Just minutes from the roadworks and miles of crawling traffic that blight the A34 around Oxford, the Fishes is the perfect getaway for hot and bothered drivers, with riverside gardens and within walking distance of the city's dreaming spires.
Spend a lazy hour lounging on the lawns or borrow a rug from the bar and sit by the river with one of the chef's picnic hampers. You can choose from a seafood, ploughman's or vegetarian hamper, all priced at £25, and with enough to feed two to four adults.
There are barbecues during the summer and on Sundays you can tuck into a picnic roast-beef dinner or, if you order midweek, the chef will cook you a family roast platter and bring it to your table.
Indoors the restaurant offers hearty British fare, such as sausages and mash or rump steak with green pepper butter and chips, or Italian dishes such as courgette and mint risotto and pan-fried sea bass with basil oil.
The Fishes was named al fresco pub of the year in the industry's Publican Pub Food awards last year and is owned by Peach Pubs, a small chain, which also runs eight public houses around the M40 between Warwick and London. All offer a deli-board menu bringing a new level of sophistication to bar snacking. Oxford Forget pork scratchings: you can choose from a selection of cheeses, cold meats, smoked fish, pickles and dips at £1.60 per item, or £8 for a selection board.
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SAMPLE MENU
Salmon and prawn fishcake with lemon butter sauce, £9; aubergine fritters with roasted tomato and rocket salad and green herb relish, £10; rack of lamb with crushed minted peas, £17.50; Pimm's terrine with apples, strawberries and mint, £5
The Fishes, North Hinksey, Oxford, Oxfordshire 01865 249 796