We did wonder if the cocktail master-class was just a ruse to numb our tastebuds but, having sampled the starters, we soon realised there was a new chef in town.

We tried the scallops with a raisin and caper jus special, which sounded rather experimental. But three sheets to the wind, we went for it anyway, and it was tremendous, the scallops being perfectly cooked. The rest of us gobbled down the baked reblechon cheese with crostini (£7.95) as if it was the antidote to a poison we’d just taken. But no, we were just hungry and obviously expected vast quantities of melted cheese to sober us up.

Ditto the fillet steak sandwich (£8.95) which was delicious, but the accompanying onion chutney deemed a bad match, and the steamed cod and noodles (£13.50) also seemed rather peculiar, the sauce being too overpowering and unsubtle.

We accompanied all this with a mint, mango, cucumber and coriander salad, some chips and some fabulous service, before swanning out into the main bar to mix with the beautiful people who always gather there at weekends to eye each other up. But as we couldn’t see anything, unless it was double, we soon gave up and staggered off home.

Verdict – fun, fun, fun and highly recommended. But I’d do dinner OR cocktails – not both – next time because we did feel a bit shaken and stirred for the next few days.

As for the master-class, I don’t know how the porn stars do it!

* Richard Kyprios’s chocolate cake cocktail: 1. Half fill a shot glass with Frangelico (Italian hazelnut liquor) 2. Fill with vanilla vodka 3. Serve with one lemon wedge rolled in sugar.

Bite at end of shot