Cocktail Hour: Angel's Oxford

Another cocktail bar review. This one was discovered purely by accident when we went in there for a pre-dinner drink. The reason? My girlfriend decided that walking in vertiginous heels was a good idea and by the time we got close to the restaurant, her feet were hurting too much to continue to our usual haunts. So it was that we ended up in Angel's. It has since become one of our firm favourites and our default for cocktails.

Angel's is what I would describe as a very classic cocktail bar. There is a large bar, an extensive selection of drinks and an air of gentle but unpretentious sophistication. The feel continues with the menu which is clearly laid out and contains a good selection of classic, modern and invented drinks. One feature I particularly like about the menu is, as well as including a list of ingredients, they also have a brief description of the drink and, in the case of the classic ones, a short history of the drink. Another nice quirk is the staff dress code of black shirts with red braces and ties. Anywhere else, it could be a bit naff but here I thought it looked good.

On to the drinks. As always I had a Vesper first. Not only was this on the menu but it was accompanied by a charming warning that it was "quite strong". I reassured the barman that I knew what I was letting myself in for and, in good time, my drink appeared. He wasn't joking. It had a kick like a mule. I almost ordered another one on the spot.

For once in my life I did resist temptation and instead went for a Corpse Raiser No. 2 (in the absence of Corpse Raiser No. 1), a delicious concoction that combined sweet, fruity and aniseed flavours with a rather vivid green colour. Given the prodigious number of alcoholic drinks on the ingredients list, it slipped down with terrifying ease.

In the mean time, my girlfriend decided that none of the drinks on the menu were quite to her taste so was having bespoke cocktails made for her. Judging by the squeals of utter delight and the expressions of various types of ecstasy on her fact I can conclude that she rather liked them. Based on this I decided to ask if a drink could be made based on my particular tastes. What came back was a delicious concoction of whisky augmented by a nice balance of fruity and sweet flavours.

This brings me almost neatly on to my next point; the staff. They are brilliant. As well as being well turned out, they are extremely knowledgeable about their ingredients and have an almost palpable passion for cocktails. When serving the bespoke drinks they genuinely cared about the reception they got. Fortunately, the quality of the drinks mean I doubt they every get a bad reaction.

Happy hour runs until nine most nights which makes the drinks reasonably priced and the music plays at a nice, ambient volume.Best of all, even the bespoke drinks were included at happy hour prices. In fact, my only (minor) complaint is that the seating was a wee bit limited. It was fine when we were there but if it got busy, I can imagine it being quite cramped.

In conclusion; easily one of the best cocktail bars we have been to in the last few months and contender for the best one in Oxford. Excellent drinks, reasonable prices and brilliant staff. Go and sample some of the excellent items on the menu.

TFB

Cocktail Hour: Raouls Oxford

As you can guess from the name of this post, this is a review of a cocktail bar. One that's just up the road to be precise. Cocktails have always been a bit of a strange one for me. I love the idea however the reality doesn't always live up to the expectation. Either they are too sweet, too fruity or just plain lumbered with ingredients that I don't like! (Petulant I know but given the price of cocktails, can you blame me?) For a bit of fun however, they hit the spot nicely.

Raouls is located in the Jericho area of Oxford close to lots of places to get food. As such it is ideally placed for a pre-dinner aperitif or a final drink before heading home. The outside is pleasantly inconspicuous with an outdoor terrace and the occasional bouncer being the only clue that there's a bar.

Inside there are lots of leather-padded sofas, tables with candle-effect LED lights and several padded recesses. This, combined with the dingy lighting and the thumping house music, creates the effect of an up marked brothel waiting room (or how I would imagine one to be).

Putting aside my first impressions I went to the bar to order some drinks. My first cocktail of the night is almost always a Vesper Martini; shaken of course. This is mainly because I like it as a drink but also means that I have grounds for objective comparison between bars. As it is a fairly common drink, it is usually easy to get hold of even when I order off menu. Normally this is a simple transaction. I go up to the car and order my drink, the barman makes it, I thank him, pay him and then enjoy my drink. This time however I was rather rudely interrogated as to why I was ordering this drink. I explained that I liked it and was met by a cynically raised eye brow and a small tirade saying people only drink it because it's the Bond drink. Perhaps but since they're paying for it, it's the customer's prerogative. Being a bit awkward I didn't back down and in the end, my drink was made for me but clearly it was done under duress.

In the end, the drink wasn't bad. The flavour wasn't the best I've ever had but I've had much worse. I particularly liked the detail of serving it in a champagne goblet rather than the usual martini glass as was stipulated in Ian Fleming's novel "Casino Royale".

My next drink  was a negroni. This was much more cheerfully (and graciously) received and wasn't half bad. As you can probably deduce, I like my cocktails strong. The negroni didn't disappoint and wasn't spoiled, as some are, by garnishes of citrus fruits.

On a different tack, the menu also has an extensive range of sweet drinks; much like alcoholic milkshakes. These went down a storm with my girlfriend who generally like flavours a few spoons of sugar past sickly. They are served with a suitable degree of flamboyance including garnishing with flaming rum.

Price wise, most of the drinks are hovering in the seven pound something bracket. This is fairly average for cocktails. However there doesn't appear to be any form of promotions or happy hours which is a wee bit disappointing.

Overall, if you like sweet drinks then this is the place to go. If however your tastes lie elsewhere (or worse if you know your mind and aren't afraid to ask for it) then I suggest venturing elsewhere. The drinks are good but not excellent and let down by overly loud music and the problems with service which I encountered.

TFB