With the weather planting us firmly in the spring season, many of us have ditched our winter habits and are gearing up for summer.
Hot chocolates become milkshakes and your hazelnut cappuccino has become a vanilla iced latte. The Oxford Blue gastropub on Marston Street has decided to change with the seasons too. Throughout winter it hosted a popular jazz roast on Sundays, which was the perfect cosy escape from the gloomy days. With longer days and warmer weather, the team have opened up their outdoor seating and swapped their Sunday roast for a Sunday brunch.
The plant-based pub created roasts to rival the traditional pubs in Oxford and their brunch menu is no different. It is not a surprise they won Ox in a Box’s Best Veggie/Vegan category. With both sweet and savoury options to choose from, as well as a refreshing drinks selection, Sunday brunch at the Oxford Blue is a great staple to add to the summer calendar. Be sure to try it whilst it lasts, the roast will return in September.
To get a taste of the different options that were on offer, we got the Fully – a vegan full English breakfast with all the trimmings, and the cinnamon focaccia french toast with caramel and coffee ice cream. The Fully arrived with roasted tomatoes, bacon, two hash browns, two sausages, scrambled ‘egg’, mushrooms, a slice of toast and a pot of gourmet baked beans. Though I am Scottish and I will always be partial to a tattie scone with my cooked breakfast, I must admit I love a good hash brown and these from the Oxford Blue were great, crispy, salty and fluffy inside.
The scramble was also different to how I usually had vegan scrambled eggs and I was impressed.
The plate came to about £15 which is maybe on the higher price point for breakfast but it was clear that the team used high-end ingredients. I am pretty sure the bacon was from a brand called This Isn’t and their products are amongst the best (and most expensive) plant-based meat alternatives. However, there were plenty of options on the menu for cheaper including many under £10 which is very affordable.
One of these options was the cinnamon french toast. I love cinnamon, french toast and coffee so this dish seemed almost created for me and it did not disappoint. You get served three large slices of swirly, sweet cinnamon-y focaccia french toast with a smooth coffee ice cream. I loved how the cinnamon was incorporated into the focaccia bread itself and not just as an add-on. It meant that you got the full depth of flavour in every bite. It was almost akin to a cinnamon roll (one of my favourite pastries). And you got bang for your buck on this dish, I struggled to finish it and it was under £10, a rarity these days in Oxford.
We enjoyed our brunch in the Oxford Blue’s outside courtyard which is a lovely little sun spot (with shaded areas too if desired) in which to spend a Sunday morning.
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