‘Haven’t you been here before?” the beautiful Teresa asks when I remark on what a stunning restaurant Sojo is, particularly deceptive from the outside where it’s positioned surreptitiously next to the backpackers’ hostel.

“No,” I muttered shame-faced. “But you knew it was reviewed in The Times?” she asks. “Yes.” “And that Giles Coren raved about it?” “Yes.” “Oh I see, it’s a rebellion thing,” she ascertained correctly before going to hand in our order.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, or a restaurant critic-eats-restaurant critic one anyway. Because while you might surmise that we are all in the same boat, and ‘if you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours’ it’s actually more of a ‘if you scratch my back I’ll scratch your eyes out’, kind of environment in the world of food reviews.

Besides, how dare Giles Coren tell everyone where’s good in our neck of the woods. Hasn’t he got enough to do in London without having to trample all over my patch with his hand-made shoes? I bet his editor told him to go native for a week, so he got off the train at Oxford and Sojo was the first place he found.

And anyway, how good can it actually be?

Good actually. In fact, really marvellous, which made it even worse. He was right, for God’s sake. OK?

But luckily, the food at Sojo was so gob-smackingly good I forgot all about my shame, and concentrated instead on the wonderful array of dishes which Teresa was putting down in front of us.

We let her decide what to choose because as far as Chinese food goes, I always think its best to leave it to the experts, and as Teresa is an expert and the manager, she was the right woman for the job.

The vegetable tempura with sake and soy sauce (£6) and the salt and pepper prawns (£7.50) set the scene. I know tempura is Japanese but I thought if Sojo was as good as everyone makes out it would know how to do them properly. And they were sensational. The batter was light, the vegetables crisp and the sauce piquant. I could have eaten the entire plate — oh I did. And as all the dishes are enormous, and both starters could have been shared — ditto the mains — this was quite something, which accounts for the price tag.

Next up, the delectable Shanghai braised sweet soy pork hock (£11) which is what the Chinese always rush to order, apparently. Accompanied by the Szechuan spicy beef and aubergine (£7.80), the Szechuan spicy fried tofu with glass noodles (£8.50), noodles and some rice, oh and the beans, the Gan Bian green beans (£6) which came shrivelled with caramelised salt and were delectable.

But then it all was. The beans disappeared without a second glance, the spicy beef and aubergine was so fantastically spiced you wanted to pick it up and start gulping it like a rabid dog. And the pork — it arrived with the skin still intact (the Chinese love it, the Brits don’t because it’s not crispy) which Teresa removed for us and then shredded the pork which fell off the knuckle. Divine. The tofu was more of a broth and not something I’d order again, but overall the meal was exceptional.

And like something out of a Beano comic strip we then ate, slurped, chewed, chomped and swallowed everything in sight, ordering more aubergine when the first dish came to an end, until at last we had to rest.

Mr Greedy suddenly went pale and said he needed to lie down — all very well at home but not in a restaurant. Taking pity on him the lovely waitresses took the remainders off and brought them back in doggy bags while I requested the pineapple and caraway fritters with ice cream (£5). How? I have no idea, but they were essential.

Teresa did us a mix of banana and pineapple in toffee fritters and they were worth every fold, the fritters arriving hard like toffee-apples scattered with tiny sesame seeds yet inside the pineapple was fresh and the bananas soft. Perfection on a plate.

Even the staff were looking alarmed at our consumption rate by then, as they helped us into our coats and directed us off to the station. “So you liked it then,” Teresa said unnecessarily.

Yes is the answer. Yes. OK Giles. I liked it. And so will you.