An impromptu meeting on a sunny morning seemed a perfect opportunity to have brunch at Oxfork and so we toddled off down Magdalen Road. There’s a range of breakfasts on the brunch menu, starting at a fiver up to a tenner for the poached egg platter – a sample of eggs benedict, eggs royale and eggs florentine! Jacqui played safe and went for the simple eggs florentine [Jacqui: which were perfection – crisp sourdough, runny eggs, tart’ish hollandaise and just wilted spinach] whilst I went for my usual pancakes and bacon.
These were described as fluffy American style and were disappointingly not fluffy. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what wasn’t right with them, other than being a bit stodgy and almost doughy. If anything, I’d say the wrong flour was used as they were almost cakey in texture. However, I had an appetite and so managed to polish them off regardless! The accompanying bacon was plentiful and very good, maple syrup was authentic rather than that god-awful cloying corn syrup synthetic stuff that too many places pass off as maple. The fried egg was rich and golden and I had a side of sausage as a) I’m a piggy and b) I’m a big believer in gauging how good a breakfast is by the quality of their sausage. These were good meaty and slightly fragrant sausages and passed my test! Overall a good breakfast, but with some improvement needed on the pancakes. Good coffee too.
As an American, I have yet to find anywhere in Oxford that actually has proper ‘American style’ pancakes. They all claim to, but they’re usually underdone (ew, ew) or on the flat side of fluffy. I assume it’s because anything is fluffier than the Brit pancake which is basically a crepe. Also ‘American’ might assume bigger – we do like our food on the big side, but the pancakes here aren’t bigger than your hand usually. That said, Oxfork is one of our favorite places, however with American friends in town recently, it was the only time only 1 coffee arrived, we had to ask twice for our other drinks, my pregnant friend’s additions were forgotten and also asked for twice. The staff was never rude though and the food was still good.. they were just off step that day for sure.