Ottolenghi has arrived in Bicester Village. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as our seasonal salads, pastries piled high, plus a specially curated wine list. You’ll find all the familiar flavours of Ottolenghi plus a few Bicester exclusives. With this spacious new location comes an extra-large terrace, so you can enjoy a glass or two in the sunshine (or clouds).
Bicester Village is one of Europe’s most desired luxury retail destinations. So they made this their largest location yet.
Location
An open-air shopping destination in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside, offering up to 60% off the original retail price at more than 150 boutiques. You’ll also discover world-class dining and five-star services.
Character and Style
There are counters at the front if you’re just popping in for a snack; Turning into the restaurant area small tables are around the side but mainly the seating is around long communal tables down the middle. There are tables outside for warmer days.
Food and Drink
There was a choice of 6 cold and 9 hot dishes with 3 sides on the menu, but you can always choose something from the front counters (and indeed when it came to dessert, our waiter suggested we might like to take a look as there were more choices there).
I know it’s partly because I always think of it as very expensive but I realised that while not cheap, actually it isn’t outrageous at all and given how amazingly special every dish was, it’s certainly worth what you pay. There were 2 of us and the menu suggested 3 plates each to share. The waitress said that was probably too much. All plates of food are for sharing; some cold from the counters at the front and some hot from the kitchen. On average they’re about £17.5 each and as we chose 5 (to then share) that’s a base of £40 a head. It would have been sufficient to have had 4 plates though. One meat dish, one salad and potatoes or rice.
The restaurant is a deli too so you can buy takeaway and there are some other deli foods – oils, herbs, etc. – to buy.
As soon as you sit down they bring complimentary water.
To drink I tried a glass of 4 Haz sparkling furmimt. 4Haz’s take on uncomplicated, delicious and thirst-quenching fizz is to make a sparkling wine out of their furmint grapes. This is Tokaji’s answer to guilt-free, easy-drinking Prosecco whilst (unlike prosecco) being dry. Pop the cork and expect a fruity and generous fizz with flavours of apple, lychees, exotic fruits, citrus and touch of creaminess which gives a lovely round mouthfeel. Whilst esoteric it is terrific value, dangerously more-ish and downright delicious. My dining partner had a Peroni.
This meal was a perfect combination. Everything was well cooked and had amazing flavour. We could have done with either the potatoes or rice instead of both. Your choice!
The dessert was a bit more of a difficult choice. Although there was some items on the menu you could choose anything from the display.
The white chocolate cheesecake was good but the flourless chocolate cake was dry. I could not believe when I asked that there was no cream or ice cream to cut through the cake. I suppose it is the ethos of the chain.
Verdict
What also impressed was the excellent service. Our waiter was friendly and incredibly efficient in a nice way; he was enthusiastic about the menu and had eaten most of the dishes so was able to answer our queries with knowledge; he was great at helping choose a bottle of wine. All in all, he just couldn’t have been better or nicer and it really does make all the difference to the enjoyment of a meal in a restaurant.
