AN OXFORD restaurant is hoping to tempt back customers during lockdown by offering half-price food.

The Coconut Tree Sri Lankan restaurant in St Clement's is attempting to keep spirits high by offering 50 per cent of all food from Monday to Wednesday until the end of the second lockdown – planned for December 2.

The offer, which is only valid for orders made directly via its ‘click & collect’ service, follows its ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ discount and is part of its mission to put Sri Lankan food on the culinary map.

Coconut Tree's Anna Garrod said: “In the UK, Sri Lankan food is not as widely available or understood as say, Indian or Chinese cuisine, and we want to help change that; we want to be the ones to make it mainstream.

"Eat Out To Help Out gave people the confidence to try new things, and we met so many new customers as a result – 60 per cent of the people who used the scheme were brand new to us, and many re-booked.

"We want to build on that momentum by continuing to offer 50 per cent off from Monday to Wednesday, even throughout lockdown – to give people an incentive to try our take on Sri Lankan street food this winter.”

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The Coconut Tree will also be offering home delivery from 5-9pm every night, but that will not be valid for the 50 per cent off.

In recent years, Sri Lankan food has been having a renaissance. The Coconut Tree garnered a five-star review from the Oxford Mail and The Oxford Times.

Oxford Mail:

It's take on the cuisine is made up of smaller tapas-style dishes embracing plants, fish and meat. Curries are offered, but are very different to those served in Indian, Thai or other Asian restaurants.

Popular dishes include hot battered spicy cuttlefish, green peas and cashew nuts in coconut cream, Jaffna goat curry with potato, and black pork.

The independent restaurant, part of a small chain, is famous locally for its cocktails – some served in pineapples and elephant-shaped jugs.

Visit thecoconut-tree.com