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On a snowy February night the Jam Factory was a most welcome refuge. Based in the buildings of the old Frank Cooper Oxford Marmalade factory, this is a surprisingly spacious cafe, restaurant and arts centre. It is an easy walk from the city centre and very close to the station and although I had had a coffee there in the past and found it a most useful and relaxing pitstop this was the first time I had sampled an evening meal.
The walls in the restaurant are adorned with art and on further inspection we discovered two additional exhibitions. In the newly opened Boiler Room (where they used to boil the marmalade) there was an intriguing exhibition of photographs from Iran and in the cafe space were the extraordinarily detailed drawings of L Kelly. New exhibitions will be opening in mid February and also promise to be well worth visiting.
But first, dinner. We chose from the specials and the standard dinner menu. I had brought two companions so we could sample a wide range of dishes. For starters, I chose the tomato and basic soup and my friends had the deep fried squid on a crab cous cous salad and the goats cheese salad. All were perfectly delicious and elegantly presented.
For main courses I had the Scottish salmon fillet en croute with steamed broccoli spears with a beurre blanc. This was beautifully cooked and the salmon had a fine flavour and melted in mouth. The other dishes we tried were two of the evening’s specials. My husband had the spinach, mushroom and carrot burger with chips and salad, which he thoroughly enjoyed and our friend chose the pork loin with wholegrain mustard mash and broccoli. The Jam Factory sources local seasonally available produce and freerange meat as much as possible and this was reflected in the flavour of the pork. Service was attentive and informative. We followed our waiter’s advice and selected a mellow Syrah/Merlot , which worked well with all our choices.
Our puddings were outstanding. I had the rhubarb soufflé and my companions went for the orange and ameretto parfait and the local apple crumble. I couldn’t remember the last time I had had a soufflé but now intend to partake as often as possible as my pudding was absolutely delicious. Excellent coffee and St Petersburg tea rounded off a most satisfying meal.
The Jam Factory is, however, much more than just an excellent restaurant and cafe. As well as being a gallery space, it plays host to, and actively encourages, creative groups to meet there. There are regular life drawing classes, a knitting group, writing groups and performance poetry evenings. This all adds up to a unique venue in central Oxford, which I would recommend very highly for either a coffee, a £5 “rapid lunch” option, a relaxing dinner, or to indulge in a creative endeavour.
Reviewed by Helen Cromby
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