I've been eating like an absolute PIG these days and I just love it. As a poor graduate (I KNOW, I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I PASSED EITHER!), I don't usually look at restaurants which cost more than a tenner per main course, and for those restaurants that do main courses under a tenner usually disappoint me. But the Black Boy in Oxford changed my views on reasonably priced food. It was my graduation day and I picked the Black Boy to have lunch at with my army of family from Hong Kong after the ceremony ended.
Oxford city is full of pubs and I have spent enough time during my uni years to carry out my extensive research in them; students who are brave enough to eat food served by these pubs deserve medals for both their courage for swallowing without fear of projectile vomiting and their stupidity for spending money on crap. The Black Boy is a totally different story, situated in Headington in Oxford, slightly away from all the student pubs, it is a refreshing, clean and homely gastropub which serves excellent food with a reasonably pricetag.
The setting is very simple and does not lack elegance, and the menu is short but it definitely has something for everyone. I have always had a negative feel towards long menus, a short menu indicates a chef who thought carefully about what goes on the menu - quality over quanity!
I had a home-made burger (chuck steak, minced beef and brisket) topped with mature English cheddar, onion, gherkins & fries. At £8.95 it was one of the nicest burgers I have had in a while; the dish was highly presentation to a point that I knew the chef gives a damn to a burger dish. The burger was obviously homemade and I polished it off pretty swiftly. On top of all of our food the service was excellent too and we felt so welcomed there. The only thing was that the portion was leaning on the small side, but with everything else it was still amazing as I would rather pay a little more for quality than nothing for pure quantity.
Definitely worth another visit to the Black Boy - great food, great ambience with a reasonable price tag :-)
