Al Shami

A residential Jericho sidestreet might not be the logical place to situate a Lebanese restaurant, but Al Shami's tucked-away location certainly hasn't done it any harm. Established in 1988, this smart but friendly place is a cut above the city's other Lebanese restaurants looks-wise: there are no gaudy window displays and shisha pipes on show here, just a ligh-filled room of traditional wooden furniture and white table cloths.

The menu begins with an extensive selection of meze (divided into hot and cold sections), with a selection of vegetarian and fish main courses and plenty of meaty numbers under the 'charcoal grill' heading. Although reasonably-priced vegetarian mains such as cracked wheat, lentils and fried onions served with yoghurt (£6.90) sounded interesting, there's nothing like a bit of variety, so we stuck with the meze.

As S had kindly agreed to renounce flesh for the evening, we opted for a dish of houmous and one of mohammara (a violently-coloured blend of crushed nuts red capiscum, olive oil and spices), a fattoush (mixed salad with herbs and toasted Lebanese bread), some fatayer sebanikh (pastries filled with spinach, onions, pine nuts and lemon juice), sanbousek biljibneh (feta-filled pastries) and some falafel. This may sound like more than two relatively small people could stomach, but given the delicious-sounding selection on the menu, it was a fairly restrained order.

Raw

Sipping a glass of Lebanese white wine as we waited, a platter of raw vegetables appeared in front of us. I'd call them crudites, but last time I checked, a whole green pepper and half a lettuce didn't fit into this category. An unusual addition to the table maybe, but an easy way to your five a day as long as you don't mind a bit of at-table chopping action.

Within a matter of minutes, the waiter whirled over with a tray of well-presented little dishes of vegetarian delights. All were a decent size for the price (between £2.50 and £3.50 each) - none of the thimble-sized portions so common in UK 'tapas' restaurants. The houmous was smooth and creamy and the mohammara just spicy enough; perfect smeared on chunks of fresh flatbread. An ideal summer dish, the fattoush was fresh and lemony tasting, with the crispy flakes of toasted bread adding substance. The falafel was a touch on the dry side for my taste, but slathered with houmous it was perfect. Both the pastries were surprisingly light and full of flavour - I thought that the fatayer may feel somewhat lacklustre without any cheese content, but the addition of pine nuts and lemon juice was definitely enough.

For just £28.50 for 2 people including 2 glasses of wine and a 10% service charge, our meal made me understand why Al Shami has been drawing customers to this corner of Jericho for over 20 years: it's a class act, without the hefty price tag.

Rating: 9


Al Shami is at 25 Walton Crescent, Oxford OX1 2JG. Tel: 01865 310066.

Mario's

On a dismal and rainy night in June, when you'd quite like to be sunning yourself in foreign climes or at least polishing off a Pimms in a beer garden, a bit of comfort food is in order. And when it comes to comfort, there's nothing like a big carbohydrate hit, Italian style.

Behind an unassuming front on Cowley Road, Mario's is a basic little restaurant where the focus is squarely on food, not frills. Checked paper table cloths and laminated menus set the scene, but don't be fooled: the pasta and pizza are pure quality.

Starters are surprisingly expensive, from a hefty £3.70 for a dish of olives* to £8.80 for a mixed antipasti plate, so we skipped ahead to the mains. With a wide variety of pizzas from £6.30 upwards, plenty of pasta choices, a few risottos and some meaty specials, Mario's has all the classics covered. Vegetarian dishes are awarded their own menu section, and there are even a few vegan options listed. I took refuge in a huge plate of penne sciue sciue (with aubergine, tomato, mozzarella and basil, £7.80), while C opted for a pizza Shanita (with mozzarella, spicy beef, peppers and onions, £9.30) and D chose a steak from the specials (£9.30). Within ten minutes of our food arriving, there were 3 empty plates on the table.

My pasta dish was simple but delicious, the addition of just the right amount of cheese contributing flavour without weighing it down. C's plateful of pizza was cooked in the wood-fired oven visible at the front of the restaurant, its base perfectly thin and its crust slightly fluffy. D's steak met his exacting, raised-in-Central-America criteria - the meat was excellent quality, tender, and cooked as requested. He even went so far as to pronounce the golden, slightly crispy chips some of the best he's tasted on English shores.

With efficient service and excellent quality home cooking, Mario's is a winner. It's not as cheap as I remember it (and some of the starters could perhaps do with a price reassessment), but for the quality and taste of the dishes on offer, it's more than worth it.

Mario's is at 103 Cowley Road, OX4 1HU. Take away available. Booking recommended at weekends. Tel: 01865 722955.

* Is it that I've just got back from Spain or is that a ridiculous price for olives?

Door 74

Where to go for a relaxed catch up over dinner and wine with a friend you haven't seen in ages? A friend with rather high standards in the food stakes, I must add. Racking my memory and my list of recommendations, I came up with the answer: Door 74.

At number 74 Cowley Road, this cosy, quirkily-decorated little restaurant may look unassuming, but its seasonal menu of mostly British dishes packs a punch. With 6 starters, 7 mains and 5 desserts chalked up on a blackboard, choice isn't vast but it's definitely sufficient, and with dishes including free-range chicken breast served with caponata and four-cheese filo tart on the menu, you're bound to find something to tempt you.

Even though over half the tables were occupied (not bad for a Wednesday evening), the atmosphere was laid-back and relaxed. Service was friendly and attentive, the lone waitress offering us tap water just as my lips were forming the request and providing us with a big chilled bottle to go with our merlot (£14.50).

Sweet spiced carrot fritters

Starters of sweet carrot fritters with a chilli dipping sauce and a roast tomato and fennel soup with toast and basil pistou (£4.95 each) arrived promptly and were beatifully presented; the three fritters were robust and full-flavoured, sitting on a bed of well-dressed mixed leaves. The chilli dipping sauce complemented them well, whetting my appetite for my main course. K's soup didn't hit such a high note: rustic and chunky, its subtle fennel flavour was tasty but let down by the unexpected use of tinned tomatoes rather than the roasted ones advertised.

Roast tomato and fennel soup

Her main course of a 7.4oz organic beef burger served with salad, chips and aioli (£8.95) was more highly rated: cooked medium rare as requested, it was apparently a touch dry but the quality of the meat and the seasoning made up for this; the chunky chips were just the right side of crisp and again, the presentation was spot on. The presence of dill in the aioli was an odd and unwelcome touch, though.

Organic burger

My salmon and haddock fishcakes with buttered spring greens and lemon and caper dressing (£10.95)  satisfied my remaning appetite: no skimpy portions here, these cakes were definitely worth the price tag. The haddock and salmon worked perfectly together and the chef had avoided the 'lumpy potato' trap that so many fishcakes can fall into. The greens and the light, fresh dressing gave the dish a welcome summer feel and prevented it from being too carb-heavy.

Salmon and haddock fishcakes

Happily full of food, wine and conversation, we couldn't resist one of the tempting-sounding desserts and opted to share a slice of dark chocolate and orange cheesecake (£4.50). Rich and sweet at the same time, the orange flavour was somewhat lacking, and although I had no problems polishing it off, I don't think it's the best of the Door 74 desserts - I still harbour fond memories of a chocolate semi-freddo I ate there two years ago.

Dark chocolate and orange cheesecake

At just over £50 for 2 courses each, a dessert and a bottle of wine, Door 74 gets the price-quality ratio just right. I have to admit it wasn't the best meal I've ever had there, but then I had high expectations: their food is consistently good, the service unintrusive but friendly, and the menu always offering classic yet creative combinations with something to suit everyone. For a quality meal in a relaxed atmosphere, you can't go wrong.

Verdict: 7.5

Door 74 is at 74 Cowley Road. Reservations recommended at weekends. Tel: 01865 203374. Open Tue-Sun (brunch only on Sun).

The Magdalen Arms

If you live in Oxford, you'll have heard of the Magdalen Arms. If you're interested in food, you'll no doubt have heard the story of how Florence Fowler and Tony Abaro of London's Anchor & Hope transformed a formerly dingy drinking den into what Guardian critic Matthew Norman labelled 'one of the finest gastropubs in the country'.

High praise indeed. With such grand claims to live up to, punters arrive at the Magdalen Arms with high hopes; expecting to tuck into the best meal they've ever had in the supposed culinary wasteland of Oxford. And with a menu of seasonal and largely locally-sourced dishes that changes twice a day (yes, twice: there are some differences between the lunch and evening menus) from an acclaimed chef and his team, you can understand why. In recent months, however, it seems that a fair number of diners have disagreed with Mr Norman's assessment: for almost every online review waxing lyrical about the guinea fowl, there's another bemoaning the slow and sometimes surly service or the cost of dining there. Which camp was I going to fall into, I wondered?

I must confess that this wasn't my first visit to the Magdalen Arms. After popping in for a drink on a few occasions (house wine is just £3.15), I dined there one evening in January. As a pescetarian, I was disappointed to see that there was only one vegetarian and one fish dish on the menu; a rare sight in the UK these days. The fish was mackerel, which I don't like, so by default I had the vegetarian option, which was pasta. It was pretty tasty pasta, but being of the 'why order something you could make at home' school of thought, I wasn't thrilled at paying £11.80 for the pleasure.

On this visit, there was once again one fish and one vegetarian dish among the eight main courses. And again, the vegetarian was pasta - a pretty lazy meat-free option, if you ask me. The seven starters were slightly more balanced, with asparagus and pea soup (£5) and new season's beetroot and horseradish salad (£5.80) nestling among another appearance from my mate mackerel and meaty treats such as pork and rabbit rillettes served with cornichons and toast  (£5.60). I wasn't inspired and they'd run out of the chicken liver parfait that D & N wanted by our 8.30 booking, so we skipped ahead to the mains.

Half of the mains are individual dishes, half are to share. Ranging in price from £35 for the Hereford steak and ale pie for three to share to £70 for slow cooked local lamb shoulder for four or five to share, these jumbo portions certainly make good business sense, but unless you and your dining companions have similar tastes and significant appetites, you're left with a restricted menu. Not wanting to review the Magdalen Arms based on another pasta dish (tagliatelle with aubergine, capers and parmesan, in case you wondered), I asked if the roast pollock with chorizo, potatoes and aioli could be made without the chorizo: it could. D & N both chose baked Gressingham duck leg with bacon, carrots and turnips, and we ordered a dish of spring greens (£3) to share.

The forty minute wait gave us time to polish off the home-made sourdough bread basket provided on the table: tasty, but salty. We also noted with raised eyebrows that it's not just the vegetables that carry a £3 price tag: while the first portion of bread is free, a second one will set you back the same amount. Bread devoured, we had ample time to cast our eyes over the other diners in the red-walled, 'shabby chic' dining room ('this chair looks like one of my grandmother's', observed D). A mixture of couples, families and groups, our fellow punters seemed to be enjoying the sharing dishes (a definite bonding experience for the couple on a date next to us), but we spotted one customer's plate of braised beef going back to the kitchen almost untouched.

After an apology from our friendly waiter, our dishes arrived. The duck was well-presented and just fell off the bone, so I'm told - N praised it highly, while D was more reserved in his judgement. 'It's almost the perfect dish. The texture's right, the consistency... but it's too salty. It irritates me'. Ah, when a pesky salt cellar stands in the way of perfection.

Baked Gressingham duck leg - excuse shocking camera phone photography

The chefs are clearly fans of sodium chloride, as my pollock also had a definite tang. The portion of fish could have been more generous, but its taste made up for its medium size: meltingly soft, flaky, delicious. The new potatoes were buttery and an excellent complement; the aioli gorgeously garlicky, and some unexpected salad leaves were a nice touch. After our moan about the price of the spring greens, they were served in a generous portion and tasty enough to quiet our complaints.

Roast pollock without chorizo but with new potatoes & aioli

Guided through the desserts (6 and a cheese selection) by our waiter, we plumped for a cherry and almond tart served with homemade vanilla ice cream, chocolate and hazelnut cake with creme fraiche, and a baked vanilla cheesecake with strawberries (£5 each).

Cherry and almond tart

The cherry and almond tart was the star: the bottom layer was rich and slightly sticky, adding moisture to a beautifully flavoured slice of delight. The ice cream was also excellent and would be well worth ordering on its own: far from synthetic, it actually tasted of vanilla.

Baked cheesecake

The other two desserts divided opinions, with N labelling the cheesecake 'thick' and D and I disagreeing - as a baked cheesecake, it's expected to be dense. The chocolate and hazelnut cake was nutty yet flaky, but I felt its rich flavour was slightly (and unexpectedly) overpowered by the creme fraiche. Weak points aside, I'd order them all again. Especially that tart. We almost had a plate-licking situation.

Chocolate and hazelnut cake

The bill came in at £72.70 for two courses each, one side dish and a bottle of wine. It's certainly not a budget-busting bill, but nor is it the usual tab for a Wednesday night, even in a gastro pub. The pricing of the Magdalen Arms' menu makes it treat territory rather than an ordinary meal out. As we paid, we debated its value: although we all agreed that our meals were of a high standard, we agreed that a reduction in cost would make us more likely to return, but understandably good quality local produce doesn't come cheap. It's not quite worth the hype: yes, the food is very good (if on the salty side), the use of local meat and vegetables is commendable, as is the fact that everything is homemade with care. But perhaps Mr Norman ultimately didn't do the Magdalen Arms any favours with his lavish praise: there's now a slight sense of importance about the place. The limited vegetarian and fish options are a personal stumbling block for me: surely 2 fish dishes or the occasional includion of another vegetarian choice isn't too much to ask? And while the daily changing menu is a selling point for some, it makes life more difficult for those with specific dietary requirements as the menus aren't available online. Imagine the potential for disappointment on securing a coveted table only to find that you can't actually eat anything. But if you're a flesh fan, none of this is an issue: you have the run of the menu.

Verdict: a much considered and debated 7.5. Go, but go with an open mind and rein in those expectations.


The Magdalen Arms is at 243 Iffley Road. Closed all day Monday and Tuesday lunchtime. Reservations recommended. Tel: 01865 243159.

Everest Nepalese

Residential Howard Street isn't exactly somewhere you'd usually consider when deciding where to eat out in Oxford. Just a few years ago, Cowley Road was as good as it got in the OX4 postcode, but with tempting new additions such as the Rusty Bicycle, the Magdalen Arms and the Indian Room popping up on the map, excellent dining options are definitely spreading east. This residential street has been put on the map by Nepalese restaurant Everest, which occupies half of the converted Donnington Arms pub.

The dining area isn't the biggest of spaces, with around twelve tables of varying sizes. It's a testament to Everest's popularity that by 7.30 on a Tuesday evening, almost half of them were occupied. The decor is smart but simple, with comfortable leather chairs and a touch of tasteful artwork. The focus is definitely on the food, though: the smart menu features mainly Nepalese dishes (as you'd expect), with a few Indian numbers thrown in no doubt to please the palates of the curry-conditioned population. Similar to Indian cuisine in its extensive uses of spices, Nepalese food is similarly varied, with dishes as diverse as dumplings, noodle dishes and bean and potato masala on Everest's menu.

The  menu begins with a page of starters, priced between £2.95 and £5.95, including the dumplings in question (momos), which I've heard excellent things about. There's a page of vegetarian dishes, tandoori options, chef's specialities (including the interesting-sounding manu farsi; lamb and red pumpkin cooked with ginger, red pepper and garlic), as well as a number of classic Indian dishes and biryanis. I skipped straight to the vegetarian specialities: mostly Nepalese, many  can be ordered either as a main course (£6.95) or as a side (£3.95).

Annapurna vegetables and kadai chicken

I opted for annapurna vegetables (potatoes, okra, cauliflower, mushrooms, courgettes, aubergine, broccoli and green beans, £6.95), with plain rice and a garlic naan. The vegetables were perfectly cooked, with just the right amount of bite, and the depth of flavour was impressive. They were light-tasting and moreish: portion sizes are generous but not over-facing, justifying the price tag for the vegetarian dishes at least. My dinner companion S opted for a kadai chicken (with onion, capiscum, green chillies and gren peppers, £7.95) from the Indian classics section, which was flavoursome but rather too greasy for her liking: once she'd transferred it over to her plate, the serving dish was left with an unappetising reservoir of oil at the bottom. That said, the taste prevailed and she ate the lot. The naan was generously smothered in garlic and fortunately escaped the grease trap of the kadai chicken.

With a wide variety of tempting-sounding dishes on offer, Everest is a good value introduction to Nepalese cooking. If you're looking for something a bit different than the usual options of pub/Italian/Indian/Chinese, give Everest a go: with such a range of dishes on offer, you're sure to discover something new. Given the greasiness of the Indian dish compared to the Nepalese, it's probably best to stick to what Everest is all about.

Verdict: 8 for the Nepalese, 6 for the Indian

Everest Nepalese is at 147-151 Howard Street, Oxford OX4 3AZ. Booking recommended at weekends. Take away available (collection or free delivery for orders over £15 in a 5 mile radius). Tel: 01865 251555.

Red Star

If you're looking for cheap, easy and quick eats, noodles are where it's at. Owing to the numerous chains that have sprung up in recent years, the communal tables of the noodle bar are now a familiar part of the UK landscape. On Cowley Road, independent Red Star offers diners a taste of Asia on a very tight budget: a winning formula in an area packed with students.

With soup noodles and rice and noodle dishes starting at just £5 and more elaborate options such as bento boxes weighing in at around £8, Red Star is in no danger of breaking anyone's budget. Its comprehensive menu features classics from all over Asia such as chow mein, thai curries and yaki soba, with some less-common options appearing among the chalked-up specials. On a previous visit, the 'healthy choice' of spicy ma po tofu with steamed rice (£5) from this selection went down a treat. On my latest visit, though, it was all about the noodles.

Taking our place on the wooden bench, A and I noticed a young chap huffing and puffing over a bowl of presumably rather spicy soup. As we waited for our dishes to arrive, we watched him turn redder and redder in the face until he smacked his empty bowl down on the table in the manner of someone who's just won a long and embittered battle. Clutching his stomach, he announced his success to the waitress: he had just completed the 'chilli challenge' of eating said soup in thirty minutes. Given that he then repaired to the bathroom for almost thirty minutes, I don't think that's a gauntlet I'll be accepting anytime soon.

Around ten minutes after ordering, our safer choices of yasai yaki soba (£5) and beef ho fun (£5.50) arrived. Portions are generous, and I was particularly impressed with the high egg and vegetable content of my  noodles (beansprouts, courgette, onion, green & red peppers and sweetcorn) for the modest price. There was a definite soy taste, and a hint of ginger which could have been slightly more pronounced to add a little depth to the flavour. A declared his ho fun 'pleasantly greasy', and I had to concur: the stir-fried noodles are a little on the oily side, but not in a bad way. 'Light' isn't the word I'd use, but you definitely don't feel the need to atone for any dietary sins after eating.

Red Star's a definite winner in the price-quality ratio: a varied menu of tasty dishes and quick, efficient service make it worth a try if you're looking for a budget bite in the Cowley Road area. Oh, and chopstick-challenged types like myself will be happy to hear that forks are provided on request.

Verdict: 6

Red Star is at 187 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1UT.

Wine tasting at Chiltern Valley Winery

The idea of drinking English wine has never really appealed to me. There's got to be a reason the English countryside isn't covered in vines, I thought. And if we're not really a grape-producing country, the wine's going to taste pretty ropey, surely? After all, if English wine was good and marketable, surely there would be more of it around? After just five minutes at Chiltern Valley Winery & Brewery near Hambleden, my dodgy reasoning was proven unfounded and I was ready to taste some English vino.

According to our knowledgeable but unpretentious former sommelier tour guide, grapes don't need a hot climate to grow in. When the owner of Chiltern Valley Winery, David Ealand, purchased Old Luxters Farm in the early 1980s, a survey of the land revealed that the soil was ideal for growing grapes or rhubarb. Crumble may be delicious, but it's not as profitable as the hard stuff, so David made the sensible choice and went into wine production. Three decades later, Chiltern Valley produce 120,000 bottles a year, have won over 600 awards around the world and even have a Royal Warrant - apparently Prince Philip enjoys a glass of their Old Windsor Ale with a pie. In addition to making white, red, sparkling, blush and rose wines, they also produce bottle-conditioned real ales and a range of liqueurs.

Tours of Chiltern Valley begin with a potted history of the company, which is still a family run operation, before moving on to a visit to the micro-brewery, wine press and bottling and labelling room. The entire production process happens on site, and 90% of the company's sales are made through the shop at Old Luxters - the only other stockists are Windsor Farm Shop and Fortnum & Mason.

Suitably informed about the beer- and wine-making processes, we headed into the shop for the real reason for everyone's visit: the tasting. Our guide had definitely whipped up plenty of enthusiasm for Chiltern Valley's wines, but would they live up to our now rather high expectations? We started with a dry white wine (£8.95): and dry it was. It was crisp and delicious. I have no idea about its floral bouquet or any of that malarkey (and nor were we fed any such information, although several of our fellow tourists were doing a lot of swirling and sniffing), I just know it tasted better than anything I've had in any of Oxford's pubs recently and that I bought a bottle at the end of the tour. The blush and rose were less impressive; one a little bitter and the other too sweet, but the medium dry white was another hit and the special cuvee very drinkable. The sparkling wine (£19.95) was the star: produced in the same method as champagne, it could certainly have taken on its French counterpart. The dessert wine, Autumn Glory, was similarly delicious. I passed on the two ales, but my tasting partner J informed me that they were excellent, so I'll take her word for it. Damson vodka (£17.50) was a surprise hit, as was the wild strawberry liqueur (£18.50). As soon as our guide mentioned pouring it over vanilla ice cream, J & I had to resist a strong urge to whip out our credit cards there and then. We finished strong: an Irish cream liqueur that made Baileys taste synthetic and pathetic. Chiltern Valley's Irish cream is almost indecently creamy, with a caramel taste that comes from the specially blended whiskey they use.

If you're looking for a day out with a difference and can find a designated driver willing to limit themselves to dainty sips (thanks J!), Chiltern Valley Winery is well worth a visit. Tours are interesting and informative, and the quality of the wines we sampled made me wish that English wines were far more widely available. I might just have to start drinking local.

Tours are £12.50 per person and must be booked in advance. The shop is open daily.

Edamame

I am a clumsy person. When it comes to hand to eye coordination, a one year old could probably teach me a thing or two. So eating with chopsticks was never going to come naturally to me. Caught up by the delicious-sounding dishes on Japanese restaurant Edamame's menu, I conveniently forgot to consider the difficulty of eating certain types of food with two wooden sticks, and managed to get myself in a bit of a mess. A tasty mess, but a mess nonetheless.

Apart from one experience of sushi several years ago which left me a little hungry, I hadn't tried any Japanese dishes before visiting Edamame. A one-room restaurant situated on Holywell Street, it offers 'Japanese home cooking', with sushi only available on Thursdays. Given Edamame's petite proportions and its popularity, it's a good idea to arrive early: 6pm may have seemed a tad keen, but when we left an hour later would-be diners were queuing out of the door. Earlybirds G and I had no such trouble, we were seated straight away on a little communal table. With its low ceilings and duck-egg blue walls, Edamame feels a little like someone's living room: relaxed and intimate.

The evening menu (available on Fridays and Saturdays) offers a choice of meat, fish and vegetable dishes (available either cooked in fish stock or vegetarian), as well as salads and side dishes. We ordered a portion of Edamame beans (podded green soy beans, £3) and some morokyu (cucumber sticks served with miso and Japanese plum pastes to dip, £3) to munch on while we waited for our mains. So far, so easy: no chopstick action was involved to polish either of these off. The cucumber sticks were well complemented by the nutty miso and sweet plum pastes, whetting our appetites for the main event. As I watched the couple sitting opposite us tucking in with their perfectly manipulated chopsticks, I started to question my choice of dish. Surely beansprouts and chopsticks were a match made in hell?

When my yasai tofu itame (vegetable stir fry of beansprouts, mange tout, baby corn, carrots and tofu cooked in fish stock, £6) and rice (£2) turned up, I bravely (but cackhandedly) got stuck in. Nobody else I could see had asked for a fork, so I was going to get this dish down my neck somehow. I can't say I exactly experienced chopstick enlightenment or ate particularly elegantly ('you have tofu on your lip', G informed me at one point), but it tasted so good that I ploughed on regardless: and half an hour later, I was done. I often find that stir fries can be oily, but this little number tasted light and fresh, slightly smoky and given substance by the tofu (a slippery customer when it comes to chopstick capture, by the way). The sticky rice was a good accompaniment, leaving me happily but not uncomfortably full. G's choice of Saturday's special, yaki niku beef (stir fry of thinly-sliced beef steak marinated in garlic, spices and sesame, £7.50) was so tasty it didn't hang around on his plate for long.

With fresh-tasting, high quality food on offer in a convivial environment, Edamame is well worth a try. I'd even put myself through a second chopstick trauma to sample more of the very reasonably-priced menu. Who knows, maybe it gets easier with practice?

Verdict: 9/10

Edamame is at 15 Holywell Street, OX1 3SA. No reservations. Check website for opening times and arrive early.