3 Best Restaurants in Oxford, The Thames Valley

Raymond Blanc's sophisticated brasserie in the Jericho neighborhood is the more affordable chain restaurant cousin of Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Great Milton. The changing menu always lists a good selection of steaks and innovative adaptations of bourgeois French fare, sometimes with Mediterranean or Asian influences. Try the confit duck or the rainbow beetroot salad. In a happy concession to more Anglo-Saxon tastes, the restaurant also does a fantastic traditional British roast on Sunday that includes bottomless roast potatoes!

The clue's in the name here—this popular local restaurant specializes in fresh, upscale seafood. Dishes are prepared with a European touch and frequently come with butter, cream, and other sauces, such as sardines served with lemon and parsley butter. Hot and cold shellfish platters are popular, as are the mussels in white wine and oysters in red wine shallot vinegar. The interior has a casual nautical theme with wooden floors and tables, porthole windows, and red sails overhead.

With its glass-and-steel framework, this former florist's shop just north of the town center makes a charming conservatory dining room, full of plants and twinkling with lights in the evening. The menu concentrates on the best of Oxfordshire produce and changes daily, but you can expect to find the likes of delicate seafood linguine, farm-fresh roasted vegetables, and pizzettas.