Portabello

Portabello
7 South Parade
Summertown
Oxford
OX2 7LJ





Portabello is one of the nicer restaurants in north Oxford, serving good casual dining to the smarter dressed and well heeled citizens of Summertown.



The menu ticks all of the usual boxes. There is some emphasis on locality - in the beef and lamb - and the blackboard specials are interesting.



There's also a set menu which at £12.95 for two courses, and £16.95 for three, represents incredible value.



Cocktails, drinks, et al.



And the wine list.



My starter of smoked duck breast served with salad and rehydrated cherries was flavoursome, but the duck itself was a little overcooked, and thus the meat was mealy. The smoke flavour did not manage to penetrate the duck, and was definitely not as good as our own attempt.



A's calamari was a popular rendition, but done to a very high standard. The calamari was sliced a little too thin, but was dredged in seasoned flour and fried so nicely that the calamari retained its tender texture with a slight chew, while the outside was crispy and delicious, without a trace of cooking oil. The two dipping sauces: tartar and sweet chili were both well executed, flavourful and not overly rich.



Our friend K's goats' cheese salad was simple, as it should be. The cheese wasn't too pungent, and was creamy and well chosen.



K and A both ordered steaks, the former a rump served medium with a sauce Bearnaise.



A ordered a rare sirloin with garlic butter, which was unfortunately somewhat overcooked to medium.



My calf liver with bacon and mash was more bacon and mash than liver. Two small pieces of liver was topped with several large pieces of, admittedly delicious, bacon. The spring-onion mash was quite good, but the serving was rather small. The jus was on the thin side, but added a punch of flavour.



The biggest disappointment was obviously the liver itself. One could overlook a small serving, but as I ordered, the waiter asked if it's ok that the liver is served pink, which only added to my enthusiasm, which gave way to disappointment as the liver turned out to be dry and well-done. Nary a drop of juice survived the vicious attack on this poor piece of meat.



A's chips were crispy, and tasted of potato. We were assured that these were hand-cut in the restaurant.



The inside of A's steak - although still pink, it was far from the rare that she had ordered.



A dessert menu was produced.



A chose to have the Portabello 'latte': Kahlua, Amaretto and nutmeg.



K's cherry custard tart was declared to be delicious.



My white chocolate cheesecake nearly redeemed the overcooked liver. Rich, smooth, on a gingernut biscuit base, this was everything that I love about cheesecake.



Pale and buttery, the cheesecake tasted of rich white-chocolate/cocoa butter, but retained the smoothness of the cream cheese.



The damage: between three of us, having three courses each with two bottles of wine, the bill came to £111. Not bad, considering that the food was actually quite good. With a Gourmet Society card, the bill was reduced to £83 without tip, or just over £30 a head. Definitely worth a revisit.