Big Bang, The

Some restaurants that take the wonderful English sausage, surely an ultimate in comfort food, as their theme, tend to lose the plot a bit on the way. Not so here at The Big Bang, where deviation from the party line is seen as something of a faux pas.

The bangers come from The Covered Market where David Johns specialises in gourmet sausages from all over the world, including the Valentine Pork Sausage, heavy with ginseng and ginger. Max Mason, proprietor of TBB then does the necessary, starting with breakfast and onwards through the day, sausages for ever.

Oxford of course is synonymous with the sausage, 250,000 tons (a suspiciously neat round figure) of which are said to be consumed annually by the British, so they feature well on the menu, which also includes Cumberland, Welsh pork and leek, wild venison, gourmet hot dogs, and the famed Big Bang Trio, described in their words - not mine - as a stomach-bursting combination of any three sausages on the menu. This, and all other meals, is served with a guard of honour of peas, red cabbage and fried onions and a choice of mash.

Voted through the columns of the magazine Restaurant as the finest sausage and mash in Britain, there is little doubt that The Big Bang is playing its part in those culinary changes that are improving the face of Britain, so bury any prejudices you may have and hurry along armed with a little research to put you ahead of the game.