Reviews

Jacqui – Mar 2013

With three meals out plus a burlesque show planned, the bank holiday weekend was set to be a gastronomy/nipple-tassle-fuelled long weekend. Frickin awesome! The in-laws arrived Thursday afternoon, so MrFoodie and I took full advantage… Taxi at 6, straight to pub, then on to booty shaking extravaganza. Whole lot of winning going on. Said pub was The White Rabbit Oxford in Friars Entry (previously Gloucester Arms).

Now, I understand from recent media that The Gloucester Arms had a very loyal customer base that may not have been overly happy about recent changes to the backstreet boozer, but I can’t really comment myself having never been there previously. On first impressions I found the recently refurb’d pub to be both warm and welcoming, with its various small seating areas, cosy, but modern, décor and laid back staff.

The menu offering was pretty simple: dough balls, garlic bread, soup, stew or pizza. Even pizza options were paired back to just five choices – none of your ‘fancy pants’ pizzas, but I have to respect them for this. Fancy pizza toppings have their place, but so too do honest, simple, well designed pizzas.

So, Americana for me, Spicy Beef for MrF – both looked huge when they appeared, larger than a dinner plate and delivered promptly. I must add, when it comes to pizzas, I’m a big believer in thin crust. Don’t be serving me up some heavy, I-need-to-lie-down, deep pan nonsense. I was immensely pleased with the feast in front of me… Thin crust, but not so thin it was brittle, perfect proportions of cheese, pepperoni and onion and beautifully balanced flavours. MrF’s pizza was, I’m told, very pleasant too – I’ll have to take his word for it as I wasn’t given a look in! With chilli oil and black pepper supplied we pounced.

The result = two very satisfied Foodies. The pizzas were delicious, fresh and beautifully simple in design. As a bonus, there was no feeling of uncomfortable bloating which can often accompany a pizza, just a warm, happy glow that follows a good feed.

Great venue for pre theatre / post work drinks and pizza. I would absolutely recommend – you may even see me there tucking into another Americano!