The Handlebar Cafe & Kitchen
Oxford, United Kingdom
The read// why locals go
Climb the stairs above Oxford's oldest bike shop on St Michael's Street and you find The Handlebar, a bright room where brunch is treated as a serious meal. The menu runs from a properly built full English and eggs benedict through pancakes to shakshuka and kimchi pancakes, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free versions of most of it rather than a token line at the bottom. Bikes hang from the walls, tables spill outside when the weather allows, and nobody takes bookings — you turn up and wait like everyone else. Plates hover around nine pounds. It is a city-centre address that somehow stayed a local one.
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St. Michaels Street 28-32, OX1 2EB — Oxford
The read// why locals go
Climb the stairs above Oxford's oldest bike shop on St Michael's Street and you find The Handlebar, a bright room where brunch is treated as a serious meal. The menu runs from a properly built full English and eggs benedict through pancakes to shakshuka and kimchi pancakes, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free versions of most of it rather than a token line at the bottom. Bikes hang from the walls, tables spill outside when the weather allows, and nobody takes bookings — you turn up and wait like everyone else. Plates hover around nine pounds. It is a city-centre address that somehow stayed a local one.