Salad Days

The fire engines were already stationed outside my house when I arrived to move into my student digs in Oxford, blue lights flashing.

And as the smoke poured out of our front door, my shame-faced housemate appeared and said, in a very quiet voice, that he’d forgotten he’d put the sausages under the grill and didn’t realise they would catch fire if left unattended for too long.

Welcome to student life, and all I can say is that it was a steep learning curve. In fact, if it wasn’t for our liquid diet I doubt we’d have made it through.

One housemate lived entirely off rice and cabbage which he cooked in bulk batches at the beginning of term and froze in day-to-day bags. Another would recook his leftover kebabs in a pan, while a trainee nurse lived off biscuits alone. Finding the plates to actually eat off, or a pan that didn’t have fur in was more of a challenge than climbing Kilimanjaro, and a thorough search behind the sofas and under the beds would always produce a mind-blowingliving/eating/ breathing crockery scenario, but I’d best leave it there.

Suffice to say, that being invited for a meal at Oxford Brookes University, cooked and served to me by students, didn’t fill me with glee, even if they were doing a catering degree. And yet, as we processed up the elegant steps to the unfussy exterior of Brookes Restaurant on campus in Headington, I realised my preconceptions were totally misguided.

You would never know that Brookes was a training restaurant. Sleek, calm, and sophisticated, from the moment you arrive and are guided to your beautifully laid table, coats disposed of, menus in hand, I gazed around the light, airy interior and the packed tables, and realised that not only had I got it wrong, but my experiences were extra-terrestrial by comparison, rendering my ex-housemates ignorant, daytime-TV watching, work-shy, alcoholic shysters (sorry guys).

Brookes seats 70 and feeds at least 50 every lunchtime. It’s successful in its own right and has the kind of loyal customers that fellow restaurateurs would gnaw off their own forearms for. So forget the student angle, because it’s utterly irrelevant. If anything, it means the ‘staff’ are keener to deliver an impeccable and flawless service than most jobbing waitresses or chefs.

Of course, the fact that the boss is always in situ means everyone is always on their best behaviour (no food fights here then), but actually what the regulars return for time and time again is the wonderful food.

The menu – now based on seasonal, local produce – changes monthly in its entirety. There is an impressive list of specials every day – three choices for starters, mains and dessert at £14.95 or two courses for £11.95. And the food was exceptional – a really interesting menu which delivered.

We started with the twice-baked souffle with fresh herb salad, which was as light and fluffy as the Easter bunny, although it could have done with a bit more seasoning.

Then the special of the day, a deliciously posh fish and chips – haddock in the lightest batter, home-made thick chips, peas and a piquant tartare sauce. Job done.

With the spinach and feta pie, the tapenade puree and caper and dill dressing transformed the dish from the sometimes bland creation you find in Greek restaurants into a flavour extravaganza. I could eat it all over again right now.

And then, that gift on a plate, Queen of Puddings, but not as we know it – gone was the great mass of Victorian excess, and instead we were served a deconstructed version, the soft cooked meringue came in a ramekin accompanied by a small jug of raspberry coulis and a mousse taster. Delicious – the sweetness of the meringue countered by the tart raspberry sauce.

All in all it was a fabulous meal and, on the way back, I reflected that student fare has obviously come on leaps and bounds since the whole sausage house fire scenario.

In the meantime, cold curry sandwich anyone?

* Brookes Restaurant in Gipsy Lane, Headington, Oxford, is open during term time for weekly lunches and themed evenings. Book on 01865 483803