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Should you fancy a little detachment whilst at, or in, Oxford hurry down the Cowley Road until you come to Kazbah to this lively tapas bar where you can happily graze amongst the Spanish-Moroccan atmosphere. The choice of food is good, the prices will not prevent you from saving up for the real thing next summer and the chances are you will have had a thoroughly relaxing evening. A wonderful place to go with a group of friends and browse over a selection of the appetizing dishes, not to mention some very passable wine of the country.

An experience of dining at La Cucina could very well make you feel like you're dining in Rome - with authentically Italian food that is simple and tasty, charming service and a relaxing open restaurant - they're slowly but surely proving the restaurant to become one of Oxford's best.

The kitchen sends out robust portions of dishes that are all cooked to order using quality produce. Consider visiting them for a meal or simply to have a cup of wonderful Italian coffee.

Sip on seasonal homemade soup as you order starters of baked field mushrooms stuffed with taleggio cheese, deep-fried calamari or a salad of crab and tiger prawn with a thyme and chilli dressing. Pizzas with ingredients such as mozzarella, ham, artichokes and sausage, or farfalle con l'anatra, butterfly pasta with a rich sauce of duck and white wine could follow. Meat and fish dishes encompass prime-cut beef, roasted vine tomatoes and mixed leaf salad, and grilled salmon with leeks.

A dessert of Italian cheesecake with candied oranges and lemon gives the perfect end to a meal.

The lively La Tasca chain caters for parties, children's events and family gatherings in addition to anytime dining. These restaurants capture well the warm and vibrant spirit of Spain, and are best known for their tapas and traditional paellas.

Their star player is tapas, which can be had solo or in tandem with a meal. The calamares andaluza, deep-fried squid rings, served with roasted garlic mayonnaise and lemon, is great for sharing, while the chorizo frito al vino, spicy Spanish sausage flavoured with paprika, garlic and herbs, sautéed in red wine, offers a real treat. Chicken lovers order alitas de pollo, marinated chicken wings, or have skewers of chicken breast and pepper, marinated in paprika.

Valenciana is an interesting paella that combines seafood with chicken, and if you have a taste for trivia, you may be surprised to learn that 'la paella' actually refers to the utensil in which the dish is cooked.

Other than liqueurs and beer, there are wines from Spanish vineyards and sparkling cava. All of these, especially the dry rosé wines combine well with tapas. And you would be really getting into the spirit of things if you rounded off with the crema Catalana, traditional Spanish-style vanilla custard, topped with caramelised sugar.

La Tasca Spanish Tapas Restaurants and Bars today have over sixty outlets across the UK, so it is odds on there is a branch fairly close to your home.

And so the wonderful variety of cuisines available in Oxford rolls on. Edamame is clearly popular, as the lines outside at lunchtime bear witness to, but it does seem to be one of those places that you either love or don't. The food is excellent but inexpensive Japanese home cooking and sushi, the real thing.

They rotate three quite different and relatively small menus through the week to ensure that ingredients and their preparation are as fresh as possible!

The location may be a bit cramped and the emphasis on the food rather than on fancy décor but what is wrong with that? My vote goes with those people queuing up to enjoy real value and genuine Japanese food. It is difficult pinning down an average cost per head, as they vary what they serve depending on the time and the day; Thursday evening is is the time for their popular "sushi night" with a nigiri set costing a mere £8 for seven pieces.

Friday and Saturday dinner offers a wide selection of tapas-style options, with people typically choosing to spend up to £14 per head. Lunch is even cheaper, and certainly less than the £10 that I have allowed.

They do not take bookings, except if you want to book the whole place on a Wednesday or Sunday evening when they are not normally open, but they do insist on a minimum food spend of £400, the maximum numbers are 31. They take credit cards but only in the evenings when they ask for a minimum spend of £10 on each card transaction (no Amex or Diners Club).

It has always seemed amazing that there are so few restaurants with a view out over our premier river in Great Britain - the River Thames - and the River Room Restaurant at the Oxford Thames Four Pillars Hotel is one of the few outside London.

As well as the 'a la carte' the River Room restaurant has set menus, presenting excellent value, at both lunch and dinner, and on Sundays there is a carvery at lunchtime, with jazz to keep their patrons happy. Starters could run from smoked trout terrine or warm red onion and crabmeat tartlet to crispy prawn dim sum.

Whilst mains include simple dishes like fillet steak or pan-fried tuna topped garlic and fresh herb butter, to the more complicated monkfish wrapped in pancetta or noisettes of pork tenderloin with a cider, apple and tarragon sauce. Leave room for puddings though, with choices like lemon torte with balsamic roasted fig compote or chocolate and kumquat truffle.

For more informal eating, lighter meals are available in the Crusader Bar and Lounge situated in one of the medieval barns, while in the summer the beautiful sandstone courtyards and the river view terrace come into their own.

The incidence of ethnic restaurants in Oxford can be no coincidence and is to a degree matched by Cambridge, though with nothing like the same intensity. Does this indicate a better standard of in-house catering in the Fenland bastion - I doubt it. So here we are again, but this time with probably the best of the bunch amidst the dreaming spires. To have a Thai restaurant within a fourteenth century building just off the High in Oxford seems slightly odd until you remember the difference between our two civilisations. And theirs has produced a cuisine which over the last few years has taken Britain by storm. Here the cooking is hailed as superb and the concensus of opinion seems to be that of the many eating houses in Oxford, Chaing Mai is more on its way than most.

The somewhat quirky element of having a clown in a bathtub simply tots up the 'cool' quotient of this café that doubles up as a trendy cocktail bar in the evenings. Named after the clown, Café Coco is a study in contrasts where the eclectic and modish décor underscores the delectable dishes that you can savour there.

Open early enough for breakfast, they offer delicious and hearty alternatives with bacon, Cumberland sausage, free range egg, black pudding, mushrooms, and tomatoes on a pizza base. A pleasant mix of Mediterranean and English cuisine results in dishes like roast fillet of sea bass with char grilled peppers, wilted chard, cashews and a lemon dressing or maybe the seared salmon with wasabi and garlic butter. Try the pizzas and calzones with any of the beers, wines and spirits on hand, while coffeeholics will agree that their cappuccino is one of the best 'pick-me-up's this side of Oxford.