So off to Oxford for the weekend with “Her Indoors” and our first pit-stop was a lunch reservation to try out the Brasserie chain named after the two Michelin Star French Chef, Raymond Blanc. Now I would have much rather been at Raymond’s flagship at Great Milton 8 miles south east of Oxford , Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons where we are invited “To celebrate the arrival of spring and enjoy a Midweek Break with us. For dinner, Raymond Blanc's five course Les Classiques du Manoir evening meal will enhance an evening of indulgence and luxury.
Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons
Wake up the following morning to a leisurely French breakfast and enjoy a stroll around our wonderful gardens in bloom.” Tres bon you may say and at £340 a head so it should be but this is a bargain compared to the “Ultimate Break” which works out at £2,700 for two! Now there are two reasons why I don’t find myself on this Friday heading towards the Manoir at those prices;
1. I don’t love myself that much.
2. Nobody else loves me that much!
Raymond Blanc
Still resigned to my fate I’m looking forward to a good lunch as her indoors was an avid watcher of the BBC 2 television series “The Restaurant” where nine couples compete for the chance to go into partnership with Raymond. As part of this they ran a restaurant and we had two close by, one in Wendover and one in Aylesbury. He comes across as a hard taskmaster with the emphasis on good ingredients respectfully treated and respecting what the customer wants. I have always liked Blanc because, unlike other “celebrity” chefs he doesn’t seem to be about ego and like Gary Rhodes he always seem to have a respect for the food he is cooking and for ensuring it is freshly presented to the customer. He is also a canny businessman who at The Manoir certainly knows how to charge and where Richard Branson was one of his original investors.
He describes the concept thus on the web site;
“I am often asked what a Brasserie Blanc really is, well if the Manoir is a delicate waltz then the Brasseries are the Can Can. For sure, this is not a place for refined haute cuisine and three course meals. Rather, Brasserie Blanc is a place for relaxed enjoyment where I can offer you simple, high quality food that comes as close as possible to the meals that my mother prepared for me at home in Besançon and at a price that encourages you to visit us regularly. The real origins of French brasseries are lost in time and probably in several litres of beer but nowadays in France they are the bastions of good eating and drinking, locally and informally. I want my Brasserie Blancs to be a central part of the local community where you can have fun and enjoy particularly good food. So sit back and relax”
Well as I said he is a canny businessman and Brasserie Blanc is actually owned by the venture capitalists who own the Lough Fyne chain of restaurants although Raymond does make a play that the Oxford one is dear to his heart.
“Oxford was my first love, close to the Manoir in a town that I now call home. Two houses in the Jericho area of the city formed the base for the building of what was then called Petit Blanc. Not a classical Brasserie in the true sense of the word, it is split into two main rooms and a small private dining room. This gives it an intimate and bubbly atmosphere. The first room has light from three sides, bathing diners throughout the day whilst the back room has a view on my little garden. This Garden Room is available for private hire and can accommodate up to 110 guests. The small Salon Prive holds about 12 people and it pleases me to see it often used for family celebrations, the noise spilling out into the main restaurant. Most Sundays I have lunch here, chez moi.”
Oxford Canal at Jericho
Well so far, so good. The Brasserie is along Walton Street the main street of Jericho. Parking here, as in all of Oxford, is difficult but we managed to find a spot in a side street which wasn’t residents only. First impressions were good with step free access for disabled people and proper disabled toilet facilities. It is important we give credit where it is due in this area as so many hospitality establishments either pay lip service in this area or ignore the legislation completely. We were greeted warmly at reception and led to a large table without delay in the quieter and, overlooking the garden, more attractive back room where the waiting staff took our coats. Our server was Monika from Slovakia but it was hard to believe she was not French as the service was excellent, polished and professional throughout. The room is as described by Raymond and there is a proper bistro standard with Linen napkins & table cloths, solid chairs, plain but good quality crockery, cutlery and glassware. And there is background music, but importantly it is in the background a point missed in most places these days where staff play it for themselves so they can hear it over the clattering of pans whilst customers have to shout to converse.
The Jericho Cafe
We both ordered off the “Dine with Wine” Xmas menu at £13.80 for 3 courses and a glass of wine with the wine choice being (white) Domaines St Jean Conques VDP d’Oc and (red) being Chateau St Chinian Merlot VDP d’Oc. This area of Languedoc -Roussillon in the south of France produces some excellent value and highly drinkable wines and both ours were excellent, so much so that I said encore! To start I chose the Bisque de Saumon and her indoors chose the Salade de foies de volaille. My salmon bisque with tarragon and brandy was excellent with a lighter and more subtle flavour than the normal shellfish bisque and she proclaimed her chicken liver salad as the best she ever had. For mains I had the Pappardelle aux fruits de mer and she went for the Pumpkin risotto. The seafood pasta was lovely and fresh tasting with prawn, squid and mussel in a light white wine cream sauce and the freshest of herbs. Her risotto looked like scrambled eggs but she thought it hugely flavoursome. I had crème caramel for desert and whilst simple it was perfect served with a biscuit on top and with the caramel sauce being just so. She loved the desert of Gratine de fruits exotiques which consisted of gratinated mango, kiwi and papaya with a warm passion fruit sauce and a mango sorbet on top which was light and refreshing. I (for research purposes only!) tried the sorbet and I would rate it with the south Indian restaurant Masala as the best ever.
Oxford University Press, Jericho
Normally, when I order at the end of a meal an espresso macchiato I cause a crisis but Monika didn’t even blink merely asking did I want a single or a double, it was a single. This reflected the hugely competent service throughout. Depressingly wherever you go and whatever you pay these days you seem to be at the mercy of awkward and uneven service from well intentioned agency staff. At Brasserie Blanc the service was assured, when Monika appeared with the wine and courses there was no asking who was having what, she knew, when a table for four across the way was served two waiters brought out the dishes together so everybody was served at the same time, when you finished your starter the waiter entered it on the till so the kitchen knew you were ready for your main course which was then served to you fresh, not coagulated at the pass.
All in all and course for course it was an excellent experience with every dish working well, good wine and service even a grump like me couldn’t fault the service in excellent and welcoming surroundings. With water, extra wine and coffee the bill came to a very reasonable £36.40 without service. Here there was also a nice touch, no heavy handed reminders that there was no service charge on your bill, merely a little note saying “Thanks, Monika.” Thanks indeed and after two relaxing and unrushed hours we were very happy to pay the bill and thank Monika. Raymond Blanc on this showing had certainly kept to his own standard of treating both the customer and the food with respect. Merci bien. He also has in Oxford at the top of St. Giles a branch of his French delicatessen and patisserie “Maison Blanc” which is full of rather yummy stuff.
Cinema
Jericho is the area west of Walton Street, east of the Oxford Canal, south of Walton Well Road and north of Worcester place. It takes its name from "The Jericho House" (now the "Jericho Tavern") – a local inn. The area had been home to iron and brass foundries, the Oxford Canal and the Oxford University Press but Jericho was extensively rebuilt between 1870 and 1940 when tenements and buildings dating from the industrial revolution were demolished. Located outside the old city wall, it was originally a place for travellers to rest if they had reached the city after the gates had closed. The name Jericho might have been adopted to signify this 'remote place' outside the wall. The old artisans' district of Jericho isn't often visited by casual tourists. The name was originally a jocular reference to an out-of-the-way place, the sort of place one might be banished to, though it's only a short distance from St Giles. It's a little further to walk though - historically town and gown were kept severely apart and only a few streets break through to the University areas.
Jericho Tavern
For all its obscurity as a living district, it has been well recorded in fiction. Thomas Hardy's ambitious young stonemason Jude Fawley finds lodgings here amongst his fellow working men while he seeks in vain for the classical education he yearns for (Hardy calls the area 'Beersheba' just as he calls Oxford 'Christminster', but he would, wouldn't he). Colin Dexter sets much of one of his Inspector Morse stories, The Dead of Jericho, here. Jericho is no longer a working-class district. As in many English towns, the narrow streets and terrace houses which were home to craftsmen and college servants in the nineteenth century are now the sought-after abode of the liberal bourgeoisie, and as such the area is full of restaurants, bars and specialist shops, especially along Walton Street.
Inspector Morse, "Dead of Jericho"
Philip Pullman set parts of his novels Northern Lights and Lyra's Oxford in Jericho. In the books, Jericho is home to the water-dwelling "Gyptians". He has been a vocal advocate of the residential boaters' fight to save the Castlemill Boatyard. Castlemill Boatyard is a 160-year-old wharf on the canal in Jericho, owned by British Waterways and now closed. There are controversial plans to sell the site. Since the yard's closure of the yard, Jericho Community Boatyard Ltd has been set up to restore services for Oxford Boaters and to protect the future of Castlemill Boatyard. Today Jericho is a sought after and thriving area close to Oxford city centre with a strong community spirit.
Castlemill Boatyard with St. Barnabas Church in the background
Brasserie Blanc, Oxford
71- 72 Walton Street
Oxford, OX2 6AG
Tel; 01865 510 999
http://www.brasserieblanc.com/locations/oxford.php
See also; A Day in Oxford
http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/day-in-oxford.html
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