About Jane’s Enchanted Tea Garden

Jane’s Enchanted Tea Garden is a pop up café that opens every year over the summer months (approx. May – September) to deliver delicious afternoon tea in a stunning setting. It’s hidden down a small road adjacent to the canal in Kirtlington and could easily be missed if it wasn’t for the vibrant pink and purple arch entrance prettily entwined with a waterfall of colourful flowers.

Jane has a Facebook group where she posts regular updates about the garden and available dates for booking a table/cancellations. Booking is on a first come first serve basis and is done by contacting Jane directly – you can either send her a text or give her a call. Bookings are secured by transferring a £10 deposit per person, which is then deducted from your bill on the day. Jane is already fully booked this year (yup, that’s how popular this place is!) however, she plans to start taking bookings for next year after she’s wrapped up 2021, so keep your eyes peeled on the Facebook page towards the end of the year!

The Enchanted Tea Garden Experience

On entering the garden, we found ourselves weaving our way down a charming archway of twigs draped with bunting, flowers and foliage – with the occasional teasing glimpse of the seating areas and the canal. The décor was an eccentric combination of fairy lights, chimes, tea pots hanging from branches and the occasional random fake cat and milk churn – it was so random, so wacky and I LOVED IT!

The décor and buzz of customers was accompanied by live folk music being played by the marquee.

Our table was ideally located on its own by the water with a great view of the barge moored up alongside the decking. There was also seating in the beautifully adorned marquee and alongside the barge.

The crockery mirrored the décor and boasted a mishmash of different vintage plates, cups and saucers. It had a very homely, Alice in Wonderland vibe – rustic but oh so charming!

This year Jane has curated the ‘Full Jeeves’ menu, which is £29.50 per person and includes all of the afternoon tea essentials – sandwiches, scones, cakes, tea/coffee and a welcome glass of prosecco. Once we were settled in at our table and dietary requirements had been checked, we were swiftly bought over our tower of goodies. There were three vegetarians and three non vegetarians so we had a cake tower for each.

The veggie sandwiches included coronation quorn chicken, cucumber, cream cheese and mint, cheese and chutney and egg mayo and cress. Whilst the meat eaters had the additions of roasted chicken and cranberry, ham hock with mango chutney and tuna mayo and rocket. We all then had a scone each and a delicious selection of homemade cupcakes including caramel, chocolate and strawberries and cream. It was the perfect amount of food to fill you up but still leave you with room for plenty more glasses of prosecco (which is a bargain £16 a bottle btw!)…

The service was very welcoming, friendly and relaxed and Jane popped her head out a couple of times to check in on how we were doing (and to deliver us more prosecco…). The service was a tad slow at times however, we were drinking at a record speed and it was their first weekend of being open, so they were understandably getting back into the swing of things.

We all had such a lovely afternoon! It was amazing to be out post lockdown and even more amazing to go somewhere so fun, unique and special.

The Verdict

Well, it’s safe to say there is nowhere quite like Jane’s Enchanted Tea Garden in our area, which is why it’s so popular! It’s a unique experience from the moment you enter the garden to the moment you leave – it’s a whimsical jumble of fun décor, excellent home cooked food and relaxed service. The Tea Garden is the definition of a hidden gem and I can’t wait to return again next year to experience it in the evening – imagine all those fairy lights lit up!

To stay up to date on bookings for 2022 or any potential cancellations in 2021, head over to Jane’s Facebook page.

About Choices Bicester

“We have 8 families that have ordered every single week since New Year!”

Choices Bicester is run by couple Rachel and Sumat who both have extensive experience in the hospitality and catering industry. Sumat trained as a chef in Denmark and then worked in a professional kitchen in Germany whilst Rachel went to catering college. After they met in the UK they both went on to work in the airline industry before settling down in Bicester where they now live with their two children. When the pandemic hit last year they decided to take the plunge to launch their passion project – Choices Bicester. Since launching, they’ve received rave reviews and have become a firm favourite takeaway for locals every single week.

Choices Bicester serves up a mixture of cuisines but primarily they draw on Sumat’s heritage, Danish and Thai, for their menus. Their most prominent offering at the moment is their Thai inspired three course menu, which they deliver on a Saturday however, they also do Danish meatball nights and have just launched a new picnic menu.

Their Thai menu changes weekly and tends to include popular Thai staples such as, spring rolls, chicken satay and Thai curries. They offer three very affordable courses, which you can order as many or as few of as you’d like and each course has its vegetarian counterpart. You can place your order up until 6pm on the Friday before via Facebook Messenger or on WhatsApp.

The Choices Bicester Experience

I’ve travelled to Thailand on multiple occasions and the one thing that has drawn me back time and time again is the food – stuff the potent buckets of cocktail and beautiful beaches, I want a spicy papaya salad, fragrant curry, pad Thai and crispy spring rolls! Every time I indulge in Thai food, it takes me back to my travels and that’s exactly what Choices Bicester’s dishes did last weekend.

When Rachel sent me their weekly menu (see below) I was so happy to see that the main course was panang curry. It’s one of my favourite Thai dishes, so I was excited to try their take on it. Rachel and Sumat kindly gifted one of each of their dishes (meat and veggie) and delivered it at around 5pm on Saturday.

Choices Bicester use compostable packaging, which means that all of their packaging (other than their dip pots – hopefully these are to follow) are plastic free, biodegradable and fully compostable. This is amazing and something I feel all takeaway businesses should be striving towards. The takeaway boxes were also really sturdy and looked better than plastic containers, showing you can go plastic free without sacrificing on aesthetics and quality!

Inside each bag was the three courses (veggie was very clearly labelled with a green sticker) and instructions on how to finish off each dish. Rachel and Sumat prepare and cook everything, so all you need to do is heat up each dish in the microwave or oven.

To start I had the veggie option – Thai fried spicy tofu salad served with a ginger, garlic and chilli dressing, coriander and a sweet chilli dip on the side.

The tofu was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and I loved the strong punch of ginger that came through in the dressing. The coriander gave the salad that freshness that all Asian salads need and it was great to have the sweet chilli dip on the side to dunk the tofu pieces into.

My friend had the meat option (same as above but with crispy pork instead), which she said was soft, sticky and full of Asian flavour.

For main, we had the much anticipated panang curry, which was served with chicken as the meat option and mixed vegetables as the veggie option. Traditionally, panang is a thick, spicy Thai red curry that is rich with sweet, sour, coconut and nutty flavours – basically, it’s heaven in a bowl.

For me, a Thai curry is all about the sauce, so I was extremely happy to see that Choices Bicester had provided a whole extra pot of sauce on the side – you can’t be sold short when it tastes that good! The sauce was rich, fragrant and bought to life by the kafir lime leaves sprinkled on top of the vegetables/meat. The taste of those leaves with the sauce threw me straight back to a street food stall in Thailand. A sign of great food – reminiscing. My only feedback on the sauce was that it could have been spicier however, I still thoroughly enjoyed it and think that’s just down to my personal preference of spice – I enjoy a good kick.

The meal was wrapped up with a Thai classic – sweet sticky rice cooked in coconut milk served with grilled pineapple cooked in syrup and lime zest. I’d only ever had this dish with mango before but it worked equally well with pineapple. It was sweet, creamy and indulgent without being too heavy and sickly.

The Verdict

Choices Bicester offer delicious, authentic and very affordable Thai dishes cooked with passion and love.

I think it’s great that their menu is small and changes weekly as it means you can order from them over and over again without having the same dishes each time and the fact that the menu is a fixed 3 courses also encourages people to try new dishes they may have never had before – we’re all such suckers for sticking with our safety orders when it comes to takeaways, so it’s good to be pushed out of our comfort zones to try something new every once in a while!

Rachel and Sumat are clearly very passionate about the food they deliver and I love that they draw a lot of their influence from Sumat’s heritage. They are continually adding new and exciting items to their menus such as, their Easter picnic boxes and I can’t wait to see what else is in the pipeline for them!

Whilst we can’t currently go to the street stalls of Bangkok, we can order from Choices Bicester – enjoy!

Who are Y&R Sushi?

Y&R Sushi is run by a lovely couple – Yaiza and Rene (hence the Y&R) who have been making Japanese cuisine for over 20 years – if anyone knows how to roll a good sushi roll it’s these guys!

They first learnt how to make sushi in Caracas in Venezuela and then moved to Spain where they opened and ran 5 Japanese restaurants over 11 years. In 2013, Yaiza and Rene moved to Bicester and have continued to pursue their passion for Japanese food through their delivery and catering services. They are suppliers for Oxford Town Hall and Oxford University, have served up their sushi at events such as, Blenheim Palace food festival, Celebrating Ceramics and Fitfest and now deliver their menu across Bicester.

Yaiza and Rene make the dishes to order from their home, so have kept the menu quite small. Nonetheless, it includes everything you’d need for a sushi feast! From edamame beans, teriyaki chicken skewers and gyoza dumplings to sashimi, tempura prawns with coconut and sharing boxes of assorted sushi (for 2, 4, 5+ and 10+), there’s plenty of choice to get your mouth watering.

Last week I was kindly gifted an assorted sharing box of sushi rolls and a side of gyozas and chicken skewers to sample and review. Here’s what I thought!

The Y&R Sushi Experience

Sushi isn’t something I eat very often (maybe because I didn’t know I could get it 5 miles down the road!) but every time I do I am in heaven.

I’m no pro when it comes to the different types of sushi rolls available so I left it up to the experts, Yaiza and Rene to put together some of their favourite rolls and dishes for me to try! 

The platter they put together consisted of 4 different types of rolls – 10 Alaska rolls filled with salmon, avocado and cream cheese covered in black roasted sesame seeds, 10 Ebi crunch rolls filled with tempura prawn, avocado and cream cheese topped with teriyaki sauce and sesame seeds, 6 special tempura rolls filled with salmon and cream cheese wrapped in tempura batter and topped with teriyaki sauce and crispy onions and 10 California rolls filled with crab meat, cucumber, avocado and covered in flying fish roe (our sharing box included 36 pieces of sushi – a platter for 2 includes 28 pieces for £26).

They also very kindly included a couple of sides – vegetable and chicken gyozas (£3.80 for 5) and a couple of chicken skewers (£2.60 for 2) in teriyaki sauce. The sushi came with the obligatory dollop of wasabi and ginger (although we could have done with a little more to go around) as well as, soy sauce and chopsticks. 

Each mouthful of each sushi roll was DIVINE however, the special tempura rolls definitely took the crown for me. The contrast in the texture of the soft sticky rice with the crunchy tempura and crispy onions was delicious and the sticky sweet teriyaki sauce drizzled on top tasted like nectar of the gods. I could have munched through a whole tray of those to myself.

The Ebi crunch rolls were a very close second – I loved the crunchy prawns against the freshness of the creamy avocado and the sweet teriyaki. The fresh Alaska rolls doused in soy and a healthy slice of ginger were so tasty and the California rolls were definitely the fishiest of the rolls but tasted great. You could really tell that the rolls were made using the freshest of ingredients.

The gyozas were soft and packed full of tasty filling and Lizzie and Harvey said the skewers were succulent and moorish (I don’t eat meat so they had to be my tasters for this one) – the perfect sides to the perfect platter.

The Verdict

I’m still daydreaming about our sushi sharing box, so that says it all really. Yaiza and Rene have soooo much experience making delicious Japanese food and their skill and passion really shines through in their food – we’re so lucky to have them on our doorstep in Bicester!

I thoroughly enjoyed our takeaway from Y&R Sushi – it was fresh, looked beautiful and tasted even better! The sushi rolls were wonderfully presented in unison and had pops of inviting colour. I was also chuffed to discover new sushi rolls I’d never tried before – the special tempura and ebi crunch rolls were AMAZING.

We shared 36 pieces of sushi as well as two sides between 3 of us and were surprisingly full – I think the sharing box for 2 (28 pieces of sushi) is definitely enough to fill you up but if, like me, you have an irrational fear of not being full then there are plenty of sides to choose from to bulk out your order.

I’m so happy to have discovered Y&R Sushi and hope all sushi lovers in the area have them on their radar to order from – they knock chains like Yo Sushi out the park and are honestly the most lovely couple!

Y&R Sushi deliver for free in Bicester and the surrounding areas (up to approx. 3 miles) Monday – Saturday, 5pm – 9pm. All orders are made from fresh, so it’s worth ordering ahead of time if you don’t want to wait for your order on the night or, if you live a bit further than 3 miles from Bicester (they can deliver a bit further if they can plan for it ahead of time). Call Yaiza and Rene on 07501090507 to place your order.

I just can’t quite express how much I love this place… and its Milwaukee rye. 

Located in Weston-on-the-Green, a cute village just off of the A34, M40 and 4 miles from Bicester, The Milk Shed is the perfect stop off point for a comforting meal in the countryside before heading towards the craziness of Bicester Village (or if you’re locals – heading in the opposite direction and avoiding it like the plague).

The Milk Shed is based on Manor Farm and offers a true country café experience combined with the trendiness and attention to detail of a café in the city (plus a few more horses).

The inside of The Milk Shed has a homely, farm-kitchen feel.

Rustic, chunky wooden tables are dotted around the café and are complemented by fresh flowers and The Milk Shed logo’s blue stools and seats. Stools are perched along a bench in the centre of the room scattered with newspapers and magazines – the perfect spot for those looking for a relaxing space to do some work – and cute touches such as, fairy lights, picture walls and ‘meet the team’ blackboards give it that added personal and cosy feel.

Every time I’ve visited The Milk Shed it’s been buzzing. From families and yummy mummies to pensioners and couples, people flood to this café every day of the week (minus Mondays when it’s closed) for a bite of their delicious menu and an inevitable ice cream or milkshake as a pud.

Lucie (the owner) makes her own ice cream on site and sources her produce from the farm and surrounding areas. The menu boasts café classics such as, eggs on toast (£7.25), club sarnie (£9.50) and brioche French toast (£6.95) as well as, more unique dishes including squid stew (£10.95), Milwaukee rye with avocado, halloumi and roasted toms (£8.50, my fave – see pic below) and chorizo crostini (£9.50).

Don’t forget to also keep an eye out for their daily specials on the black board and their cakes on the counter. 

In keeping with the relaxed atmosphere of the café, The Milk Shed is all counter service (which also means you’re more likely to be tempted by the goodies on the counter – well played Milk Shed). The staff are lovely and friendly and are always happy to offer out ice cream tasters to ensure you make the right flavour choice… 

Their comfortable seating area outside means you can bask in the sunshine in the summer and the shop – Heart and Soul – opposite is definitely worth a mooch.

The Milk Shed is flexible, which is why I love it so much. You can pop in for a coffee and a slice of cake or a sit down meal with wine. They also host Supper Clubs so keep an eye out on their social media for updates on when the next one will be! 

The food at The Milk Shed is infused with the passion and love of the people who work there, which is what makes it so blinking delicious! When you’re next in the Bicester area, make sure you pop in for a bite to eat (**cough** get the Milwaukee rye)!

Please note: this is not a sponsored post and, as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.