Toot Baldon, International - Restaurant Guide

2025 Review: This “big old pub with a jolly, slightly bohemian atmosphere” is a well-known “gastro-pub (with the emphasis on gastro)”. It achieves solid and still-plentiful support in our annual diners’ poll, despite a feeling that “the food falls well short of the standards at its London siblings, Anchor & Hope and Canton Arms”. Top Menu Tip – “the suet crust steak-and-ale pie to share is a lovely, lovely thing”.

2024 Review: From a now nine-strong “cheap ’n’ cheerful” Sri Lankan chain that wants to create a relaxed island vibe – candles in coconut shells, upbeat music – and has found a real audience for its “very tasty” and “excellent-value” small plates (including many vegan-friendly options) plus potent cocktails (aka ‘cocotails’).

“Rightly an Oxford institution”, this self-service café with a “student vibe” is a “go-to place for a good-value wholesome brunch in a buzzing atmosphere”; sit inside on trestle tables or “outside in the sun, surrounded by the architecture that makes Oxford famous”, as you enjoy “fab cake” and “tempting” mains, with a “great choice from vegan to Asian curries and lovely cakes”. Fans are “glad to see it has survived” thus far – indeed some 15,500 of them signed up to save the venue, which remains at the heart of an eviction dispute between café owner Will Pouget, and the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, where it sits, and whose landlord wants to create a larger social enterprise in the space; having already been adjourned in April 2025 due to the complexity of determining if the land is consecrated (the pivotal point), the case was listed to recommence at the High Court shortly before we went to press.

2024 Review: With its “lovely decorations and plants”, this former neo-Gothic bank in the High Street – transformed by a £5 million makeover five years ago – elicits reports similar to its stablemates across the country, with its “beautiful interior” being its most important selling feature. That said, its brasserie fare is better rated than at many of its siblings.