Oxford Restaurants & Cafes

Family-run Shaanxi/Xi'an noodle bar in the Covered Market — the bilingual sign reads 三秦百味 ('Three Qin Hundred Flavours'), the kitchen runs hand-cut biang biang noodles and rou jia mo.

Oxford's longest-running Lebanese restaurant — three decades of mezze on a quiet Jericho crescent.

Authentic Italian gelato in the Covered Market.

The Covered Market's best-loved falafel stall — massive wraps, tiny prices.

Entirely plant-based street food — bold flavours drawn from global traditions.

Cocktails and pizza on the Cowley Road — a good-time bar that takes both seriously enough.

Jericho's Italian anchor — reliable pizza, proper cocktails, and a terrace that makes you forget you're in England.

Specialty coffee and pour-overs on Banbury Road — Oxford's serious coffee destination since 2013.

Independent café-deli on Avenue 3 of the Covered Market — Greek and Mediterranean home cooking alongside English breakfasts, sandwiches and cakes.

The market traders' cafe — full English breakfasts and builder's tea since the early hours.

Specialty coffee in a medieval courtyard.

Oxford-based specialty single-origin roaster with a cafe in the Covered Market — espresso, brunch, and bagged beans to take home.

Social enterprise cafe and co-working space in Jericho.

Jacket potato counter at stall 16A in the Covered Market — gluten-free and halal labelled, eight fillings on the warmer.

Tiny, no-frills Japanese canteen on Holywell Street — ramen, donburi, gyoza, and bento boxes.

Oxford's own ice cream since 1992 — handmade, inventive, and open past midnight.

Seasonal British cooking in a Victorian glasshouse — an unusual and distinctive dining room.

Greek and Mediterranean café tucked upstairs in the Covered Market, with vintage cinema posters covering the walls and ceiling.

Modern Punjabi street food in the Covered Market — from food van sensation to permanent stall.

Café-and-cocktail bar in the Covered Market with a Tarantino-tinged name, a chequerboard floor and a rainbow flag at the door.

Stoneground-sourdough bakery in the Covered Market — Kate and Hugo Hamblin's second site, after the original on Iffley Road.

Independent coffee from a horsebox outside the Natural History Museum.

Neapolitan panuozzo bar in the Covered Market, named for the southern Italian good-luck horn.

Ethically sourced, Oxford-roasted specialty coffee — direct-trade beans with full traceability.

Moorish-style tapas bar on the Cowley Road — lanterns, cocktails, and sharing plates.

Traditional Ethiopian dishes on injera, with a Thursday evening coffee ceremony.

Rooftop cocktails with a view of the Bodleian spires — Oxford's closest thing to a sky bar.

Well-regarded Thai food in a tiny room with a BYOB policy — no corkage, no fuss.

Fine dining on the Banbury Road — tasting menus with ambition and precision.

Proper pies in the Covered Market — the steak and ale is dependable, the specials rotate.

Old-school French bistro on Little Clarendon Street — steak frites, carafes of wine, and no apologies.

Grand brasserie in the Old Bank Hotel — High Street people-watching with a menu that covers all bases.

Wood-fired sourdough pizza in the Covered Market — a sister business of Church Hanbrewery, with a long communal counter and a separate 'Pizza in the market' takeaway hatch.

No-frills Thai cooking on the Cowley Road — big flavours, tiny prices, zero pretension.

Cantonese dim sum and Chinese cooking on St Aldates — popular with Oxford's Chinese students.

Specialty coffee done with warmth and precision — pour-over and filter in central Oxford.

Proper Caribbean food on the Cowley Road — jerk chicken with soul, plantain with crunch, and rice and peas done right.

Handmade-fresh sushi counter in the Covered Market — paper lanterns over the door, photo menus in the window, takeaway boxes from the cabinet.

Sri Lankan street food tapas — fiery, fragrant, and well priced.

Bike-themed cafe-bar on St Michael's Street — good coffee by day, cocktails by night.

A serious kitchen in a proper pub — nose-to-tail cooking, popular Sunday roasts, and not a gastro cliche in sight.

Café, bar and bottleshop in the Covered Market's central courtyard, run by Oxfordshire social enterprise Tap Social Movement — fresh pastries and coffee, eight craft beers on draught, and a curated wine and cocktail list.

Oxford's original specialty coffee shop — own-roasted beans on Turl Street.

Indian street food and cocktails on Hythe Bridge Street — chaat, grills, thalis, and a full bar.

Coffee and vinyl on the Cowley Road — browse records with a flat white in hand.

A beloved Oxford cafe that relocated from its famous Radcliffe Square crypt to King Edward Street in late 2025.

Chinese-Malaysian cooking in Jericho — refined flavours, a proper wine list, and neighbourhood atmosphere.