Not the least delightful feature of the North Wall in Summertown is its proximity to a number of my favourite places to eat and drink. (Sadly, the Lemon Tree is no longer among them, but you can’t have everything.)

There last Friday for Oxford Theatre Guild’s excellent production of A View From the Bridge, Rosemarie and I enjoyed a post-show dinner at Portabello — which I last reviewed three years ago at around the time the arts centre opened — and a quick scoop earlier in the evening at the Summertown Wine Café.

By ‘earlier’ I mean — as those who know this buzzy establishment will probably guess at once — during happy hour, which lasts from 6 to 7pm. Offers include glasses of Mumm champagne at £5 a pop, some of the newer wines at £4 and house wines at £3. I took the middle course and tried OTT ‘Fass 4’ Gruner Veltline, from Wagram, in Austria. The list said I would get flavours of “tangerine and lime with a long, peppery finish” — and, do you know, I did.

As the play lasted just two hours, we were at the trough by 9.30pm. Good chap, Arthur Miller, I said to my companion who, years before, had told me a foodie tale concerning the great playwright. Tiring of the matzah balls that, being a Jew, Miller often served her, his wife Marilyn Monroe once asked: “Can’t we eat any other part of the matzah?”

Olives were the spherical objects I chose first to place in my mouth when we were settled at our table in the restaurant. They were very large shiny ones, black and green. Greek, said the general manager Jason Spallini. Are there any others?

Portabello’s menu is not an especially large one, but varied enough for me and changed on a regular basis to supply ongoing interest. Besides what I shall mention in more detail presently, there are such starters as smoked chicken salad, goat’s cheese and walnut mousse, and salmon and prawn fishcake; main courses like pan-fried sea bass, slow-roasted lamb shoulder, and parsnip and apple fritters (an interesting combination, I thought); and plum and stem ginger fool, and toffee and walnut pudding among the puds.

Jason told us there was one portion of oysters left, and eying the appetising sight of half a dozen on the table next to us I had thought to order them. Previously considered very high in cholesterol, these molluscs have recently been reclassed as rather low in it. So I could have had them without breaking my diet, but, in the end, I decided to go for the smoked trout. Served skinned and filleted, this proved absolutely delicious, with a strong smoky taste well to the fore. With it came a little apple and walnut salad, and horseradish dressing.

Rosemarie’s starter was a rough-chopped terrine of chicken livers wrapped in bacon, accompanied by red onion and walnut ‘marmalade’ and toast.

Moving from one very rich flavour to another she continued with what she called a sensationally good steak and kidney pudding. The suet crust was moist and crumbly, with the filling divided roughly half and half between kidneys and tender chunks of beef. The pudding came with mashed potato (highly praised too) and green beans.

My main course was the one remaining dish on the specials board, seared swordfish, with green beans, artichoke hearts, and a jus of red wine and balsamic vinegar. To boost the calory count (and how!) I went for a side order of hand-cut chips. All very good.

To finish we shared a dark chocolate torte, with the unusual but well-judged addition of a layer of prunes above the pastry.

Besides my favourite Picpoul de Pinet, a lemony delight from the Languedoc, I sampled taster-size glasses of two English wines recently featured at the restaurant. One was the crisp and zesty Kings Fumé, from Stanlake Park, near Twyford, in Berkshire, the other a strong golden dessert wine (the 16.5 per cent Saxon Dessert) from the Battle Wine Estate in East Sussex. Both were super — testimony to the big strides that have been made in UK