A cosy, romantic restaurant in Cowley Road ticks all the boxes for ANNA MATEI

Door 74 is THE place for a romantic dinner for two, the endless couples staring intensely into each other’s eyes giving the game away. Why? Perhaps it’s because this small Cowley Road restaurant feels cosy and exciting at the same time, with its dimmed lights, small tables, and, of course, the chalked menus which the website is so proud to advertise. Put it this way, it’s very ‘Oxford chic’.

And the food... well it meant that our dinner was just what an elegant night out on a special occasion should be, kicking off with the mouth-watering homemade hummus, and a parsnip dip, served with strips of toasted pitta bread, which set the scene for the standard of food which followed.

We had barely finished the dips when the starters arrived, and they certainly met expectations. There was a sweet potato, chilli, pumpkin and orange soup (£4.95), delicious with just a dash of creme fraiche. But equally as innovative was the hot salmon pate (£6.50) which fooled us at first.

Hot to us meant a warm pate, which promised to be rather interesting. It turned out to be ‘merely’ slightly spiced with chilli, a far more reasonable interpretation, and the key to a rather delicious and novel way of doing salmon. As for mains, the crab linguine (£11.95) was the only let-down, mainly because in comparison to the grilled seabream (£13.95) with sauted potatoes and sauce vierge, it couldn’t compete. In fact, the seabream, which my other half ordered from the specials board, was perfection on a plate. It was light, with just a hint of lemon, and my chivalrous fiance eventually took pity on me and let me have it. As both the soup and fish came from the specials board, maybe the dish of the day is the way forward here at Door 74.

My fiance also proved wiser when it came to desserts. He ordered what our waitress claimed was their most popular dessert, the dark chocolate semifreddo with vanilla ice cream. A really nice brandy and chocolate torte with mint creme fraiche (£4.95) was also served at our table, but it had no chance against the semifreddo (£4.95). Not even the mint creme fraiche (a very refreshing idea) could save it from the opposition, a melting, hot, creamy, dark, chocolatey, silky, sort of ice cream. Genius.

Who knows, maybe it was the wine (the lovely bottle of Chilean Merlot) and the dimmed lights (distorted perspectives and all that), but we’ll be going back, because the dishes we ate at Door 74 were something special.

Door 74 is at 74 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JB. Call 01865 203374 or see door74.co.uk