Food feedback
Published: 01 May, 2007
A beautiful late spring day found myself and a colleague at the latest offer from the Wyevale Garden Centre Group at its new Bicester unit, close to the factory outlet village. While not strictly a shopping centre, the site offers a variety of complementary retail stores and a selection of foodservice, as well as some striking architecture.
The garden centre offers a small coffee bar and a 250-seat Four Seasons restaurant. Not a great name, but actually a really good interpretation of a European Marche. We chose the latter and were greeted by two beautifully presented display areas, with a range of cakes, pastries, salad items and ready-filled baguettes. My colleague opted for a prawn and dill mayonnaise baguette at £4.95, but I was attracted by the theatre element of the freshly made pizzas. I also chose a triple chocolate muffin (£1.95) and a bottle of locally sourced Blenheim sparkling water (£1.50), while my colleague opted for the freshly ground cappuccino made with Lavazza beans (£1.80) and a double ice cream sundae (£3.45).
Within five minutes, the chef delivered my pizza (£7.45). Although the presentation left a little to be desired, the taste was excellent. My colleague's baguette contained a generous quantity of prawns, enhanced by the subtle dill flavour in the mayonnaise.
The standard of restaurant fit out was very high, with solidly crafted food counters made from light oak, giving a quality feel to the whole environment. Presentation and merchandising of all the items was as good as that found on the 'high street', and storing the glasses in the chilled drinks counter was a nice touch.
The bill came to £21.00, which, had we had more time, would easily have enabled us to have additional funds to spend in the adjacent retail food section. A wide selection of fresh, locally sourced products, as well as quality preserves and products from across Europe, requires a further expedition.
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