The Red Lion (Gloucester St)

What a transformation and hurrah for Oxford acquiring another much-needed decent restaurant! We had a friend visiting for the weekend and my partner and I were racking our brains to think of somewhere to take him for supper on Saturday. I had heard jungle drums that the dive formerly known as ‘The Goose’ had been gutted and reborn as ‘The Red Lion’ (I vaguely remember my father saying it used to be called ‘The Red Lion’ in his drinking days so perhaps a salute to its former title..?) by the company that runs ‘The Trout’ and, being the slightly sad individual I am, I simply had to make a detour on my way into work to check it out.

 A quick glance at the menu (conveniently displayed outside with paper copies for people to pick up when they walk past) confirmed the rumours, as anyone familiar with the Trout’s menu will instantly recognise both the style of the menu and the similarity of the dishes on offer.

Deciding not to book we arrived on Saturday evening around 8.45pm to find the restaurant bustling and we were relieved to find out that they did have a table for three available. Walking past the happy diners I quickly made a mental note of the dishes I could see; the burgers, pizzas, steak and fishcakes all looked tempting. Opting for a bottle of reasonably priced Viognier (just under £20) we sat down to peruse the menu, having quite quickly reached the conclusion that making a decision as to what to have might not be an easy one. Our patient waitress smiled charmingly when we asked her (more than once!) for more time and eventually we were ready to order.

Anything with a poached egg and Hollandaise sauce is heaven for me and my asparagus with the above, served with prosciutto, was very well cooked. Rather embarrassingly my tentative attempts to pierce the egg gently to make the most of (what I hoped was) a deliciously runny yolk resulted in a jet of hot canary-yellow yolk spattering the front of my shirt – not a good start to the evening, but entirely of my own doing! The asparagus was firm and fresh and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole dish.
My partner chose the gambas with aioli and looked rather put out when the prawns arrived shell-on (which I had guessed they would be, but rather meanly neglected to mention this to him as watching him tackle the shells is just too fun) and after struggling bravely to get them into an edible state he remarked sulkily that ‘it didn’t really seem worth the effort’. He had a point, as I think there were 4 possibly 5 prawns on his plate which, with the jumbo shells removed, left a fairly pathetic looking mound of flesh to devour. However the fierce aioli was delicious (if you love garlic) and, after forcing me to taste some so that we were both appropriately smelly of breath, he seemed pacified.

Our friend decided to go for the stuffed mushrooms which looked a good size and were reported to be ‘delicious’. Sadly I was too distracted by my own food to pinch any of his and he managed to wolf the whole lot before I had an opportunity to rectify this.

The main courses were also excellent. Our friend was still finding it difficult to decide when he ordered and I was pleased that our waitress had a thorough knowledge of the menu and was able to help him reach a decision. Eventually he chose the fishcakes with a side of rosemary fries, my partner went with the tagliatelle, slow-cooked bolognaise and, feeling decadent, I chose fish and chips.

A minor gripe I have – and this is personal preference, happens everywhere and is something I usually head off by asking the waiter/ess to hold off on our main courses – is that the main courses arrived far too quickly after our starters. We had barely had a moment to breathe, let alone digest!

However, I soon forgot my dismay when presented with a magnificent wooden board loaded with chips and various condiments and, most impressively, a huge piece of beautifully battered haddock. It was heavenly; not at all greasy but thinly battered and crunchy in all the right places, delicately and perfectly seasoned with fresh black pepper and flakes of sea salt, all finished off with a good squirt of fresh lemon. Honestly the best fish and chips I’ve had in Oxford for a long time.

The chips were delicious; skin-on, skinny and salty but even so, they still played second fiddle to the fish. I didn’t even bother with the minted mushy peas or the tartare sauce as there was far too much fish to waste any room in my stomach on anything else! The boys seemed very happy with their main courses and from where I was sitting and their spotlessly clean plates, I would guess that it was a thumbs-up from them too. We couldn’t finish the rosemary fries (or about half of mine) and do bear in mind that when it says ‘with mayo’ it means with mayo. For those of you that prefer your fries to be goop-less it is probably worth asking them to hold off, as I noticed Tom digging under the mayo to get to the plain fries at the bottom.

Feeling absolutely sated I declined the tempting cheese on offer for desert and opted instead for one of their after dinner drinks, The Kings Dram, which was a fantastically refreshing martini with Drambuie and King's Ginger (so refreshing in fact, that I had to have two) whilst my partner sampled their Frisky Bison (also very good). Tom is made of sterner stuff and managed to polish off a Limencello posset, which he described as being ‘wonderfully creamy but perhaps lacking slightly in terms of lemony zing’ and my goodness, there was a lot of posset!

All in all it was a fabulous meal. I might have expected them to be a little rough around the edges, having opened so recently, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The staff were pleasant and clued up, the food was uniformly excellent and it’s worth visiting if only to sample The King's Dram. I think it’s fair to assume that Oxford’s heavy weight champions now have cause for concern with some stiff competition from the new kid on the block. Long may it continue!

Dr Mukti (Unverified), 16/05/11

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Completely love it!! What a fab place, Oxford is definitely missing a great pub/restaurant and this fits the bill perfectly..... Completely delicious food, friendly and welcoming staff and a lovely atmosphere, what more could you ask for!

Five stars from me!

Lisa (Unverified), 05/05/11

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Once, there was a pub in central Oxford called The Red Lion. It was a fairly ordinary pub, nowt special, no pretensions. It could easily have been taken for a Wetherspoons with its cheap beer and cheap breakfasts. Then it was redone. It's still called The Red Lion...but what a change!

Mucho money expended on the new interior: stools covered with fake skin of some animal or other (goat, antelope, llama)...some indeterminate sham-exotica; tables of carefully faux-weathered faux-handcrafted-driftwood; dangling chains as if recovered from some Johnny Depp shipwreck. And all around, carefully set tables with tall wineglasses with perfectly folded napkins.

Customers? A quarter of what was there this time a year ago. We went there for the outside. Surely they cannae get that wrong? There were two notices: ‘dining’ and ‘smoking’. Not being smokers, we went to the left. A waitress said that it was for diners. I asked if, therefore, the other area was solely for smokers? If only those who dined must go to the left then it followed, as a matter of logic, that only those who smoked could go to the right. She replied, in the tones of one following a script, that the left was for diners and she would get the manager. We sat down. No manager appeared.

A year ago, at that time of day, with such weather - there would have been a small chance of finding a vacant table. Only 60% of tables were occupied, two of those by diners. Any business-studies students, a thesis subject: How is it possible to get something so wrong?

davidmurray (DI User), 21/04/11

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Last night I was invited to the spangly new Red Lion to experience its recent transformation (since last Friday!) into a gastro-pub.

The environment was pleasant with well considered decor. Wooden tables under gentle lighting give a homely air and the large dining space has a pleasing design; divided by different levels and rooms, with sparkly candles in jars, a long bar and bookshelves full of wine, it felt spacious, relaxed and classy.

The cuisine was fairly eclectic - ranging from the Sunday roast reflecting the venue’s history as a pub, to an array of pizzas, and from at least one Middle Eastern dish hidden amongst the starters to French and Italian mains. This did not however come across as an identity crisis; instead I rather liked the feeling of extensive choice without having to grapple with an overpoweringly long menu.

For my starter I had the stilton and pear tart with rocket, which was delicious - delicate enough for a starter yet full of flavour and finished with a kind of tangy onion garnish. My companion had the lamb koftas which were very different from their college dinner incarnations: tender, with a tasty relish and a yoghurt dip.

Moving on to the main I had the confit of duck leg with (rather emotively named) crushed baby potatoes. I soon forgot about the potatoes’ plight however, as the dish was excellent ...and filling - (possibly my own fault for going to town on the bread and balsamic vinegar at the start and ordering garlic chips as a side!). If I were to make any change to this dish it would be to be slightly more generous with the fruity sauce. I am a fan of sticky sauces and this one was yum, so I probably would have gone for liberal dashings rather than elegant drizzle, despite the prettiness of the latter.

My companion had the salmon on leek and cabbage carbonara. I was intrigued to see whether this inventive dish would work and was impressed. I generally like the idea of putting together foods one might not naturally associate and it was probably my favourite mouthful of the evening. I’ve always thought of carbonara as comfort food, but this one had a certain class added to savoury goodness.

For dessert I continued my pear theme with pannacotta, poached pear and chocolate sauce, which was again very tasty. It had an interesting ornament on top of it which I think was some kind of nut inside solidified golden syrup. Despite being rather confused about whether I should chew it, suck it or just admire it from afar, I loved the quirky touch it added to the presentation. My companion’s sticky toffee pudding also looked great and was apparently all you could wish for in stickiness and toffeeness.

Service throughout was slick and friendly, and presentation excellent. I would probably think of the new Red Lion as a restaurant more than a pub: you would possibly not go there to watch the rugby, but they should certainly be high on the list for a relaxed yet classy evening meal. Since they've only been open four days, I'll also be interested to see how they develop. In all, the cheerfulness and competence of the staff, high standard of the food and pleasantness of the venue combined to make a very enjoyable evening – I'd highly recommend giving them a go!

Emma (DI Reviewer), 01/03/11

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