A lot of my eating out is done in a slightly rushed fashion: grabbing a quick bite after work, when neither of us can be bothered cooking. But when I have a proper evening out, I do like to start with a cocktail: it someone makes the whole dining out experience feel a bit more special. So where should you eat to get the best pre-dinner drinks?
My first mention goes jointly to two of the Mogford venues, Gees (61 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6PE), and Quod (92-94 High St, Oxford OX1 4BJ). Quod, in particular, is built for leisurely evenings, with a separate bar area staffed by charming young things. Their cocktail menu changes regularly but the bartenders are always well trained, able to advise you on which drink to choose before doing an excellent job of mixing it. They’ll provide you with nibbles and water without being asked, and even have a bar snacks menu if you’re not quite sure what to order for your main meal but are already starving hungry. After that, the main restaurant food will probably be a bit of a let down, but stick to the most simple sounding dishes on the menu and you should be fine.
I recently returned to Gees after a long absence, and it’s had quite the makeover in the meantime, making it now quite a relaxing venue to linger away an evening in. Their cocktail list is short and classic, but it’s the unfussiness of the staff which really impressed me: they were quite happy for me and my companion to sit for a good half hour or more before we ordered any actual food. The food here is certainly more interesting than at Quod – we had artichokes, soft shell crab, guinea fowl and wild sea trout – and the prices aren’t too excessive. They also serve a wide variety of wines by the carafe (or glass), in case you overdid it on the cocktails earlier.
Let’s be frank: the cocktail bar at Jamie’s (24-26 George Street, Oxford OX1 2AE), and the staff’s habit of referring everyone there for five minutes even when you have a reservation, exist solely for money-making purposes, encouraging people to spend on the drinks items with the biggest mark-ups. But once you’ve accepted that fact, you can happily sit at the bar, watch other customers come and go, and drink one of their cocktails. This is one of a few places in Oxford to serve my current favourite, the Aperol Spritz, which makes a great aperitif to Italian food, but they also mix a good Negroni. They also have a particularly good range (I’m told) of non-alcoholic cocktails.
Branca (111 Walton St, Oxford OX2 6AJ) are another mostly-Italian restaurant which recognises the importance of the aperitif. Their Prosecco-based offerings are particularly strong, and they have a changing “cocktail of the month”, so regular visitors need never be bored. Almost all their wines are available by the glass or “pot” (carafe), an even better offering than Gees manage. The food is classic Italian with some excellent sourcing - their antipasti are superb - and the atmosphere buzzes with people enjoying themselves. Definitely one for date night.
For a long time I thought that Kazbar (25-27 Cowley Rd, Oxford OX4 1HP) was only a cocktail bar: I didn’t realise it did any food, let alone excellent food. The atmosphere is so relaxed that you’d feel quite comfortable coming just for drinks, or for drinks and an occasional nibble, or for drinks and a full meal (or just food, but I’ve never tried that…). The sangria is traditional, and good, but they also do a range of more interesting cocktails. The tapas are mostly Spanish with a few Moroccan influences, and ideal for producing a leisurely meal with friends.
With the entire front half of the restaurant dedicated as a cocktail bar, Moya had to make it onto this list. You can sit at the bar and have nibbles served to you there, or you can go for the main restaurant space and have drinks at your table. They’ve got the usual range of classics, plus some fairly appalling-looking variations on Long Island Iced Tea, but their “contemporary house specials” and fizzy concoctions are where you’ll find the best stuff, like the champagne-topped Russian Spring Punch or the Walnut (brandy) Alexander. The food is robust enough to soak up a couple of drinks, so go for one of their excellently-priced bottles of wine once you’re done.
And finally, a slightly odd choice: Atomic Burgers (96 Cowley Rd, Oxford OX4 1JE). Not famed for their elegance, these guys nonetheless produce one of the finest cocktails in Oxford: the Vincent Vega Shotgun Shake. This is a peanut butter ice cream shake with a cherry on top, already an awesome thing, but with added bourbon. Genius. The only downside is that, after drinking one of these, I’m often too full to eat anything at all, let alone one of their generously topped burgers. But then, when the drink is this good, who needs food?
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