It's My Treat

Oh come on, don’t be like that. I’ve done 52 restaurant reviews for you in the past 12 months.

Admittedly most of them have been hugely enjoyable and, regardless of the often mundane and sometimes frankly dismal evenings I’ve spent dining out in Oxfordshire’s finest eating establishments, I know I’m a lucky girl.

But one for me? No? Do I not deserve to choose my own venue just once a year and instead of venturing off to try somewhere new, retire comfortably to my own personal favourite?

Well too late because I’ve been there, done it and put on the pounds already. Yes, my Christmas treat to myself was a wonderful evening in Jericho’s Branca, which continues to keep pulling in the crowds during this dismal financial era with great style and finesse.

My restaurant reviews there have become almost an annual event but, as Scrooge said, Bah Humbug. Resplendent in my new silver dress and very high heels, nothing and no one was going to deter me from the obligatory cosmopolitan cocktails served by the handsome obligatory red-head. While so far you might get a slight feeling of deja vu, rest assured the additional crows feet and enormous bags under my eyes prove time has not stood still.

Neither had the kitchens by the looks of things and, as we wove our way to the only available table left, the atmosphere, as always, enlivened us as we perused the delicious menus and ordered the wine.

Ah, the genius of the pots. Branca does pots of wine, more than a glass and less than a bottle. So if you don’t think you’ll manage a whole one, it’s the perfect alternative. It did mean that when our food arrived they had to clear a space around the pots to fit the food in, but it was well worth the effort because everything we ate was fabulous.

Branca concentrates hard on the ingredients, so however simple something sounds, every mouthful is a delight. So it was with the buffalo mozzarella with cherry tomatoes, capers, and anchovy (£6.45) starter, the softness of the cheese falling off the fork. The rare beef sirloin with rocket, watercress and beetroot with truffle dressing (£7.95) was also devoured without a blink. The san daniele ham, pistachio mortadella, fennel salami with ricotta peppadews and balsamic onions (£6.95) was a great take on the traditional antipasti board.

Our luck continued well into the next course: the 8oz rib eye steak with grilled mushroom and bearnaise sauce was judged “excellent, absolutely excellent”, and then fellow truant-mother number 1 paused when remembering, “except for £15.95 I was disappointed not to get any extras – no chips, not even a lettuce leaf,” she sniffed rather miffed. “And the extra chips (£2.95) weren’t a highlight, let’s say. But the steak was excellent, really good quality.” So there you have it: great steak, bad extras.

The rare grilled tuna with a salad of borlotti beans, black olives and roasted tomato (£13.95) was also raved about – “If you aren’t going to eat tuna very often, eat it here,” my second partner -in-crime shouted down the telephone when I rang to jog her memory. Followed up by: “Absolutely yummy, lovely, lovely.”

And you wonder why I write the restaurant reviews?

Of course my present to myself was the delectable Branca puttanesca pizza – salted anchovies, olives, capers, chilli and mozzarella (8.95). Ho ho ho.

So that’s me done for another year. We didn’t have pudding. After all those pots it was the most we could do to leave in a vaguely elegant manner before retiring to a cocktail bar down the road. Well, it was Christmas after all. See you same time next year for a guaranteed fabulous night out.

* Branca is at 111 Walton Street. Oxford. OX2 6AJ. Call 01865 556501. Pictured: manager Daniel Styles