The Ashmolean Dining Room in the scholarly heart of Oxford is a thrilling glass box set atop the recently-transformed Ashmolean Museum with the skyline of dreaming spires for company. The decor is a very modern mix of modern style with rustic materials sleek chairs, feathery chandeliers - and there's a big sharing table in the middle if you feel like mingling. The pan-European menu includes influences from right around the globe and is served in the small-plates/large-plates way that we like to eat now. You could easily make an unforgettable meal from the tapas-style sharing plates or have a properly satisfying starter-main-pudding combination. The wine list is extremely intelligently chosen and the afternoon tea a very special event served on vintage china. The Ashmolean Dining Room also enjoys one of the most beautiful al fresco terraces anywhere in Britain and you may find yourself becoming a friend of the museum so you can make a regular thing of visiting the exhibits below then rising to the roof for an evening's delightful dining. Opening times: Tuesday-Saturday, 10a-10pm (last orders); Sunday 10am-6pm.