Restaurant, Café, Deli / Sandwich Bar & Takeaway & Drinking Establishment
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New café (ground floor), restaurant and bar (first floor) opened Feb 2008. (Restaurant seats 45 diners and can be privately hired.) Lovely light cafe with newspapers and big spacious tables. Also the most palatial toilet in Cowley. |
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East Oxford Health Centre Useful links: Oxford Restaurants Oxford Hotels Oxford Pubs & Bars Oxford Gig venues Oxford Concert venues |
I've only tried the breakfast here, which was excellent and fantastic value for money. Will definitely go back and try lunch or dinner.
Me, 24/02/09 I have visited Caffino 3 times and each time it has been very quiet. This is a great shame because their ‘mezze’ are to die for! They have a long list of hot and cold starters. You can either choose a few yourself or you can ask for a platter. We usually have the platter which is delicious and an absolute bargain – about £9.00, and this is plenty for 2 people for a main course. It consists of things like hummus, potatoes with peppers, grilled halloumi, spicy sausage and some wonderful spinach and feta ‘pies’. I can honestly say every single thing on the platter is delicious. You also get a generous basket of pitta bread pieces on the side. They have quite a long wine list, but the Turkish house wine (which isn’t on the list) is lovely. Unfortunately the main courses don’t quite match up to the quality of the starters but if you have a platter you won’t need a main course anyway. If you do want wine go to the proper restaurant which is up the stairs. Downstairs is the more informal café. Emsy, 06/07/08 We go here regularly. The welcome is always warm, the atmosphere laid back & inviting & the food is absolutely fab. We often go on a Sunday morning (it's open 8am) for quite possibly the best breakfast in Oxford (great quality sausages & bacon) & fantastic coffee - & at a really reasonable price too. They also have a great sandwich & light bite menu, with some really interesting choices. The meze platter is delicioust & in all honesty I've not been disappointed by anything I've eaten there so far. We have only visited once in the evening (but plan to go again soon!) & we both had the slow cooked knuckle of lamb - amazing. Try it, I promise you won't find lamb more tasty & tender anywhere else. The baklava I had for dessert was fresh & homemade, really delicious. All in all a truly great addition to the Cowley Road - go & see for yourself! MCRedd, 05/04/08 What a great new addition to the upper Cowley Road. The eaterie for the new East Oxford Health Centre (NHS staff can access hefty discounts), this venue (comprising Caffino café downstairs and the Istanbul restaurant upstairs) covers all options, serving breakfasts from 7am, later becoming a lunch stop (with takeaway) and then progressing through evening meals to become a bar open until 11pm. It's easily the nicest restaurant on NHS property I've ever been in; and is run not by the NHS itself, but by the people behind Tick Tock Cafe. Most of the food is freshly made on site, and local ingredients (including meat from the butcher a few hundred yards away) are prioritised. The results are impressive. As well as the usual pastry, breakfast and sandwich suspects, there are reasonably priced mezze platter deals and home-cooked specials which vary weekly. Their halloumi is genuinely the best I've ever eaten - sweet, salty and squeaky to all the right levels - and the little falafel, and the crunchy warm spinach and feta parcels, were full of flavour. The mains are varied and meaty (they do roasts on Sunday too, and also have dishes suitable for coeliacs), but I can say first-hand that the vegetarian crêpe (an unbelievably cheap £2.95! Also available in meat format) is delicious and comfortingly wholseome (hooray - crêpes reach the Cowley Road!). There's a good wine list too - the house white and red are Turkish, and very drinkable, and there is also Turkish beer (and even Yeni Raki for the brave) - with other drinks specials to be 'featured' on a monthly basis. Both lower and upper venues are nicely laid out, with plants, pretty mood lighting and attractive art on the walls. Caffino on the ground floor is light and open, and Istanbul upstairs bar/restaurant feel, and a smoking terrace from which you can view the bright lights of the Cowley Road. Both seem like pleasant places to spend time - something which won't be discouraged, as there's no fast-food atmosphere here: Wi-Fi is provided, and in good weather, tables on the pavement add a little bit of café culture to the Cowley Road. Look out for Caffino's bright, coffee-cup decorated awnings from the road and seek it out - it's worth finding. Su Jordan, 26/02/08 This is a real gem. At lunch time the sandwiches are the cheapest but best around, and if you eat in, they come with a few home-made chips and salad. In the evening the food is really good and the wine list comprehenshive. The Turkish specials are well worth trying. The staff are friendly too and the price is good. I know, given the previous review, that this sounds a bit like hyperbole but it really is true. Barbara, 25/02/08 Absolutely worth a visit! The menu had remarkable variety, truly gourmet food at great prices. The Turkish influence made for a lot of really cool-looking choices - I could hardly make up my mind! I went with chicken, mushrooms and peppers stuffed in a delicious fluffy pitta with a savoury sauce - plus sides and a drink, and it cost just six quid! The quality was unbeatable, the staff were attentive and friendly, and the decor was gorgeous. I loved the warm atmosphere and can't wait to go back! I recommend that everyone seek out this gem! afw, 22/02/08 Caffino is the best place I've ever been. Beautiful atmosphere, lovely friendly staff, and delicious Turkish cuisine and my vegetarian girlfriend was so happy as well. pasha..., 22/02/08
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