Worth A Punt

Back in the Dark Ages when journalists were as synonymous with boozy lunches as Speaker’s wife Sally Bercow and bed sheets, The Waterman’s on Osney Island was a hive of salacious get-togethers, where features were spawned, gossip spread and news broken.

Lunches were liquid so the need for food was purely practical, hence the baguette and chips style menu. High dining it wasn’t and the views of the river were ignored by the largely smoking gang of hacks who made their merry way there from the Oxford Mail offices most lunchtimes.

Sadly the eat-your-sandwich at your desk culture has penetrated even the most defiant of journalists and those hazy alcohol-fuelled afternoons became a thing of the past. Cue theatrical sigh.

But walk past the Waterman’s now and you will stop dead in your tracks. Because the dark-interior has been transformed into a welcoming, light and approachable little gastro pub called The Punter.

And it’s not just the decor that’s so attractive. The admirably priced £5 lunch menu – which offers goodies such as lamb stew, chilli and fishcakes, all home-made for the passing trade who routinely pass up and down the river – has got the punters packing in.

Perhaps that’s why landlord Tom Rainey renamed the pub, nothing to do with the sport (you can’t punt on this stretch of the river) but more to do with the enthusiastic clientele.

“We knew what we wanted to do with it,” Tom tells me proudly as we perused the white-washed walls hung with gorgeous and affordable art, the neat little tables, the blue sills, the stacked boardgames and the views. But the menu is fabulous too, and judging by the customers pouring through the doors on a weekday at noon, Tom’s got the balance right.

There were rumours that The Punter was rather overpriced, but it’s hard to argue with the £5 lunch menu.

And with other offerings such as veggie Tuesday night and an all-day Sunday roast, Tom has made the pub indispensable since opening in 2010.

But just to make sure, we tried a bit of everything. The £5 fishcakes with salad and tartare sauce, the £5 mushroom and rosemary soup, the £5 grilled halloumi with babaganoush and orange segments, the £5 walnut and goats cheese cannelloni with tomato and fennel sauce and some of the infamous Punter chips which came thick, brown and crispy with a bowl of aioli.

We could have delved into the ‘a la carte’ main course territory which never cost over the £12.50 mark, but actually what we’d ordered was perfect.

So what did we think? Well, the weather helped. It was a beautiful day; the sun was out, the river sparkled and even the ducks had ventured out.

The soup was delicious, rich, thick and interestingly different. The fishcakes were huge and for the price amply fishy. The halloumi and babaganoush was strange and the only false note of the meal – the babaganoush (a smoky aubergine dip), wasn’t smoky or creamy enough – and didn’t go with the orange and halloumi accompaniments.

The chips could have been eaten alone on the bench outside – deliciously home-made and fried, they were devastatingly filling and moreish, which meant we didn’t quite finish the generous portion of cannelloni.

One glass of wine each, we sampled the lemon posset with shortbread biscuits (£5) quite easily however, before heading out; reputations intact, halos shining and bellies full. What more can a journalist ask for?

* The Punter is at 7 South Street, Oxford, OX2 0BE. Call 01865 248832