•  Carnivores sit up and take notice! Following on from two weeks of highly popular Spanish nights, St Giles Café has announced a fortnight of ‘Taste of The Argentine’ evenings commencing tonight. Argentinian chef Sebastian’s menu includes chilled garlic and almond soup, Matambre Argentine beef roll, griddled sirloin steak with aioli, grated carrots and baked potato, quince tart and cream. Priced at £18.50 for two courses and £24.50 for three, bring your own wine (£3.50 per bottle corkage). Food will be accompanied by Alberto on the guitar. Serving from 6pm on May 22-24 and 29-31, a table reservation is strongly recommended.

Chef/patron Baz has also begun a regular last Wednesday of the month Dining Club at the cafe, commencing on May 28. Each evening will have an informal theme, with guests seated around a large table to allow discussion with fellow diners. The first of these themes is the Oxford English Dictionary, so bring your favourite word as well as your own bottle. On hand will be Fiona McPherson, senior editor of the OED, who will be giving you insight into the work and history of the dictionary.

Places are strictly limited to 18 people, so please reserve early. The five-course menu is costs £35 per person and the evening starts at 7.30pm, with a complimentary drink.

Email info@stgilescafe.com or call 01865 554200

  •  The Feathered Nest in Nether Westcote was awarded Gold in the Pub of the Year category for the second consecutive year at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2014 ceremony earlier this month. It is the highest accolade for Excellence in Tourism which VisitEngland can bestow.

Speaking on behalf of the pub, Tony Timmer said “This is by no means an easy task and I am very proud of my team who have all worked so hard to make The Feathered Nest such a welcoming destination for so many people.”

  •  Cass and Helen Hazlewood plan to reopen a derelict pub in South Hinksey, delighting the locals. The General Elliot, on Manor Road, which has been shut since 2008, will trade as a country pub and restaurant, and also offer eight short let studio rooms.

Mrs Hazelwood said: “I have lived in the village now for a number of years with my family and have taken on this project to help reinstate this building of great public interest into a viable business. In doing so [I hope to give] myself, family and the village and its surrounding areas a place to meet and enjoy a pint again. There are currently no amenities, no shop, not even a village drop-off point – except a bench where newspapers are left for collection.”

The General Elliot won Oxford Camra’s pub of the year award in 2007 and 2008, but closed in 2009 after the landlord suddenly left. Since then, residents have seen off multiple attempts to redevelop the site for residential uses. They also started gathering to drink and socialise in each other’s homes, but the ‘mock pub’ scheme soon grew too large, with up to 60 people turning up at one time.

  •  Mark and Wan who own the restaurant Bangkok House on Oxford’s Hythe Bridge Street are taking part in the Travel Channel show RV Rampage – a travel reality series pitting five couples against each other in a series of cultural and adrenalin-charged challenges (bungee jumping, white water rafting, glacier climbing, and canyoning) as they explore New Zealand. Throughout the trip they live and travel in RVs (motorhomes) and will be given no information about where they are going. The show starts on Monday.