Dine Online - the UK Restaurant guide

Graham Tigg is our external examiner in Oxford

Whites - 16 Turl Street, Oxford. Tel 0865 793396 - reviewed July 1995

Whites is very central and not far from the interesting Oxford covered market. The burgundy shaded ground floor dining room is on a street corner which lets in plenty of daylight and provides a view of passers by in the street. My view from our table of four was dominated by a large charcoal drawing of what looked like three naked ancient Greek athletes.

At lunch they do a Stg 12.95 menu of two courses from a choice of three dishes per course, plus coffee and puddings as an optional extra. A green salad with strips of smoked salmon in a light mustard vinaigrette was well put together, as was a more interesting grilled summer mackerel fillet on a bed of dressed salad leaves with pear puree which worked well with the oils of the rich fish. The bread offering was fresh and crusty slices from three different types of round loaves.

For the main course, poached chicken breast on a leek and tarragon sauce was just about spot on with the strength of tarragon that helped lift the not surprisingly bland chicken. More gutsy was a char grilled piece of pork topped with grilled mozzarella and sitting on spinach and a dash of dark rich reduced jus. Plain mixed veg served on side plates were cooked to perfect firmness but otherwise a little dull.

There is a strong menu of toothsome puds. Nougat glacé on a compote of strawberries and raspberries was good if not totally to our taste, as was a slice of baked cheesecake with a tiny cream and raspberry tart.

With a bottle of zippy south west French house white and a seductive half bottle of 1992 Chinon the total for four before service was a reasonable Stg 88.00. The wine list is not massive but offers may interesting wines and plenty of half bottles. The next set menu costs just under Stg 30.00 for three courses plus coffee and offers a glass of wine to compliment each of the courses. This menu offered more sophisticated dishes with more adventurous ingredients such as stuffed guinea fowl. Given the competent if perhaps unexciting cooking we witnessed, this would be worth trying.

Graham Tigg

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Copyright Graham Tigg 1995, All rights reserved.

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