Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Rickety Press, Oxford

Thursday 16 January
We were meeting up with our colleague Eleni (oddly in Oxford, not Cincinnati where we all live), and she recommended the Rickety Press, a pub out in Jericho (oddly in Oxford, not Israel).  She has a fine palate, so we trusted her, and our trust was not misplaced. 
The night was raw and rainy, so we ordered a nero d'Avola from Sicily, which was rich, red, and not too expensive.  
Starters included a Scotch egg encased in venison, and a salted-beef salad, which turned out to be surrounded by perfect little quail eggs.  Those and the meaty Scotch egg were all a bit runny in the yolk, instead of hard-boiled, which was a pleasant surprise.
Our mains were a slow-cooked round of lamb shoulder, served with roast onions and a reconstructed white whale of mashed potato; and even better, a bavette (read: sliced flank) steak with grilled tomatoes, a leafy salad, and a flowerpot of excellent fries (or frites, or chips, or whatever). 

Dinner had been so good to that point that we went further, and ordered a hot sticky toffee pudding with caramel ice cream (and three spoons) for dessert, not a step we'd often take in a pub.  But the Rickety Press continued to please, and the hot pudding made us warm enough for the wet walk home.

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