The Oxnoble @ Castlefield

By Matt Jones

Very rarely, on a mid-July lunch out with friends, have I thought it appropriate to suggest a substantial fireside pie as our food of choice.

The Oxnoble’s menu listed dish after dish of quintessentially English gastropub favourites.

The steak and Timothy Taylor ale pie with black pudding gravy, the braised ox cheek with champ mash and creamy Lancashire cheese and onion pie gave the nod to simplicity and truly English cuisine.

The chefs don’t tamper with the classics British classics and choose instead to pair uncomplicated yet strong and earthy flavours in a thoroughly unpretentious and welcoming environment.  

My starter of chicken livers with a grape and garlic jus was sublime. The livers were sigh-inducingly soft, and the rich and fruity jus aptly offset their metallic tang.

My friends went for the vegetable soup which was wholesome and well-seasoned, and the accompanying basket of warm bread proved apt for shamelessly mopping up the last few drops of my starter.

My friend decided to test out their further-flung food credentials.

His Piri Piri Chicken, complete with gargantuan chunks of chorizo, was exceptionally well-spiced and succulent, and the sheer size of the accompanying portion of patatas bravas almost sent him off for an afternoon siesta.

Our other dining partner, however, was less than impressed with his gammon, which though pleasantly charred was accompanied by a decidedly meagre four chips.

His was the only blot on an otherwise impressive meal. My leek and parmesan risotto, topped with an impeccably poached egg, was all I could have asked for and more.

Rich and sumptuous while still maintaining a degree of texture in the rice, bar the cooking liquor being a touch too thin it wouldn’t have been out of place in an authentic Milanese restaurant.

While the hearty and reasonably priced food was enough by itself to tempt me back soon, the fine selection of craft beers and bitters, including Skipton Brewery’s particularly quaffable Copper Dragon, and the amicable service certified The Oxnoble as one of my new favourite leisurely lunchtime spots in town.