#oxbo

OXBO - “the home of honest flavoursome food” . | BANKSIDE

Set menus can be a bit hit-or-miss, usually excluding the restaurants’ best offerings in order to commit to a certain price range. Ordering from a set menu usually becomes a game of “is this worth the £xx I’ll be paying?” and at OXBO, the dessert confirmed the answer as a firm yes. Included on the set menu were starter, main and dessert plus a glass of Prosecco for under £30.

Granted, the sundae was a Wimbledon special so it was pretty much the centrepiece but the rest of the meal was pretty good also. Portions looked a bit small initially but somehow the menu worked together well and we were not left dissatisfied nor hungry. I went for the asparagus soup starter and simple green soup is not usually my kind of thing as they’re usually on the bland side but OXBO had clearly given this dish some thought. The soup is accompanied by a cheddar puff-pastry palmier that keeps both the flavours and textures interesting. I didn’t try any of the fish cake but my friends enjoyed it and the presentation was great.

Pan-fried hake was my choice of main, on a side of mash with ribboned carrots and a soy glaze. This might seem like quite a standard combo when it comes to fish but clearly some work had gone into the planning, keeping the hake the central focus. The mash had a grainy hint of mustard (personal favourite) but not too strong as to overpower the delicate taste of hake and the thin shredding of the carrots softened their texture, so that they were the perfect balance between way-too-mushy-under-boiled and way-too-crunchy-over-boiled. The soy glaze was of a good amount in my opinion; it was quite strong, so to not present it separately on the side prevented you from drowning out the mild taste of hake with the saltiness of soy. I didn’t think much of this dish whilst I was eating it, other than that it tasted great but on review, the proportions of each element are well considered and they really work together well.

Three scoops of quality strawberry ice cream, fresh strawberries, Chantilly cream, strawberry coulis, shards of berry-crushed white chocolate and metallic chocolate-coated popping candy, topped off with green tea macarons iced to look like tennis balls; the Wimbledon Strawberry Sundae at OXBO was quite something. The helping was huge (who’s complaining?), and every mouthful was delicious.

The decor at OXBO has a good contrast between clean, straight pipe lighting, rustic frames and hunter-style animal heads mounted on the walls. Dark wood tables and their clipboard menus add a further modern touch.