The Turl Street Kitchen

The Turl Street Kitchen is a polymorphous beast: is it a café? is it a restaurant? is it a bar? In fact, the TSK is all these things and more. Opening at 8.30am, the TSK serves up simple but brilliant breakfast fodder until 11am, before serving up hearty, home-cooked lunches and delicious dinners. A weird and wonderful selection of cakes, pastries and snacks is on offer throughout the day, but be warned that when they're gone, they're gone!

Part of the Oxford Hub, a student-run charity devoted to helping young people find volunteer opportunities and work in the "third sector", the Turl Street Kitchen is committed to serving up local, organic produce and is an ethical employer. This is reflected in the bistro-style lunch and dinner menus which change daily. In spite of all this virtuousness, I really wanted to hate the TSK. Mainly because it's always buzzing and busy; during the week its stuffed full of kookily dressed students with MacBooks (see previous post for my feelings on students ostentatiously touting MacBooks in cafés whilst wearing edgy geek-chic attire). However, Oxford brogue overkill aside, the TSK is a very pleasant place to work (pen, paper and books only!), read and chill out or to chat with friend - provided you can get a seat.

As this is a café spying blog, and café spying is my business, I'll leave the proper meals and food to the Giles Corens and A.A. Gills of this world, focussing instead on the café-type offerings at the TSK. Being the first and most important meal of the day, I feel breakfast is a fit place to start, as far as food and drink are concerned. Breakfasts at the Turl Street Kitchen are incredible and copius in a sort of "all you can eat" kind of a way. The choice is small but perfect: leaving you the decision between healthy(ish) granola, two boiled eggs with DIY toast, or just DIY toast. The toast idea is inspired: a table is set out with fresh bread - choose from a fabulously crusty farmhouse white with a soft, doughy centre and a beautiful granary loaf - and a four slice toaster. Simply cut your toast how you like it, toast it to perfection and help yourself to the (ever-improving) selection of spreads. The boiled eggs, should you choose them, are fresh, free range and cooked to perfection with a firm white and an oozing, runny yolk. Full of bright yellow mushy omega three, this is brain food and will set you up for a hard day of work, study or shopping. Although the eggs are amazing, on recent visits to the TSK, I have stuck to toast, slathering it with butter and jam or Nutella depending on my mood (though there is also marmalade and honey if you're that way inclined). My only problem with the TSK so far has been that in the mornings I need about six cups of tea to rehydrate and get myself ready for the day. However chunky the TSK mugs, one is never enough and I'm met with surprised looks when I order a lovely strong pot of Assam all for me. All the better for lingering...

If you come later in the day for a light lunch, the lovely, crusty bread makes a reappearance to accompany the ever-changing range of homemade soups. I've only sampled the soup on one occasion - a warming autumnal blend with butternut squash - but the freshly baked bread with butter was the real hit for me. If you're popping in for post-lunch coffee break or some afternoon tea, the TSK selection of cakes and pastries can be a little hit and miss. Around 3pm, this place rolls out a selection of cupcakes, tray-bakes and wild-cards like pork pies (!). The ordinary cakes - by ordinary, I mean vegetable cakes like carrot and courgette as opposed to cupcakes -  are generally quite small and and not necessarily that exciting, but the cupcakes look very enticing.

The real hit at the TSK has, in my experience, been the chocolate brownies, which are dark, dense and just big enough to satisfy. However, due to varying recipes, don't expect the same  thing every time. The first time I tried a TSK brownie, it was a small spoonful pinched off a friend's plate. I'm not sure whether it was because it was a stolen mouthful, but I'm convinced this was the best, most dense and delectable brownie I had ever tasted. From this moment on, I was resolved that my next visit to the Turl Street Kitchen would have to involve brownies. I slunk off here on a few occasions for a cup of tea, but there were no brownies. On another visit, I got lucky, but my own brownie didn't quite live up to the fudgy morsel I had filched some weeks previously. The second brownie, while still dark and chocolatey, had a strange crystalline texture, as if it had been made with granulated sugar which hadn't quite dissolved into the mixture. The brownie also had a bizarre yeasty taste, which gave you the feeling someone had experimented with a good slug of Guinness. In fact, this may, indeed have been a beer brownie, accounting for the strange brewery-inspired flavour. Anyway, while nice enough, this second brownie certainly didn't live up to the truffley smooth deliciousness of my first TSK brownie experience. If you've got a taste for adventure then the TSK's food lottery is for you.

The coffee here is really good (good as in nice and drinkable!) and is always beautifully presented. There is a huge selection of loose-leaf teas, which I'm currently working my way through. The TSK operates a system rather like Starbucks in that you order your drinks and then wait for them on the other side of the counter. This can take a while but, mercifully, unlike Starbucks, the TSK staff (can I call them baristas?) don't ask for your name/pseudonym/alter-ego before they make your coffee, so you can go about your afternoon caffeination in blissful anonymity. The hot chocolate here is amazing too, with a satisfyingly sweet and soupy texture that makes it a comforting warmer for wintery days.

The TSK kitchen deserves bonus points for its excellent toilet facilities which are beautifully decorated, clean and well-stocked with toilet roll and and soap as well as having speedy Dyson hand-dryers so you don't get a huge dripping crowd, waiting to dry their hands in the ladies'.

All in all, the fact that the Turl Street Kitchen has managed to convince me to love it, despite the challenges of getting a suitable seat, the hoards of hip fashion-blogger type students and the inconsistent quality of the cakes, makes this place a real triumph. Go for the yoga on Thursday mornings and stay for a delicious (and discounted) brekkie!


 The Verdict

***
Coffee: 4/5
Cakes: 2/5
Customer Service: 3/5
Pretentiousness: 2/5
Toilets: 4/5
Carrot cake bonus: Not awarded.

Jacobs & Field, Headington

Headington feels like a real place, far removed from the toy town that is Oxford; a safe enclave away from tourists with enormous rucksacks and humongous cameras, safely protected from the penguin parade schlepping from matriculation to examination to graduation. Headington is the kind of place that has useful shops like hardware stores and newsagents. It also has a specialist running shop, which in my book is very useful but probably isn't everyone's cup of tea.

Ah, yes, tea. Aiming to bring you a sound assessment of a variety of Oxford's many cafés, coffee shops and places to hang out, the Oxford Café Spy has boldly gone on a long journey, braving the complex public transport system and passing by some of the many hospitals in Oxford to bring you a review of Jacobs and Field, a much fêted venue in Headington.

Nestled next door to the upmarket supermarket Waitrose, Jacobs and Field is aimed at the well-heeled upper-middle class foodie. With a mug of tea coming in at around £2, don't expect a bargain builder's brew that you can spin out all afternoon while you watch the world go by. It is, however, very good Fairtrade tea, which comes with an adorable mini bottle of milk and the teabag on the side so you can brew the tea to your  taste (although, as some rather vocal ladies pointed out during my last visit, this means that the water is hot but not boiling when it meets your teabag which could be an issue for the purists among you). I haven't sampled the coffee, but it appears that espresso-based drinks come in miniature glass cups with metal handles which, while chic, means less cappuccino for your cash.

Having read a number of reviews of Jacobs and Field, I was determined to check it out. Discussion of the cakes came up a lot and it is probably evident by now that I never pass up a nice piece of cake. The idea came to me to make the journey following an accidental trip to Headington, after my usual bus to the City Centre was re-routed via the hospitals (unbeknown to me when I boarded). Being of sweet tooth, I went straight over to the counter to case the cakes and was rather disappointed to see just two baking trays, with rather thin, dry looking offerings inside. One of these was labelled 'chocolate brownie' the other 'lemon drizzle cake.' There was also a banana loaf which looked quite nice, though I find a banana loaf to be one of those things which hovers rather too precariously between breakfast and afternoon tea, and prefer it as a brunch option or afternoon snack. Aware that Jacobs and Field is a bit of a foodies' paradise, I expected the tray-bakes at least to have been removed from the tray, cut into squares and presented elegantly on a plate or cake stand. I had also hoped to see stonking great carrot cakes slathered in buttercream or luscious loaf-cakes sprinkled with sugar.

I wasn't bowled over by my first impressions of Jacobs and Field. The layout is quite open plan, with the kitchen area behind the till so you can see what's going on. While being able to see your food being prepared is great from a trust point of view, hopefully ensuring fresh ingredients and good food hygiene, I personally found the many mingling smells quite off-putting as I was kicking back with my tea and cake. It's quite a cluttered place with enamelled kitchenalia hanging from the ceiling and retro plates in glass cabinets - part farmhouse kitchen, part flea market. You can buy some of the trinkets and utensils scattered around the place, but they're far costlier than in your average charity shop.  Given that Headington is stuffed with charity shops like a turkey at Christmas, you'd be better off parting with your pennies for a good cause.

Anyway, returning to the pressing matter of cake, I opted for the brownie - I do like a good, rich and chocolatey brownie. The waitress brought over a thin but sizeable slab with a smooth, well-baked crust and crispy edges - a corner piece. Now, I know lots of people fight over the ends of a chocolate brownie, but I prefer the gooier middle bit - not that that's anything to do with Jacobs and Field - I suppose that's just the way the cookie (brownie) crumbles. And crumble it did. While the bottom half of the brownie was pleasantly moist and chocolatey, the top half was a little bit too well done for my liking. It was indulgent, but not so rich I had difficulty finishing it (actually, I don't think that has ever happened, though I live in hope...). A good, solid brownie, but nothing to write home / a blog about. So I'll move on.

I thought the disappointing selection of cakes might have been a one-off. Finding myself on the bus route towards Headington a second time later that week, I returned to see if anything sweet had been cooking in the J&F kitchens. Alas, the selection was the same. However, stomach growling for a late elevenses / early lunch, I opted for a mug of Earl Grey and a slice of banana bread. The banana bread arrived toasted and with a sachet of Nutella, as well as a generous portion of butter. I went straight for the chocolate spread, slathering it over this huge warm banana bread bricquette. It was very good; perhaps not quite as good as Zappi's lovely moist offering but still very nice. As someone who views many food items as merely a vehicle for condiments, I thought the Nutella was an inspired touch, though it has, perhaps, affected the objectivity of my assessment of the banana bread. Anyway, it's tasty, has a good texture and comes with Nutella. So, yes, it's good.

Cakes aside, Jacobs and Field is a favourite with ladies who lunch and is renowned for its deli and salad bar offerings. The place also does a good line in sandwiches, cheeses and cold meats. From what I could see, the self-service deli featured pasta, grain and potato salads, as well as roasted vegetables and that kind of thing. It looked like good, nice home-cooked fodder, though it did remind me of the bowls of salads you used to get spread on a large trestle for harvest lunches at my local church, when I was a child. While this is no bad thing - the parish has been blessed with many a good cook - I'm not sure I want to pay £10 for a few salads (though it is nice to eat off a real, china plate!).

As for the clientèle - well, this place is undeniably pretentious but I still rather liked it. As my usual haunts are in central Oxford, I've grown to hate overdressed students in oversized spectacles (nothing wrong with being visually challenged, mind - I'm bespectacled myself, though I don't go in for "Two Ronnies" glasses - oh, sorry, what was that? you're not channelling a comedy duo of bygone days?!). In some of Oxford's most sought after haunts, a MacBook Pro is  little more than a very expensive flag with which the student land-grabber can lay claim to his seat. In Jacobs and Fields, there was not a Mac to be seen. What's more, I haven't yet got too sick of yummy mummies and Home-Counties drawls yet; this, combined with the fact that I didn't have to fight for a table means that Jacobs and Field gets away with being a bit posh! Also, I can't help but love the milk bottles.

Cake: 2/5
Tea: 4/5
Pretentiousness: 2/5

Overall: ***

Green's Café

Scanning the seating area of Green's Café on a weekday afternoon, you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd just walked in to one of Oxford University's many libraries by mistake. During term-time, this café is a silent hive of scholarly activity. Mainly populated by people with laptops, if you're looking for a place to catch-up on the weekend's drunken antics over a cup of coffee, this probably isn't your place. However, if you're looking for a nice cup of coffee, good cake or a decent lunch, then Green's might just be the café for you.

Situated along St Giles, Green's is handy for Somerville College, St Anne's College and Regent's Park. All very nice, laid back colleges, this doesn't do too badly in the pretentiousness stakes, despite being heavily populated by artsy students. If the deathly hush of Green's puts you off then fear not, it's sister café opposite the Westgate centre is in a much livelier part of town. Spanning three floors, if Green's resembles a library then the Art Café is the Sixth Form common room, offering the same great cakes, panini, lunches and snacks  in an altogether buzzier environment.

The coffee at Green's is great, although rather on the pricey side. Strong but not too strong, the café offers all the usual suspects such as cappucinos (cappucini?), lattes and mochas and you can opt for soya or skimmed if that's your thing. Green's also do lovely Teapigs tea sold by the cup which, again, although expensive is worth the extra pence. Offering pots of tea rather than just cups would help the café to notch closer to perfection, but then the lingering students would probably never leave!

Green's all day breakfasts have long been a Sunday-morning institution, promising to provide all the fat and organic meaty goodness you need to kick that hangover into tough and crack on with your fifth week essay. The vegetarian breakfast is also a winner. In the past few years, the café has upped its game as far as breakfasting is concerned and now offers fashionable favourites such as porridge and American-style pancakes with syrup in addition to classic Green's fodder including muesli and bagels. The porridge, while good, is made with ordinary scotch porridge oats and can be a little on the liquid-side for my liking, but the pancakes are excellent and come with a generous pot of maple syrup for drizzling.

Moving towards lunchtime, Green's has a good selection of panini and baguettes which are made freshly in-house. Sizeable chunks of fresh, carby bread, these generously filled panini are not for the faint hearted, offering far more to get your teeth into than the usual coffee chain fayre. If you eat in, your lunch will be served with an attractive but small salad and a dollop of tasty coleslaw to give the impression that you're getting your five-a-day. Top fillings at Green's include the smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel, a goat's cheese, olive and pesto baguette and the bacon, brie and cranberry panini, though there is a huge selection to choose from. What's more, in the unlikely event that there are sandwiches left over after 4.30pm, Green's sell them off at £1.50 - ideal if you're looking for a cheap tea on the go. If you want a more substantial lunch, the café offers a selection of hearty pastas and baked potatoes throughout the day in addition to delicious, fresh-tasting salads and homely favourites like lasagne and chicken curry.

Having covered breakfast and lunch, I now get onto the important matter of cake. Green's do a good and dependable selection of cakes, brownies, slices and cookies with both regular and gluten-free options. The brownies are good and quite rich, but lack the indulgent buttery, fudgy texture of those found in newer arrivals on the Oxford Café scene such as Zappi's and the Turl Street Kitchen (reviews to follow). The Carrot Cake is excellent: moist and spicy with a nice, sweet layer of cream-cheese frosting, while the Apple Cake is as dense and moist as it looks, but is a little bland on the palate. Green's chocolate chip cookies are something of a wild-card in that they never seem to be made to the same recipe, some days you'll see large flat shortbread-style cookies with a few chunks of chocolate, other days, Green's will offer chunky, crumbly cookies which are an inch-thick and look more like chocolate-chip rock cakes. They're sweet enough but somewhat dry, causing me to engage in the risky and socially questionable practice of dipping. The thing is, at £1.50 a cookie, I'd sooner dip a Cadbury's Twirl in my tea and spend the change in Primark...

All in all, Green's café is a lovely place to be. Ideal for holing yourself up on a rainy day and getting through some articles, or getting down to writing that essay you've been putting off, you'll be spoilt for choice in terms of snacks and drinks. As with many places in Oxford, the emphasis on organic and gluten-free produce means you can indulge in some (almost) guilt-free snacking, but watch those purse strings as it's very easy to keep nipping back down to the counter...

The Organic Deli Café, Friar's Passage

The Organic Deli Café is one of Oxford's hidden gems. Part of me is loath to write about it as I would prefer it to stay that way. However, having been an on-off regular ever since this café first opened, I thought that it should be one of the very first to receive The Oxford Café Spy treatment. 

The first thing that drew me to the café was the fact that it was quiet and offered free wifi. Tucked away in Friar's Passage, between Magdalen Street and Gloucester Green, this is a little haven away from the bustle of the bus stops and the mêlée of the the market. The friendly staff and quiet atmosphere were two factors which compelled me to come back here again and again. No pretentiousness, just good coffee, sizeable slices of delicious homemade cakes and a smile. What more could you ask for?

The Organic Deli is a family run business and you can tell that the owners have put a lot of energy into the place. Catering for all sorts of dietary requirements, including a fabulous selection of gluten free breads and cakes, they seem really keen to satisfy their customers' needs. They also serve massive pots of Teapigs tea, which makes it an ideal spot to while away the time with a good book or a tutorial essay depending on your status. Talking of status, students and holders of Oxford Key bus passes enjoy a 10% discount at The Organic Deli Café which earns the place another big tick. Coffee here is also good, though I'm a sucker for a nice cup of tea, especially if it comes in a quirky teapot as it does here. One bizarre thing about the tea here is that the milk is often served warm. Usually, I'd deem this to be an abomination, but I love the place so much that I'll let it slip!

Breakfasts at The Organic Deli Café are varied and are served throughout the day. While the granola is average and would have benefited from either being less voluminous or accompanied by more yoghurt (in fairness, this is more an intrinsic fault of granola for being so damn crunchy than that of the café), the Eggs Royale comes highly recommended. Served on two delicious slices of what tasted like homemade soda bread, it had a decent portion of fresh smoked salmon and two poached eggs. The eggs could, perhaps, have done with being rather runnier, but getting the perfect poached egg is not one of life's certainties. Also, I gather there are some odd people in this world who would rather have a slightly well-done egg than run the risk of contracting salmonella in the quest for the ultimate unctuous yolk. Sadly, despite being odd in many other respects and having obsessive-compulsive tendencies as far as food hygiene is concerned, I am not one such breakfaster. 

On the subject of hygiene, the toilet facilities are a little strange and make you feel as if you have stepped into somebody's bathroom. The addition of soap and paper towels would allow for extra points, facilities-wise. Other practical anomalies include the fact that, despite friendly, attentive staff, occasionally a drink or item of cutlery fails to reach the diner, but all you have to do is ask. And don't mention the milk.

Where the Organic Deli Café really scores is on selection. Whether you're looking for a sandwich or a salad, a light bite or a proper meal, you'll find what you're looking for here. There is a good range of Amy's Organic Soups available which, while not made in-house, allow the café to offer a far greater selection of lunchtime soups than rival establishments. Anyway, whoever Amy is, she knows her soups, and her tasty offerings are served with toast and some cheese, a lovely touch and a welcome change from the usual dry bread roll. For those who want a bit of meat, homemade dishes such as lasagne are cooked fresh everyday and are surprisingly affordable.

Finally, of course, I should not forget to mention the deciding factor in the assessment of Oxford's finest cafés: the cake. And what cake. Freshly made and often gluten free, going to the counter to pay for my delicious lunch always makes me wish I'd left a bit more room for some pudding. While I concede, theoretically speaking, there is always room for cake, from a practical point of view it is not prudent to give in to these appetites too frequently if a lady wishes to remain financially solvent or has a pressing afternoon engagement. Not to mention the fact that there is, it must be conceded, a fine line between cake-loving and utter gluttony which should not be crossed with excessive regularity if said lady wish to keep her figure and her arteries in tact. That said, the Chubby Hubby is wonderful: a layer of chocolate sandwiched between an amazing shortbread creation with the a chunky, sandy texture approaching that of a flapjack - you know, the kind of thing that would inspire those of us with Proustian tendencies to get textually overexcited. They do a carrot cake which is Venetian and appears to be moist, but isn't one for purists. The lemon and polenta cake looks very good, too. I'll let you know...

Verdict

Tea: 3/5 (please sort the milk thing out if you haven't already)
Cakes: 4/5
Customer Service: 4/5
Pretentiousness: 5/5 (mercifully free of yummy mummies and effete tweed-clad English undergrads)
Toilets: 2/5 (though I hear rumours that this has changed since my visit).
Carrot cake bonus: Bronze

Total: ****

Souths - 35 South Parade, Summertown

Today's choice is a newcomer to the Oxford café scene. Having opened in Spring 2012, Souths had completely passed me by until a few days ago when I happened upon the blackboard outside promising smoothies, milkshakes and wifi in addition to great coffees. I was, at the time, waiting for a friend to join me for a post-work coffee at the nearby Summertown Wine Café, causing me to doubt whether this was really the greatest location for a café. Tucked away in the chic South Parade area of Summertown, Souths is nestled amongst hip bars, restaurants and expensive boutiques which means that it's in a prime location for attracting the moneyed yummy mummies of North Oxford. I had also read that the café hoped to become a sort of "external common room" for students of nearby St Edward's school. 

On an overcast Sunday morning, I went to Souths in search of a caffeine fix and was disappointed to find the place closed. Not a great first impression: what café these days is closed on Sundays? Determined to give the place a try, I returned the next day, armed with my laptop to test out the place's suitability as a working venue. Branding itself as an internet café and with a sleek interior, I had high hopes for the place. Scanning the room I noticed a distinct lack of homemade cakes, or any cakes for that matter. In terms of food, all that was offered was a few pre-packaged muffins and two jars of large manufactured cookies. Also, somewhat bizarrely, on the empty shelf above the bland selection of chilled soft drinks were two jars of jelly sweets which, presumably were to accompany the milkshakes. 

 The coffee list was lengthy, though didn't feature my desired beverage that morning, a mocha. I tried my luck and ordered a mocha with soya milk, extra hot. Coffee-wise, this was looking promising with options including skimmed milk and the aforementioned soya. The drink was brought over to me forthwith, served with a speculoo. I picked up the cup and took a sip of my extra-hot mocha, which was disappointingly lukewarm. I'm the kind of person who likes to have my lips scalded by steam as I hover them over the cup, so will mark a place down if it can't make a decent, hot drink. My chocolatey choice might have been a rather teenage option, but warm milky drinks are for children before bed and should never be served to an adult in broad daylight, especially when she has specifically asked for her drink to be served extra hot. It's about listening to your customers. 

When the owner brought the coffee over, I politely asked whether I might have the password for the wifi, this being marketed as an internet café. He said he'd sort me out with one, and went back over to the counter. And that was the last I saw or heard of him. As I had other things to be getting on with and so, evidently, did he (namely chatting to another customer who was obviously a friend of his), I decided I wouldn't ask again, hoping that in time he would notice his mistake. So, a second black mark has to go against Souths for the owner following that infuriatingly rude trend amongst staff in chi-chi cafés and shops of gossiping to people they know and failing to acknowledge the needs and requests of the remainder of their clientele. 

Despite a number of areas for improvement, Souths isn't a bad place. Uncharacteristically, I didn't need a wee during my time there so I can't comment on the state of the toilets on this occasion, but I'd hasard a guess that they're as new and clean as the rest of the place. The atmosphere is pleasant enough; it's quiet and all the better for it. Aside from being rather on the cold side, my mocha was delicious. Provided there aren't too many Mummies with screaming infants, and the staff remember to give you the wifi code, this could turn out to be a pretty good place to work. With plenty of weekend papers floating around, it's well-suited to kicking back for an hour or so with a coffee. However, if you're looking for delicious cakes, pop a few doors down to the Summertown Wine Café for an indulgent slab of their latest homemade creation. 

 The Verdict

Coffee: 3/5
Cakes: 1/5
Customer Service: 2/5
Pretentiousness: 3/5
Toilets: N/A
Carrot cake bonus: Not awarded.
 
Total: **