Today I went to Oxford with Izzy to meet up with Omnya, for the first time in three whole years, for a day of school reminiscing and eating.
Knowing my obsession with food, and having an almost equally large one herself, Omnya had suggested a wide variety of Oxford only restaurants for us to choose from. We ended up picking Edamame, a Japanese restaurant which immediately looked promising from the small queue which had already formed along the street.
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| Perusing the menu in preparation |
It probably took us about twenty or twenty five minutes to get to the front of the queue as the restaurant is very little, but it's so nice and cosy inside! I actually think it's nicer to have to queue than to have a big, more clinical and less homely type of restaurant which can seat people quickly and cater for large numbers, but has far less character. It was really warm and welcoming and had lots of little wooden tables with wooden stools - however you don't feel crammed in at all, which is a refreshing change from some popular restaurants who seem to think it's okay to put tables so close together you can barely get out!
Edamame has three different menus - one for lunch (every day except Mondays and Tuesdays), one for the evening (Fridays and Saturdays only) and a sushi night menu for Thursday nights. You can find the one we ordered from here.
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| "Try and look like you like each other" got this reaction |
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| I don't like tea (green or otherwise), but it was free!!! And I liked the cup |
Izzy and I shared the chicken miso ramen and the chicken curry (we avoided the katsu as we didn't want to completely stick to what we know!), and Omnya went for the "salmon teri". I also got an additional side of sticky rice to soak up some of the extra ramen sauce!
I started with the ramen which was a huge (and very pretty!) bowl absolutely filled with with noodles, veg, chicken and so much sauce! I am completely useless with chopsticks so attempting to eat the noodles (and leave the other half of the food in an acceptable condition for Izzy) was a challenge, but one I valiantly took on - it probably wasn't attractive to watch but never mind.
I really liked the crunchy veg as a contrast to the rest of the food, and the noodles were well cooked and the sauce very well balanced. However, we had asked for a spicy sauce and neither of us found it to be so, but I suppose it's better less spicy than so spicy you keep needing more water! The sticky rice was also perfect with the excess sauce.
The curry was really delicious too, and much easier to eat, so it was finished within the space of not-very-many minutes.The breadcrumbs were crispy and, considering they were deep fried, not greasy at all. The sauce was nice and thick, and they gave enough of it to coat the rice and the chicken - nothing worse than too little sauce!
Luckily for me Omnya got quite full so I got to try the salmon! It was amazing and is probably the thing I would order again if I came back (followed by the ramen, then the curry - not because I didn't like the curry, but because it's probably easier to get a good one of them elsewhere than it would be the other two). The sauce was sticky and sweet and the salmon was meaty and tasted really fresh.
After lunch we went to Omnya's college (New College) to fulfil some Harry Potter dreams
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| Home of the Malfoy ferret scene! |
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| Attempting to recreate Malfoy sitting in the tree - "I don't care what your father thinks Malfoy - he's vile and cruel, and you're just pathetic" |
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| Kissing couple magicked apart by Umbridge bench?!!? |
Omnya came out with a quote which probably encapsulates my life quite well - "I'm glad you guys still know all the words to Harry Potter - some things never change".
After all this excitement we went on to continue the gastronomic adventure with dessert at Indulge café.
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| So true!!!!! |
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| True again!!!! |
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| Just as true as the last one to which this is almost identical!! (Running out of fun dessert related "facts"?!) |
After much deliberation I decided to go for a waffle with nutella, oreos, strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate sauce.
It was amazing! The waffle was freshly made so was really soft and fluffy, and the toppings were just perfect - they were very generous with the nutella which is always a good sign.
Izzy chose a waffle with nutella, banana and strawberry sorbet
And Omnya went for ferrero rocher ice cream (despite my mocking for it being pathetically small....!)
All in all it was a day of culinary, Harry Potter related and reminiscent delights and I've left feeling fat but with new restaurants to add to my favourites list!! (Also Omnya showed me a burger place called Atomic burger which I feel I will be back to try soon....)
Just for fun, some old pictures of us...!
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| The last time we met up...a favourite pose, politically correct til the end |
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| Angry farmers..I'm not sure why...but we were very sheltered (and weird) at Kendrick... |
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