There’s a corner of Oxford that has become so gastro, it’s becoming hard to move. And all the restaurants and pubs which qualify for the new East Oxford tag are of a similar ilk, making it hard to choose between them, the food being superb in all.

Gastro is, however, a word that the all-new Oxford Blue shies away from because it aims to create an environment where people can pop in just for a pint or a glass of wine without feeling pressured to eat, a premise we ignored completely, aiming to do nothing but.

The former grungy student pub’s history swirls around its walls like the ghost of students past, despite the new landlords’ efforts to transform it into a gentle resting place for weary souls.

Perched between the Iffley and Cowley roads on Marston Street, it was easy to miss on a foggy, wet, autumnal evening.

With our London friends we quickly moved from the bare bar to the dining room end of the pub. While the budget obviously wasn’t spent on a massive refurb job, on opening the menu it certainly shows in the kitchen, which is the right priority for me.

Just the printed words ‘warm scotch egg with mayonnaise, parma ham with celeriac remoulade, slow roast belly of pork with mash and spiced apple sauce, gnocchi with wild mushrooms, sage and parmesan cream’ were so welcoming I could have wept, each dish accompanied by a wine suggestion.

We dived in, enthusiastically ordering pâtés and platters galore. One of the shared platters (£9.50) comprised deep fried artichokes with sweet chilli sauce, celeriac remoulade, imam biyaldi, grilled halloumi and warm hommus. It was mighty fine, the attention to detail given to each of its parts making it sing. The artichokes were little crispy pieces of heaven, the halloumi much more tender and tasty than usual and the hommus almost unrecognisable from its supermarket counterpart. And even though the men were feasting on the venison terrine with caramelised onions and grilled sourdough, they couldn’t help but sneak the odd envious glance our way.

The boys then opted for the 350g Charolais rump steak (£22.50), raised just outside Chipping Norton, and the more demure onglet steak (£15.50) which came with bearnaise or peppercorn sauce, chips and salad. The meat was tender, the sauce perfect, the chips spot on, the steak vast. The Korean barbecued lamb with new potatoes and spring greens was less of a success, hoisted by its own petard. “Tasty but confused,” was the feedback.

The roast pumpkin, tomato and white bean stew with pesto, which I thought would be a tart little Spanish number, was much more mellow than expected and proper comfort food. And filling.

How I then managed the panna cotta with berry compote for pudding I have no idea, but I struck gold here, because it was quite divine. The apple and blackberry crumble was also fittingly seasonal but lacked tang, and the warm chocolate cake with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream was a close contender.

All sloshed back with some fine vino, all our senses were suitably intoxicated, and desperately unwilling to venture back out into the drizzle, the cosy walls and atmosphere drew us in late into the night. When the fog cleared the next morning, we wondered if the whole evening was a figment of our imaginations. If you wander down that way, spare a thought for The Oxford Blue, because it provides perfect, hearty fare for a cold stranger in search of a good meal.