All Bar One - High Street, Oxford

Our archives at Newspaper House reveal, to my mild surprise, that I have reviewed All Bar One in Oxford’s High Street three times before, with an interval of seven years between visits and always on Saturday lunchtime.

Why Saturdays, I can’t really be sure, except to say that All Bar One feels like a place for lunch and that lunch is a meal I tend mainly to ‘do’ on a Saturday (work and all that in the week and Sundays generally given over, post-breakfast, to a gin or three in our riverside local before grub mid-afternoon at home).

And, of course, Saturday is the day for shopping, a tiring activity which necessarily demands an hour or two of reviving sustenance in a convenient catering establishment.

This time, I had spent the hour before All Bar One at the summer sales. Of little interest, except perhaps to fetishists, were my purchases of underpants, orange socks and stout walking shoes from Shepherd and Woodward, just up the road.

This is a well-respected Oxford family business — and long may it flourish. Russell Acott had been one, too; but when the demand for sheet music declined and that for records and radios became more easily satisfied elsewhere, the company down-sized (in 1998), leaving the High Street premises as an ideal, characterful, home for a branch of the All Bar One chain, owned by Mitchells & Butlers.

Most of the near-200 seats in the place were full when Rosemarie and I arrived at 1pm. As we headed for the one conveniently empty table not far from the front door, a member of staff told us that it was reserved. “Perhaps for me,” I replied, speaking as one with the foresight to have made a booking. “Are you Mr Gray?” she asked. The very same.

She, it turned out, was called Jordan. This friendly and efficient member of staff had been named by her parents, she told us, not after the model-cum-novelist, aka Katie Price — whose remarkable career lay some years in the future — but after Elisabeth Shue’s love interest character, a waitress, in the 1988 Tom Cruise film Cocktail. Had they intuited that one day she would become a waitress too, and one, moreover, serving cocktails, an All Bar One speciality?

Conscious of my duty to readers, I felt obliged to order one for each of us. Rosemarie had the classic Cosmopolitan, made here with Absolut Citron Vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice and lime. Mine was more unusual, indeed new to me, a Bloomsbury Bouquet made with Bombay Sapphire gin, Chambord Black Raspberry liqueur, Chiarli Brut Rose fizz (from Italy) and lemon drinks. These delightful drinks were both the same pretty shade of pink; the signal that mine had, sadly, all gone came when all trace of colour drained from the crushed ice filling the tumbler.

In the interval between cocktail and food Olga Tanailova, the manager for the past five years, pointed out some of the improve-ments made during a recent refurb. While such trademark features as the ‘wine library’, brass-topped bar and public-building-style clock remain, there is a generally lighter feel throughout and particularly towards the back of the premises which used to have seemed slightly claustrophobic. Sited here is a cocktail mixology table where expert Lucas can be found going through his paces. You can book in for £20 a head masterclasses here.

Back at our table, some of the food we had ordered started to arrive. And very good it was too, for the most part. We had chosen from the section of the menu known as ‘sharing plates’. These are tapas-style dishes, which can also be chosen as starters as a prelude to main courses such as rib eye steak, burgers (including a crab and lobster one!), fish and chips and chicken katsu curry. The menu, I have to say, is commendably eclectic, catering for most tastes at most times of the day.

On Jordan’s advice concerning the quantity of food we would be getting, we went for five, some of which can be seen on the accompanying pictures.

We agreed, without discussion, that home-made mini Thai crabcakes had to be one. They were delicious with their accompanying lime lime yoghurt dip.

Each of us chose two of the others. Rosemarie opted for pieces of lemon mustard and parsley breaded chicken with garlic mayonnaise, which were not especially interesting, perhaps because they were lukewarm. The pot could have done with a lid like the one supplied with the beef meatballs, another Rosemarie choice. These were excellent, the juicy lean mean having a real ’bite’ and a perfect complement to their flavour coming in the accompanying romesco, a Catalan sauce made with pine nuts, almonds and red peppers.

There was ‘bite’ too in the rice featuring in the confit cherry tomato and asparagus risotto, a popular dish for us both which its tangy four-herb pesto.

To complete this pleasantly varied selection were garlic, chilli and lemon king prawns, with toasted crystal bread to mop up the juice.

For her pudding, Rosemarie chose the summer berry flavoured meringue mess, with whipped cream, raspberry coulis, blueberries and strawberries. You can see this whopper in the picture. It tasted as good as it looked. I selected the British cheeses, all four of which — brie, Shropshire blue, double Gloucester and mature cheddar — were in generous quantity and tip-top condition.

All Bar One offers a beguiling selection of wines. Some are quite out of the ordinary and feature in the ‘Discovery’ section of the list. From this we chose a Chilean sauvignon gris (Vina Leyda), which proved fresh, elegant and strong enough, at 14.5 per cent to send us home for a pleasant afternoon nap.

All Bar One 
124 High Street, Oxford 
01865 791696
allbarone.co.uk

Opening times: Food served 10am-10pm, Sunday 11am-10pm
Parking: City car parks
Key personnel: Manager Olga Tanailova
Make sure you try the... beef meatballs with romesco (£5.75), lemon, mustard and parsley breaded chicken (£5.75), garlic, chilli and lemon kings prawns (£5.50,) confit cherry tomato and asparagus risotto (£5.50), home-made mini-Thai crab cakes (£5.75), summer berry flavoured meringue mess (£6), British cheese board (£10). 
In ten words: Buzzy place to eat, drink and be merry in style