Snow business like Snow Busines

Tomorrow's the night - We have the unveiling of @SnowFactoryHQ - and it's going to be amazing

Let me tell you about something…..? For 1.8 million years, there has been a Snow Factory concealed within a hidden location in Oxford - As human beings became more inquisitive, recently, they hid the Factory within a prison and then within a crap chain restaurant complex, just so nobody would enquire within, once humans get involved with stuff like Snow Production, they just tend to cause troubles.

What the elves do, in order to make the snow, is they Frack the sparkle out of Moonlight…. and insert it to Snow. Without the sparkle, without snow, there's just no Christmas, which is pretty tragic, but what's more, when Elves are out of work, they become mischievous - And, there's nothing worse than a mischievous Elf.

So, we're having a 5 minute long documentary every hour, followed by 5 minutes of real snowfall. It's going to knock spots off the rest of Britain's Christmas offering, I've got to tell you, so we'll hope to see you there. You can even get some Sausages on Sticks, Marshmallows, Mulled wine or a fancy snow globe.

Oxford Castle Quarter Just got fun

What's On at The Big Bang and around the Castle Quarter

Movember This November Oxford Castle Quarter are leading the way in Mo-getherness as Oxford’s Centre for Excellence for Movember. Whether you’re supporting Mo’Maison, having Bangers & Tash at The Big Bang, tapas at La Tashca, or sporting Mo Excellence at The Living Groom, there are a range of discounts and special Movember events taking place all around Oxford Castle Quarter. There will be a Mo’pening party at the Living Groom at the beginning on November 1st, followed by weekly Mo’gress meetings on Thursday evenings at The Big Bang, and a Gala closing party at Mo’Maison on Thursday 28th, where a major award ceremony will be held for all those who have Mo’d at Oxford Castle Quarter throughout the month, crowning the King and Queen of the Castle. Mo Sisters can get involved too, with cocktails and meals which all go towards donating money to men’s health. To donate or to find out more click here

The Snow Factory Snow Elves on Red Alert! With the packing up of Oxford’s only beach at Oxford Castle Quarter this summer, a dark cloud has descended over the city. The result is that Oxford may be left entirely without snow this year. As we all know, the factory that produces Oxford’s snow is run on moonlight; it is the moonlight that gives snow its sparkle. The Snow Factory has descended into panic and chaos, as a solution to the problem is yet to be found. Whilst the location of Oxford’s Snow Factory has remained a secret for centuries, it has now been revealed to the public in the hope that the people of Oxford will lend their support to the cause and help the Snow Elves to save Christmas. Found atOxford Castle Quarter, the Snow Factory has kept Christmas for Oxfordshire, and the world, since the very first snow. It has been confirmed that a variety of solutions will be put to the test to ensure that The Snow Factory is still able to produce the highest quality snow: light and projection shows; animations; flambeaux torches; music; stunning Christmas trees and lights. Ed the Elf, the spokes-elf for The Snow Factory HQ has said, ‘We’re on red alert! This has never happened before. At this stage, I can only reassure the public that we have our best elves on the case and we are working tirelessly to make sure that Oxford has snow this year. But, quite frankly, we need all the help we can get!’ Please show your support by joining the Snow Elves, for free, at ‘The Snow Factory’, Oxford Castle Quarter, from 22nd November until 8th December, 6pm – 10pm. Your city, and Christmas, needs you! Keep up with the Elves' progress by following @SnowFactoryHQ on Twitter.

Your city, and Christmas, needs you!

End of Summer

So, summer had drawn to a close, the sand has been taken away and you wouldn't believe that we'd ever had one of the most fun installations of this Great British Summer.

With 36 tonnes of sand, twelve palm trees and a Summer filled with fun events, we launched our Barbeque menu, our Summer cocktail menu and made full use of the stunning courtyards of the Oxford Castle Quarter.

Now, as a chill returns to the air, we're delighted to welcome our core of Sausageers back - With 230 diners last night and another 150 booked in this evening, we're back in our comfort zone and looking forward to a busy Winter.

With a new, brave chef in the kitchen, David (to replace David who worked here for the past seven years) we have a fine, fun menu to venture towards the colder months - Each working day lunch we'll have Bangers & Dash ready for your arrival for just £5 and will also have Stews, Broths and other Great British Dishes for the same price, with a hunk of Barry's homemade bread.

We want to make the Castle Quarter somewhere to hang out, use the wifi, do your emails and make the place your home. It's the finest part of Oxford and we're looking forward to showing you around it.

Max

Couldn't have imagined it

I've been pretty quiet for a while, not because I don't love you, it's none of that, but I've just been busy - I've built a beach and I've been busy making sure that Oxfordshire people can't be in any doubt that The Oxford Castle Quarter is cool - not just cool on an Oxford level, but international, sensationally cool.

Tonight we've had live beachside Jazz, see the photo below

A few days ago we had the Copenhagen Brass Band and we've had silent Disco Beach Parties, we've had stay and play groups, we've had circuits, we've had oodles of stuff and there's oodles more to come.

You may have read about the Oxford Beach in the Independent, The Guardian, The BBC, The Times, or any of the local media, or maybe heard it on BBC Radio Oxford or Jack FM, but either way, Summer don't last too long, so come along and sample the BBQ, get some cocktails and see that we're more than just Bangers & Mash.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Beach - when I was a kid, I couldn't make up my mind about whether I wanted to be a musician, whether I wanted to have a restaurant, or whether I just wanted to be a beach-bum, well, tonight I've accomplished all 3, and I couldn't have imagined that it would feel even half as cool as this does. I can't wait to share it with as many of you as possible.

Before I took a tenancy in the Oxford Castle Quarter, as an Oxfordshire resident, I hadn't been to the Oxford Castle Quarter for 6years, and I didn't expect that there was anything there that I wanted, but now I can tell you, with authority, that it's an amazing place - Do come and see it 

Max

Feeling Chuffed

If I'd had a sausage for everyone who told me I was a burk to open a Sausage & Mash restaurant 9years ago, I'd only be slightly slimmer than if I had a sausage for every time I recognised pity every time I told someone I was moving The Big Bang from the rubble of Jericho to the Oxford Castle Quarter.

Ghost town, they said, chain restaurants, bad reputation, nobody goes there.... well, last night, I can very happily report we had our busiest ever day in 9year - We served 430 people in total. (In simpler terms, that's nine bags of Oxfordshire spuds, the equivalent of a bathtub brimming with sausagemeat (no horse!) and three witches cauldrons full of gravy (regular size cauldron)

I'm not gloating, because I still have no idea whether this move is a sensible one or not, but I'm delighted that my team are rising to the challenge, are able to serve that many people without losing their cool.

What's more, we've had some splendid reviews... we're still not recognised on TripAdvisor as a recommended Oxford eatery, despite already having become Oxford's 100th Favourite Restaurant, in 4 short months. I'd ask that anyone who has a good time here throws a couple of kind words our way, either on TripAdvisor or on something more fabulous and local like Daily Info or Oxford City Guide so we can start to regain some of the nine years of hard work that we'd built up.... or just drop me a line, I'd always be delighted to hear feedback, good or bad.

Anyway, we're enjoying being back, we're looking forward to the warmer months when Bangers & Mash becomes BBQ & Beers and we've got an amazing lineup of Bangers & Live music over the coming months. Thanks for appreciating us I guess

Fun Filled February

After a pretty fabulous January, we're kicking the Oxford Castle Quarter rather hard at the moment to make the most of February - Live jazz each Tuesday, a full menu of Great British dishes, a cider launch with the Rabbit Foot Spasm band, a charity 'build a banger' competition and our regular slew of crewdates on a weekly basis.

We're having fun, enjoying the fact that people are happy to have us back in business in Oxford, back  on form and having more fun than ever - It seems the tricky decision to open within the Castle Quarter was the right one and we're seeing some very happy diners.

We've teamed up with Helen & Douglas House to devise a Build a Banger competition, asking submissions from Sausage Lovers everywhere - What would you like to see in a sausage? If your sausage selection gets chosen, it will be featured on the menu for a full month and £1 from each dish of them sold will go to the charity. Email submissions to me, entitled "Build a Banger".

We've actually decided that any remarkable event from the calendar should have a commemorative sausage created, so if there's an event that you know of, let us know and we can get working on a sausage - This past week has seen Haggis, pork & black pudding, Duck, hoisin & spring onion and Full English breakfast sausages to celebrate special days - Let's keep them exciting!

In addition to those, our menu now boasts Sunday roasts, full English breakfasts, cream teas, Great British classics and also our regular sausage and mash selection. We have oodles of space, so do come, use the WIFI and just hang out until you get peckish, we'd be happy to see you.

This Saturday we have the first of our extra music nights, continuing a theme we've long loved at Sausage HQ - The Rabbit Foot Spasm Band will be performing as they launch their brand new Cider - tickets for £7 (the few that are left!) can be bought from wegottickets and if you require food or a table, you'll need to get in touch with us!

Tuesday jazz continues to be popular, with each Tuesday selling out nicely - We've currently got just a couple of spaces left for Ben Holder on 12th, so if you want to catch him, you'd better be quick.

Nothing else for now, keep well

Max

Future Bookings Policy

An open letter to those planning to make party bookings:

You should never really write these things when you're miffed, but it's quite a depressing day when one is forced to restrict the way one operates a business because of repeated customer insensitivity to your situation.

We have always trusted people to turn up to bookings, with a hope of a recognition that, in a very difficult economy, we are having to put on extra staff and buy in extra food, and cancel other bookings so that we can accommodate the larger ones.

So, each time we have a major cancellation, it's upsetting - Clearly some are perfectly understandable, but on an evening when 3 big reservations of tables cancel at the very last minute, it leaves us with rather a costly situation and 100 seats empty - something that an independent restaurant can not afford to stomach.

So, I regret that from this moment forward we will be taking a card number for each reservation to ensure the booking. We will establish the following procedure;

If the party cancels within 48 hours of the allotted reservation time we will take £5 per person as compensation.

If the total number of the party is reduced by 25% or more then we will take £3 per person for every person not in attendance.

If the party damage the restaurant or refuse to maintain order then we shall take a bond of £50, after the leader of a party are warned twice to act in a more responsible manner.

We do our level best to accommodate all parties and are delighted that The Big Bang is a restaurant where student parties sit alongside parties of tourists and locals, but it is reliant upon the major bookings realising that they are acting as ambassadors for their respective student bodies and if they don't have the maturity to act appropriately, then we have to devise ways to ensure they do, or ask them to dine elsewhere.

In ten years of business I've never had to do this, it's something I've tried hard to avoid, because I think people should be trusted with the maturity to treat us the way we try to treat them.

A sad day, Max

2013, Year of the Sausage

 Happy New Year, we're calling 2013 the Year of the Sausage - This'll be my only long post of the year, but it's kind of a resolutions post, so I figure I'm allowed!

Bangers & Mash, Barbecues & Beer:

It's the year when we settle into our new home and spread our wings as Sausageers - Since I opened the place 9years ago in Jericho, I've known that I really want to have a place that's Bangers & Mash in Winter and Barbecue & Beers in summer. There's no better place for that in Oxford than the Castle Quarter, with our massive forecourt area.

From Mayday onwards, starting with a major MayDay morning feast, we'll be having Barbecues whenever the weather is good enough, celebrating that other great institution of the British culinary calendar, the Summer BBQ.

A Hesitant Start:

Looking back, I'm afraid to say I have an admission to make, we were a bit useless, between opening and the New Year. I had to make a decision when we opened, to either employ waiting staff who knew the job, but didn't really care about the Customer's experience, or to employ nice people and train them from scratch, but know that they'd care about whether you had a good experience. 

Well, I chose the second, I don't believe we're in the catering 'business', we are in Hospitality, and it's a huge difference. I don't believe that many of the restaurants on the High Street today are hospitable, I think they're more interested in upselling, in making their margins and in ensuring that the spreadsheet works, my thought is that if you're good enough at being hospitable, the rest should follow.

I'm happy to report that as soon as the New Year broke, staff began to understand what The abig Bang was about and started to realise they were being hospitable, not following instructions - I feel confident now that everyone visiting will have a pretty splendid experience.

However, If your experience isn't up to scratch, we'd always welcome comments and feedback, but similarly, if you have a good experience, we'd happily take any good comments, ideally on some forum as visible as TripAdvisor, weirdly, after 8years of hard work, all of our reviews and any web presence was devoured by our move to the Castle Quarter. Without a major marketing budget, it's the only way to get people to know about you, so we'd always welcome s nice review.

Big Bang Pigs: 

Last year we started serving up vegetables grown by prisoners at SpringHill Farm prison, this season we have our own piglets roaming around their perimeter fence, ready to become our sausages early in Spring - Keep an eye out for them popping up on twitter and Facebook (Follow us on Twitter or Like us on Facebook) 

Jazz & Sing for your Sausages: 

We have a stunning season of Jazz lined up each Tuesday night, check it out on the website, see what you fancy.

And, if you're any good at tinkling the ivories, come and have a play on a Monday night, when we'll swap some good piano-work for meals and drinks, depending upon how good you are! 

Other stuff:

New menu hits the streets on Monday, with pineapple & cheese on sticks as a starter, more cracking Great British pudds and some cream teas, so you don't have to pay the exorbitant price tags elsewhere!  Our Sunday Roasts and our Friday Fish & chips are becoming rightfully appreciated and we're becoming known as a place which sympathises and understands allergies, so come along if you've got a dietary need or two, we'd be delighted to feed you, safely. Check out the Menu

So, 2013 is going to be a tricky year, but we aim to bring the Oxford Castle Quarter back to form & show what a spectacular corner of Oxford it is, we'll always have a good meal at the right price, no matter how gloomy the economy gets!

Happy 2013, Year of the Sausage

New Year - 2013 - Year of the Sausage

We had a busy Christmas period, admittedly we weren't on our finest game, but we had a lot of people who now know where the restaurant is and will hopefully come and see us when we're not flying around like a headless sausage.
Staffing is always an issue in a place like this, you can't afford to do what the chains do and recruit and train hundreds of people, you have to make the decision to either employ nice people and then train them to carry plates, or employ trained and tired waiters and train them to give a damn, I always opt for the first option, but it can sometimes make things tricky during those early months!

So, 2013, our resolutions are to give the very best service in Oxford, to have staff who actually care, and who aren't serving you from some laminated instructions from Head Office, but who are truly being Hospitable, we are in the hospitality industry after all.
We aim to give the best coffees and needless to say best sausagey based, Great British meal in Oxford, one which supports as many local farmers, brewers, vintners and vegetable growers, prisons and colleges as possible and we'll do it with continued style.

I, for one, can't wait for the sun to start to shine, as our Courtyard area will form the most amazing place ever seen in Oxford for when Bangers & Mash gives way to Barbeque and Beers!

Happy New Year, we hope to see you whenever you would normally have been going to a chain restaurant in 2013.

Max

Getting Mullered

Some exciting stuff is afoot in The Oxford Castle Quarter - Yes, it's British Sausage Week and Yes, we've been awarded the highest accolade for ethical operations in Britain, three stars from the Sustainable Restaurant Association, but it's the mulled wine that I'm talking about.

If you've a booking at The Big Bang over the coming weeks or months, try to arrive an hour early, if you're able, and drop in next door where I'm running a mulled wine bar, called Mullered, between now and Christmas.

There are going to be other things going on, including a Deli (more details tomorrow) a Popup Christmas Market and a nightspot, but for now, if you're in town and you're cold, or if you're headed to Sausage HQ, then drop in to Mullered and get some of the best mulled wine that money can buy.

Come and be part of bringing the Castle back to life, reclaiming it as a part of Oxford for us!

Happy Sausage Week - Here's to the Great British Banger

To showcase the Great British Banger this British Sausage Week, here's a video of all we do at The Big Bang - There'll be lots more coming this week, including some of our most unusual sausages ever & a splendid partnership with 'Mullered', a brand new wine bar opened up next door!

Hope to see you some time this week

http://vimeo.com/52807071

Happy Sausaging

No Bangers tonight

If you're standing in the cold, shivering outside the Big Bang and wondering why on earth the lights are off, then I have to apologise to you.

I've taken my staff for a Christmas Dinner with our friends at The Oxford Blue (You should try it some time!)

They've worked tirelessly over the last 2 months to resurrect The Big Bang from the rubble of Walton Street and have made this corner of Oxford Castle our own. We have a full restaurant near every night and are receiving a resounding chorus that we're a welcome re-addition to the Oxford catering scene.

I've taken them out for dinner to mark the end of our teething period - If you don't get what you've ordered from now on in, if you wait too long or don't get the experience you expect from The Big Bang, then prod us, poke us, tell us and make sure we're doing it right!

Once tonight is over, we'll be open 7 days a week from 10am to 11pm and serving breakfast, lunches, dinners, Great British feasts and sterling Sunday roasts, pastries and cracking locally roasted coffees.
Our wifi is Ferrari fast and free, without any restrictions and our Christmas meals commence in 14 days  - at the very best price in Oxford.

If that wasn't enough, then a Mulled Wine bar will be opening next door, a Christmas Supermarket and a Popup restaurant, along with a quiet nightspot for the more discerning customer. We'd love you to come say Hullo!

In the meantime, I'm wishing my staff a Happy early Christmas, Max

Just like nature's 'The Big Bang' - Things happen fast

Someone, somewhere clearly thinks that letting me PLAY is a good idea, that bringing some fun to the Oxford Castle Quarter is long overdue - It's amongst the most stunning parts of Oxford and yet, when I lived in Jericho, I didn't bother to visit it, because I was sure there wasn't anything much to visit there.

I need to tell you that it's changed over just the last few days, that the Oxford Castle Quarter is now the very heart of your City, with not only The Big Bang, but also a Popup Christmas Super-Market, a Mulled wine bar and perhaps even a popup restaurant from time to time. And you're the first to know it, so don't tell a soul....

Winter Light Night will see a Polar Bear roaming around the Castle Yard in front of the Big Bang and live music will pepper the calendar between now and the New Year.

If you've not yet been, it's time to rediscover the Castle Quarter and see what fun we're having down here. You'll fall for it, I guarantee

An American in Sausage Heaven

Introducing the wonderful Betsy Masson's verdict on our Great British Cuisine, as a complete newcomer! It's priceless.....

Bangers and Mash

There is an entire language of food in England that I have discovered.
We went to a new restaurant in our castle grounds (we have now been to
almost all of the restaurants in the Oxford Castle grounds –note
earlier comments about the Krispy Kreme shop for coffee and the Swan
and Castle for our earliest meals of fish and chips and all have been
really quite unique and excellent in their own ways), which only
opened two weeks ago called The Big Bang and were introduced to the
world of bangers and mash.

Actually we had walked over to peer into The Big Bang a few days ago,
carrying a box of pizza leftovers, and were greeted by Max (owner) 
who popped out and handed us a newspaper to cover our pizza
box- it was raining so I wasn’t sure if he was worried about a wet
pizza or wanted us to realize that we should hide a pizza box when
walking past an authentic English bangers and mash restaurant. I read
the newspaper from cover to cover- all 4 pages of it - and realized I
had no idea what most of the food in the menu (2 of the 4 pages) was!
So we went back for breakfast and Max very kindly sat with us and gave
me a vocabulary, history, and culinary set of lessons about English
food.

Let me start with “mash.” Apparently a mash begins with mashed
potatoes and then can be expanded from there. Max spoke with great
admiration for the English potato - it apparently sits in the ground
for 8 months, absorbing water and various underground flavors (dirt,
bugs, appropriate composts?), and then is dug up and becomes the
central component of any mash. Just as we might add cheese, garlic, or
sour cream to our mashed potatoes, the mash over here has a far
greater range of possibilities and seems to be a fairly central staple
of English food. For example, there is the simple creamed mash (most
like ours I suspect), the garlic and rosemary mash, the grain mustard
mash, the spring onion mash, the rose mash (beets and red cabbage
added), or the celeriac (fabulous word- almost religious in tone) mash
(celery root mashed and added). All mashes are accompanied by gravies,
which also have a range of possibilities, including red wine gravy,
stilton gravy (Isn’t stilton a cheese? How does that work?), rosemary
gravy, or vegetable gravy. It has occurred to me that with only a week
left here and given there are twenty different bangers and mashes on
the menu, I need to immediately go and order a meal of just mashes-
maybe a bowl of each kind with a small pot of each of the gravies.
Sounds like heaven.

But that leads me to the bangers or sausages on this menu. I asked Max
why a sausage is called a banger. I believe his answer (by this time I
was taking notes, and Max was leaping up to greet every customer, chat
a bit, then return to me and my questions, and within a few minutes,
off again, so I was both delighted to have such an incredibly helpful
source of information but quite discombobulated by the intermittent
flow of the details) was about the poor quality of sausage meat during
the war (important note- apparently “the war” refers to World War II,
while the “great war” is World War I—I think- remember, Max is moving
at high speed now about the restaurant and since I am old- my mind
doesn’t catch every detail these days) so when the bangers were
cooked, the higher content of water in them (I think) caused them to
explode “bang” and they became known as bangers. And if that somehow
isn’t correct, I think it sounds awfully good so I will just stay with
it. So bangers are a whole vast array of sausages. Some at the Big
Bang include Welsh pork and leek sausages, lamb and mint sausages,
wild venison sausages, basil and vine tomato sausages, wild boar and
pigeon sausages, stilton and walnut sausages and about 15 other
choices. His menu is totally entertaining to read- he has something
called the Cheapskate Sausage with a note- “2 less delicious sausages
with a simple mash”. Why would one buy this? I have no idea but the
English have a very strange sense of humor. Or his Wild Boar and
Pigeon Sausage comes with the note, “Don’t even ask, just be brave and
try them out.”

The bangers and mash were only the tip of the iceberg in this food
language lesson. When Max first sat down, I asked if I could ask a few
questions and my first was from the first item on the menu- "What are
“boiled eggs and soldiers”? OK, the “boiled eggs” I could guess,
except we are talking soft boiled, not hard-boiled. But the “soldiers”
refer to toast cut in triangles to dip in the egg yolk, and apparently
this is even a bit controversial- the toast is either thin cut or
thick cut (depending on the individual) with a bit of butter but not
melted butter or it will drip into the egg—you see where I am going
with this.  I mean really, who has time for this kind of angst over
eggs and toast. I guess if one lives on an island with only 15 minutes
of news (repeated on SkyNews in 15 minute loops for 24 hours every
day), boiled eggs and thickness of toast becomes important. Then after
we ordered our breakfast of two eggs (bright orange yolks again),
sausages, a rasher of bacon (no idea what a rasher is but it means two
rounds of a ham like food), baked beans, sauteed mushrooms, 1/2 a
sauteed tomato, and triangles of toast (I guess ready for any dipping
we might do), Max mentioned that we might like some "marmite." Marmite
comes in a little tiny plastic pack, much like a butter pack, and is
apparently spread on toast by individuals who have some highly
developed masochistic tendencies. This stuff was AWFUL!!! It is brown
and gooey and tastes like a combination of boiled down Worcestershire
sauce, cider vinegar, maybe mustard, and possibly other ingredients I
was unable to taste because I was so horrified by what was in my
mouth. Once I recovered, the rest of the breakfast was fabulous.

Then there is the Bubble and Squeak. I am REALLY unclear what this is
but it has to do with frying together all your leftovers from
Christmas dinner on Boxing Day, which is the day after Christmas and
is apparently a VERY important holiday here, because it is an official
day off from employment so that everyone can either go shopping or fox
hunt (checked in Wikipedia on that detail). So the Bubble and Squeak
has mashed potatoes as its base and then I suppose whatever vegetables
are traditionally eaten on Christmas day, fried to a crisp golden and
served with cold beef or turkey.

Another menu uncertainty was the Toad in the Hole. Again this is
something with sausages in a batter and fried. Why any food eaten by
humans is purposely called a Toad in the Hole was never explained (by
now Max was moving at supersonic speeds greeting and chatting) so I
had to simply remain in the dark on this detail. And I might add from
a personal point of view that any food item that has “toad” in its
name remains seriously suspect, given how I feel about toads!
Unfortunately, the night we went to try out the dinner menu, the Toad
in the Hole was not being served, so we made do with Shepherd’s Pie, a
ground meat thing with baked mashed potatoes on top. Mom used to make
this, so I had to give this one a 9.5 as compared to Mom’s 10, but it
was quite delicious.

So, the English’s rather strange sense of humor, combined with living
on a small island for several thousand years, has created a truly
interesting culinary vocabulary that actually is almost childlike in
its appeal. It begins to explain how Harry Potter and the Rabbit Hole
can arise from such wonderful, odd imaginations.

Live Jazz & Bangers & a few too many customers

When I opened The New Big Bang in the Oxford Castle Quarter, I was pretty reassured that not many people would visit us in our opening few weeks, but I admit that I was wrong..... very wrong!

We have fed over 150 mouths every day for the past 2 weeks, 97.9% of them happily - admittedly, a few of them had the wrong sausages, but what can I say? They all look the same when they're cooked, particularly when you're employing brand new catering staff!

I have always said that you can teach a nice person to be a waiter, but try making a coldhearted waiter into a nice person! Much more difficult. So, occasionally, we have made a couple of mistakes, but we've done it with ever such nice people and they've felt truly sorry. Within a week, we'll be On Fire.

We had our first Jazz Night last Tuesday, and will be having them each and every Tuesday, but for now, here's a video that the genius Chris from @OxfordMediaFactory filmed during the evening.

Come and say Hi when you're able and put us in your diary for a Christmas Party (From 20th November) of for Winter Light Night (23rd November) or just drop in when you're next in town - We're literally 20 seconds beyond the West Gate.

Jazzing Up the Castle

It's now been a week and moss doesn't grow on a rolling stone, so here's something more.... as if getting to grips with this behemoth wasn't enough to cope with.

As of next Tuesday, we're operating our first weekly Jazz night - The opener is going to be a belter, so come along if you can.  We'll be doing the first night at a real bargain - £5 surcharge for Jazz, refunded if you spend £15 on your meal - A little bit crazy, but what better way to start?

Ben Holder at Oxford Jazz Festival by Jo Cox

Ben Holder, Jezz Cook and Paul Jefferies will be playing in the restaurant from 8pm and we only have a limited number of seats, but do a spot of googlying and see just how good they are.  Ben is guaranteed to give you one of the most entertaining nights of live music you'll ever see in Oxford - I can guarantee it!

It kicks off a whole year of Live Jazz, in a series called "Discover the Quarter Jazz Nights" - They'll be a weekly series of jazz throughout the year, ensuring that you can now regard the Oxford Castle Quarter as a place where stuff happens - I'm here to ensure it.




Hope to see you, bookings through any of the normal means, or 01865 249413.

The amazing mr Ben Holder

Did I ever imagine....?

Surely, I realised when I saw that 300,000 people had been 'reached' through Facebook (whatever that means), that 500 people were already following @BigBangOx on twitter and that the local media was buzzing with news about the re-opening of The Big Bang, that we'd get a few people coming down to see what the fuss was all about.

But when, last night, with four brand new members of staff, with no working oven, no working till system (teething problems!), and no lift to take the food between the kitchen and the restaurant, that we'd have a teensy issue with maintaining our calm.

The Old Bang, now neatly laid to rest!

Needless to say, the loyal Big Bang Sausageers were ever so kind, when we brought them the wrong sausages, 20minutes late, but I have to admit that we had a real humdinger of a night, one which we won't be repeating for a long time.

So, tonight, we have a diary full of bookings, not one, but two working lifts, nicely trained staff, a kitchen heaving with food and eager chefs. We have an oven and we can't wait for the night to start - it's a long weekend ahead and we hope to see you!

Bang On!

First Night finished

I'm used to living by the seat of my pants, but this morning at 0958, when, disgracefully hungover, we finally flung open the doors to the new Big Bang, I discovered a fear that previously lay untapped - Going from a building site, into which I'd poured every penny I had, to a fully functioning restaurant on a much bigger scale than I've ever experienced.

The first customers arrived at 1013 and had a cup of UE Coffee, hand-roasted in Witney with wood felled from Blenheim Palace.... they were impressed. Their breakfasts arrived some 9 minutes later and their smiles broadened even further. Yes, we forgot minor details like cutlery, our ovens still don't work, many of my staff have never worked in catering before, the tills are a more confusingly advanced IPad system than anywhere outside San Francisco.... and yet we were serving great food and drink, with Big Bang panache in our brand new home.  Even through the hangover, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

It's now closing time, we had a restaurant near full of customers, many rekindling an old Love affair, many others brand new, who have always heard about The Big Bang, but had never had a chance to visit.

Our menu is much bigger and braver, do Have a shufty online! But we're managing it, and everyone tonight seems to have loved it - We had a full house and the book is filling up for the next few months and our Christmas Dinner (priced from only £15!)

Come on down, see what we've done with the place - We intend to put the Oxford Castle back at the heart of Oxford

Job Done!

Wow, I have no photos yet, but I can provide concrete proof, at 2am after our opening party, that when 700 people say they will be coming along, they really mean it - We had Oxford Culture Vultures, we had the Dons of Oxford, we had the North Oxford Mums, we had artists, we had cycling steampunkers, we had pissheads and we had devout sausageers!

All in all, we had a group of folk who dearly loved the old place, yet feel, quite honestly, that the new place replaces all of the fine aspects of the old and adds a million new splendid touches - We'd love the rest of you to come along, and to feel the same way

For now, Bed, a day off and then an early start to Monday - I think we can safely say we came back with a Bang! Max

Last Night 'off'!

It's 1am on the morning of what will be our opening party and I wanted to share a bit of the excitement of heading into today, combined with the weariness of having worked flat out to produce what I believe will be the very best restaurant in Oxford (with apologies to Monsieur Blanc!).

Best of British

I hope that we will have combined all of the fun from the old place, without the crappy loos, in essence. This new place has more heart, more potential, and a more central position. Everyone thus far who has seen it has only good words to say for it, but maybe they're just being nice, because they realise I'd currently collapse if they said anything bad.

Swanky new floor

Later today, hopefully after a little fitful sleep, I only have to organise another 20 or so tasks, then the rest happens. One of my guiding principles in life is that you HAVE to enjoy a party that you host, otherwise why endure the spend and the stress? So, before that time, we need a floor, some more beer.... in fact a local beer chilling system and some of Oxfordshire's best beers, we need a till system, we need 8,000 sausages cooked (Yes, 8,000!) and we need the mash to go with it, so that entails a lot of baking, boiling, peeling, cutting, mashing and hard work.

The Sign finally hoisted

It'll be a night to remember, and I hope it will be the night when Oxfordshire learnt to make the Castle Quarter their own - I believe we have the best possible position in Oxford with the biggest courtyard, the best design and the finest menu - And the Maitre'D isn't too bad either!

For the past 8years we've not really rammed the ethics of the place down your throat, but hopefully those who have followed the story closely will realise it's all built on pretty solid ethics - I trust that they are more visible and more intelligently explained, now we have a suitable building from which to do so.

About the most important lunch you can imagine

Aaaah, that's enough - it's time for bed. One last thing, everyone today seemed to want to know whether I was nervous, and I answered "No" each and every time. I have the best menu, the finest, sweetest and most hard working staff in both kitchen and restaurant, I have the best looking website and restaurant thanks to some amazing work behind the scene by my FashionHack and her family of designers and clever brains and we're going to make it work incredibly well, from tomorrow you should be in possession of a new clear favourite Oxford restaurant.

Good Night