Where to go…when you’re hungoverWhere: The Big BangWhy: So you’ve woken up four feet away from your bed, on the bathroom floor or in a college
you don’t recognise. After relocating your own room, last night’s clothes and some sense of
self, the first thing to do is try to remedy the fuzzy mouth and head that feels like it’s been
trampled on by a herd of excitable buffaloes. Some recommend aspirin, sleep and
plenty of water but, trying out the Big Bang, it seems that bangers and mash can do a pretty
decent job too. More the gastronomic terrain of the Two Fat Ladies than the stringent
dieter, there is no anorexic frippery going on here. The restaurant serves food that is hearty,
comforting and which gives you the necessary protein fix.There is a discount for NUS cardholders so that, after throwing thrift to the wind the previous
night, the food is cheap enough not to harm an already wounded bank balance.
The restaurant has just won Restaurant Magazine’s Best dishes Award 2005 for Sausages
and Mash, fighting off more than 150 entrants for the position. The atmosphere is friendly
and laid-back. There is no elaborate arrangement of linen and silver, no fawning waiter or
extensive menu; it is what they don’t do that makes them good. The Big Bang is an antidote
to all the fine-dining pretensions that haunt many of the generic chain restaurants in Oxford.
The name may promise fireworks but the simplicity is what gives it its appeal.What to eat: The menu makes a point of being limited. The Big Bang offers humble, back-
to-basics food with almost every main course a variety on the two sausages, mash and
sauce formula. It boasts only local sausages, sourced from the Covered Market, and good
quality beer from a nearby brewery – a possible choice if you feel like going for the ‘hair of
the dog’ approach. The Oxford Banger is the celebrity big gun of the sausages, although if
you’re feeling particularly contentious you may opt for the Cambridge version instead.
Alternatively, the darlings of the sausage, the more fanciful vegetarian varieties, such as
vine and basil, are also very tasty. Generally, enjoying the food doesn’t require a
subtle palate nor an appreciation of finicky culinary skills. The food is warm, pappy,
fashionably unpretentious. It is homely without having to boast details about locally-
nurtured, contented, hand-strangled pork. And just in case it was trying to get too
chic with its occasional stray into the relatively exotic – the thai vegetable sausages for
instance – the numerous English varieties ensure it maintains a modest no-nonsense
character.THE BIG BANG
124 Walton Street
01865 511441
Open 12-3 and 6-11pm
Main courses £5 – £9ARCHIVE: 3rd week MT 2005
Eat
