I used to live at TSK. I mean, not literally, but almost. I spent a few weeks studying there pretty much constantly. They’re open from 8am, and so I’d rock up at 7:59am, grab my favourite table (about which I became dangerously possessive, liable to hiss and snarl at anyone who looked vaguely as though they might be thinking of taking my seat), and hunker down. The staff all knew me, and I’d chat with the same guy every morning while he made up my order without me having to tell him what it was. I knew the breakfast menu far better than the material on Jacobean revenge tragedy I was suppose to be working on. The manager once gave me dinner for free.

Then I moved into full-time employment, which cut into my hanging-out-in-cafés/bars/restaurants time severely. Life is cruel. All the staff gradually moved along, and soon I didn’t know anyone there any more. So, now that I am freelancing in cafés once again, I think it’s high time I muscled people off my old table.

TSK definitely doesn’t need to be reviewed by me, or by anyone really, because it’s been around since 2011 and it’s thriving. Everyone in Oxford already knows about it and its almost too successful: good luck trying to get a table there on a Friday night. Pretty much all the Oxford-based food bloggers I know about have written about it somewhere, and then there was the whole Giles Coren thing. And yet, I am writing about it anyway, because it deserves attention, and I’d rather be a tiny voice shouting in a crowd than sitting here silently.

One of the best things about the place is that the staff will politely leave you alone. If you go to the restaurant side of the building then you will get good restaurant service, but if you are in the front room, the bar, or the upstairs lounge, no one is going to hassle you if you get a cup of tea and then sit there to work for four hours. It is one of the very few places in Oxford that caters to people who prefer to use cafés as offices rather than actually go into a real office. This is good news for me, because I work far better in TSK than at a desk. I think it has something to do with the bacon sandwiches and gin on tap. That said, TSK is full of the beautiful people, and I am always the only person there working on a PC rather than a Mac. Luckily, no one has yet noticed and slung me out.

It’s almost a secondary concern, but the food is great. Delicious, unpretentious, sustainably and ethically sourced, and affordably priced. Lunch and dinner menus change daily, reflecting what’s in season and what happens to be in the kitchen, so it’s hard to get bored. This, again, is good news for me, because I go there too much and am bored easily.

Above all, TSK is independent. Oxford is full of mediocre restaurants, and is being choked by chains. We are very lucky to have, among the Pizza Expresses and the GBKs, gems like the Turl Street Kitchen. A place with its own atmosphere and style, with a clear vision and an ever-changing menu.

Just don’t take my table.