It’s been over a year in the planning, but Arbequina‘s new restaurant in Oxford’s Covered Market is finally ready to open its doors, and we snuck in for a sneak peek and a chat with Rufus Thurston and Ben Bateman about what to expect.
Situated in the former Blue Blood sport shop, the Arbequina team initially hoped to open last summer EXCLUSIVE: ‘It’s a match made in heaven’ The lowdown on Arbequina’s new restaurant in Oxford’s Covered Market this summer, and its crowdfunding, but here we are, the doors opening on Friday (July 24) with its renowned tapas style menu, similar to its branch on Cowley Road.
‘We want Arbequina Market to have the same vibrant atmosphere as Cowley Road’
“We want Arbequina Market to have the same vibrant atmosphere as Cowley Road, so it features the same long bar and open plan kitchen where our Spanish menu will be prepared in front of our customers by exec head chef Ben Whyles,” Ben Bateman explains.
Hours wise, Arbequina Market will also be more geared up for the lunchtime trade (Wednesday – Sunday), to cater for the hundreds of people pouring through the market every day, but it will also open in the evenings on Fridays and Saturdays, the market shutting at 10pm.
‘We’re not taking bookings for the first few weeks but that will change when we open upstairs’
The upstairs dining area is still being prepared and will be ready in the next few months, but in the meantime you can eat in the 30 seater ground floor, plus 12 bar seats, four in the window and a few tables scattered outside, all walk-ins for now.
“We’re not taking bookings for the first few weeks but that will change when we open upstairs (which seats another 40/50 and boasts bay windows looking onto the market), but we just want to get Arbequina Market up and running first. So it is still a work in process but we just wanted to get going,” Ben adds.
‘we loved the council’s vision for the future of the market and its ambitions – to make it more communal, and full of independents, right in the centre of Oxford’
“Eventually we will also run a takeaway and collection service so that people can eat our food in the communal eating areas in the market, but the bulk of the building work is done and we just wanted to open.
“It’s taken a lot of work to get it to this stage. We’ve stripped it back to its original shell and had to completely rewire the site. We basically started from scratch.
“But we loved the council’s vision for the future of the market and its ambitions – what they want the place to be, a city centre food hub, which aligns with our ethos – to make the market more communal, and full of independents, right in the centre of Oxford.
“It really feels like they’re trying to champion local, Oxford independents in this incredible space. Seeing how busy it gets during the day has been amazing. We feel like we will be a good match,” Ben confirms.
‘We knew it was a listed building and that getting through the planning process would be quite arduous’
It has however been a massive undertaking for the Arbequina team, 18 months in the making. “We knew it was a listed building and that getting through the planning process would be quite arduous from a heritage point of view. That’s what was so time consuming.
“But is a beautiful site and we have exposed a lot of the original features, from the pillars to the flagstones. We just had to play the game.
“And we had been looking for a new site for a while so when we approached to open here we knew we could offer something a bit different – a proper sit down restaurant. It just clicked. And this has always been our vision, ” Rufus says gesturing around.
‘we had been looking for a new site for a while so when we approached to open here we knew we could offer something a bit different’
“So we are as excited now as we were in the beginning. It’s the first proper restaurant in The Covered Market, so we are really excited.
As for the team, Ben, Rufus and head chef Ben Whyles are all very heavily involved. “it’s all hands on deck,” Ben says.
And is the menu the same? “Yes, but there is a focus on faster tapas as well as sole dining. There will be all the signature classics but we will try out some new things as well. We’ll need to see what people want and adjust accordingly if needs be.
‘There will be all the signature classics but we will try out some new things as well’
“It’s just so exciting. It’s always madness opening up a restaurant and that what we do. So we are raring to go.”
Arbequina opens in The Covered Market on Friday July 24 at noon. https://arbequina.co.uk/new-venue
