I can hear a lot of muttering among the chefs of Oxford restaurants this year about whether or not to serve turkey.

The argument for: it’s traditional, everyone wants to have turkey at least once at Christmas.

The argument against: it’s a culinary disaster, boring and tricky to get right.

For sure, we’ve all had at least one bad experience of being served up a dry piece of turkey breast and several experiences of overcooking this beast of a bird ourselves on Christmas morning.

Two years ago, I was very fortunate to stay at Lagoon Lodge in Morocco, which boasted not just an amazing professional kitchen (where the likes of Jamie and Carluccio had been to stay and cook), but a cornucopia of a kitchen garden and a cage of home-reared turkeys.

We were struck by the ancient beauty of these birds and to be honest it’s since made me think twice about eating them.

So what’s on offer this Christmas turkey-wise among some of Oxford’s restaurants?

At Gee’s, there isn’t a turkey to be seen. At The Rickety Press, it’s there with all its traditional finery and at The Oxford Kitchen only a turkey jus makes it on to the menu.

At St Giles Café, we’ve decided to ruffle a few feathers and go Moroccan style with turkey this year. A touch of paprika, cumin and Ras El Hanout... accompanied by a courgette, apricot bulgar wheat and a spinach and cranberry salad.

You can find the full menu here http://stgilescafe.com/about/christmas-menu/

TRY IT
St Giles Cafe, 52 St Giles, Oxford  
01865 554200

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