Top 5: Valentine’s Dates

Wining and dining in the name of love

Brookes crewdate food love Rowing sex valentines

With the second most anticlimactic day of the year fast approaching (New Year, we wish we remember you) The Tab presents the crème de la crème of Oxford’s Valentine’s Day hotspots.

Whether you’re flashing the cash to impress the special someone, or if your student loan is suffering from too many Bridge Thursdays, The Tab is here to help…

 

1.  Gee’s Restaurant

Your date: wears red trousers

Arguably one of Oxford’s swankiest restaurants, Gee’s is bound to make sure both you and your loved one end the evening satisfied (well, full, at least.)

Having been closed for refurbishment, it reopens just in time for Valentine’s Day/student loan so if you’re willing to fork out for the excellent food and romantic setting make sure you get a booking in early.

 

2. The Cherwell Boathouse

Your date: is a rower

So you’ve bagged yourself a rower. Congratulations – you’re living the Oxford dream and we’re sure your mum is overjoyed.

But be warned – taking them out for a ‘special meal’ on Valentines day will be less simpering over each other by candlelight and more about them consuming the maximum quantity of protein and carbohydrate in the minimum time available.

Where could be more perfect than al fresco dining in a converted boathouse on the banks of the Cherwell? And if their idea of ‘stroke technique’ doesn’t quite match up to yours, you could always push them in.

 

3. The Standard

Your date: is a pathological crewdater

If you just can’t bring yourself to break with the Thursday night curry-and-Bridge routine for that special someone, try The Standard.

Cozy and intimate (aspects we’d all hope for from a Valentine’s date) The Standard offers south-Asian-fusion-cum-Indian cuisine that’s a step up from the usual drunken crewdate fare (sorry, Arzoo).

Conveniently, they also offer a take-away menu for those who prefer the prospect of wining and dining within the confines of their own room…

 

4. The Cape of Good Hope 

Your date: goes to Brookes

In the unlikely event that you’ve been fraternizing with the enemy this dangerously close to Valentines, you’ll want to meet up somewhere safe and far, far away from anything remotely resembling a porter’s lodge/medieval college chapel/the Rad Cam.

Situated at Magdalen Bridge Roundabout, The Cape of Good Hope is perfect neutral ground. A pub/restaurant with fairy lights and a Live Lounge of local talent every Thursday, this relaxed alternative to the trad formal dinner will convince your date that life at the dreaming spires isn’t all sub fusc and sherry.

 

5. Eat in

Your date: watches Come Dine With Me

A way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Scratch that, everyone’s heart. Equally a girl or a boy whipping up a full roast in a minuscule student kitchen equipped with nothing more than a microwave, a wok and ingredients of indeterminable use-by-date is undeniably sexy.

Whether cooking a romantic candle-lit dinner in a communal college kitchen or eating in Hall surrounded by this year’s collection of lonely hearts, look on the plus side: you’ve already got them ‘back to yours’…