Some weeks ago, I reviewed a pretty good restaurant in Oxford that let itself down in a few basic ways, and although I was broadly positive about it, I did not let it off scot-free in the areas where it had failed, as I usually do when visiting independent restaurants outside London. Yes, you heard me right: when I travel out of town to review small local businesses, I cut them slack that I do not afford to well-funded enterprises in the capital, of which I think it is fair to expect more, for they have it easier.

But in the case of this one in Oxford, where I might otherwise have overlooked the slightly under-informed service and the weird wine-pricing and also, perhaps, been