• A restaurant currently being tarted up on Cowley Road is named Route 66.

Presumably the food is Americana-themed, but, until we go, we don’t know much more than that. Taxi!

  • Giving little ones the chance to channel their inner Van Gogh, Giraffe on George Street is launching a summer art competition to get those creative juices flowing. Children dining at Giraffe until August 23 can customise their very own ‘beach scene’ place mat for a chance to win dinner for a year at Giraffe. Entries can be submitted via your waiter or waitress or, for budding Monet’s who prefer to create their masterpieces at home, placemats can be taken away then scanned and emailed to competitions@giraffe.net Giraffe is also bringing back its famous ‘kids eat free’ meal deal just in time for the holidays – children can chow down on a complimentary mini main and soft drink from the kids’ meal deal menu with every paying adult. Giraffe, 71 George St, Oxford. OX1 2BQ. 01865 201 030. giraffe.net Get together with friends and family this summer and host a Strawberry Tea party for Breast Cancer Care. The charity’s Strawberry Tea campaign, sponsored by fine bone china teaware specialist Royal Albert, runs until August 31 and raises money to help support the 55,000 people diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK.                                                                                                                                                     
  • Just buy or bake some cakes, add some strawberries, put the kettle on and away you go! Whether you host your Strawberry Tea at your yoga class, with your book club or even at your local tennis club, a Strawberry Tea can be as extravagant or as simple as you like. Register now for a free Strawberry Tea fundraising pack full of ideas and tips. Visit breastcancercare.org.uk /strawberry or call 0870 164 9422.
  • Prezzo at Oxford Castle has launched a new alfresco dining menu for the summer months including Italian inspired gelato and new sharing plates. New gelato flavours include tutti fruitti, chocolate praline and pink bubblegum, while the sharing plates, which come as starters or mains for three of five, include cheese soufflé with beetroot confit; grilled asparagus and prosciutto ham; drizzled with olive oil, and roasted plum tomatoes; stuffed with basil and sundried tomato puy lentils and feta cheese, drizzled with green pesto.
  • Don’t forget Deddington Farmers’ Market on Saturday features 50 stalls of locally-produced food, drink, plants, crafts, and organic produce. Barbecue fans will enjoy The Meat Joint which has plentiful supplies of meat including pork ribs, beef and lamb burgers, beef and lamb koftas and a wide variety of sausages and pork pies, plus sausage rolls for the picnic. Q Gardens brings lots of soft fruit including large juice filled cherries and raspberries, while Cotswold Baking sells classic lemon tart, Tunisian orange and almond cake and chocolate crème fraiche cakes, to name a few. You’ll never have to go out again.
  • Real Lebanese food has arrived on Cowley Road. Pomegranate promises expert Lebanese cuisine and hospitality from their hand-made mezzes to their fluffy falafels and stone oven-baked bread. Review to follow soon! Call 01865 241260