Despite the studied innocence of their font, The First Floor is no small player in the restaurant scene. It's newly opened on the Cowley Road, and there's obviously some serious backing behind it.
A relatively small entrance onto the road, next to Helen and Douglas House charity shop, takes you in to a smart central atrium. Upstairs the atrium (with promiment lift) is a central feature, as is the panoramic if unlikely view of Cowley Road and all its delights. I can imagine that this is a lovely place for coffee while you watch the bustle below.
Waiting staff were keen, and because they're not serving the food they're not too busy, leading to very attentive service. They whisked away crockery and cutlery, and glasses getting a little low were topped up to the brim before we'd realised what was happening.
Classic and non-alcoholic cocktails were on offer. "Exotic pineapple" was flamboyantly served, and refreshing, though not made from freshly pressed fruit juice. Margarita contained ice slush. Good salt rim, but very sour limes as if they were under-ripe.
Cono Sur Cabernet Sauvignon Carmenère was very nice, and £18 per bottle. They have an interesting and varied selection of wines, intelligently described, including fair trade and organic options. There was no indication the food matched up to these high ethical standards! Three whites, two reds and both rosés were available by the glass, or if your budget's a bit grander there's Dom Perignon at an eye-watering £145 per bottle!
The food was plentiful and drew from all ranges of the advertised 'pan-Asian' cuisine. Roughly broken down into areas of culinary similarity, there is certainly no shortage of choice. A surprisingly varied selection of palette cleansers and/or appetisers including gerkhins, olives, unidentified but tasty pickle (possibly lime) and a very more-ish honey and chilli offering. All go well with the small flatbreads offered as accompaniment.
Following round the U-shaped food serving arrangement takes you from rice, noodles and a delightful if suprising creamy pasta dish to chinese, via indian and finally slices of pizza! This appeared to be the token Continental dish. I am not sure where this fits into the overall culinary vision, but assume it's there because some people like to have pizza with everything, which is quite fair enough.
Dishes seemed freshly cooked and things that ought to be are pleasingly crunchy. In fact the heating lamps are so effective the spoon handles are quite crispy too. Quality of ingredients is that one would expect from the middle range of the takeaway market. Of note is the extensive salad area in the middle of the U. Large bowls of chopped tomatoes, cucumber, yellow/green pepper and iceberg. Yum, and lots of it. Also recommended is the tasty apple salad.
There is certainly no shortage of choice. An interesting plateful can be achieved at every visit. We particularly liked stir-fried vegetables with large mushrooms. Popadoms and prawn crackers were also available in quantity. The Indian subcontinent is represented by delicious deep-fried tempura crossed with bhaji vegetables, and curry made of a meat I couldn't identify, possibly chicken. Of course it would not be pork as the restaurant is Halal.
The whole issue of labelling was interesting - neat little placards identified Pizza and Spicy Wings, which we had worked out anyway! We guessed there might be more labels on their way. In the meantime vegetarians had to check with nearby staff which dishes were safe for them. Meanwhile you needed to be adventurous, as you can't be sure what meat you were choosing, nor how hot the curries are!
Dessert was covered by fruit salad (which goes well with the other salads as a main course) and apple fritters flanked by whipped cream and chocolate sauce, as you prefer. Some chocolate tower cakes appeared later in the proceedings. This is a place to go to hungry, and we'd recommend starting with dessert, to make sure you have room for it.
Latin American music added a very different flavour to an already overloaded plateful. The other noise issue was to do with the acoustics - the large and echoey space sounded atmospheric and busy with few diners. However it proved hard to communicate effectively with waiting staff. While more people might muffle the resonance they'd also make more noise.
A colouring sheet for children is on offer, with animals representing the different nationalities of food. There's a rack of newspapers and comfy sofas. Our bill came to £54 for two, including wine and cocktails. We'd recommend going to sample the buffet while it's 20% off.
