A LEADING food critic has savaged one of Oxford's best restaurants as 'an efficient system for the extraction of profit'.

Jay Rayner's review of the city centre's Parsonage Grill did concede that presentation was 'nice enough' but labelled his main 'relentless and extremely dull' and suggested the restaurant took a 'lazy approach to cooking'.

UPDATE: Readers react to critic's damning Oxford restaurant review

He was slightly more complimentary about his dessert but concluded: "Drill down and quickly it becomes clear.

"It’s designed for the sort of person who, questioned the next day, couldn’t for the life of them recall what they had eaten and who, crucially, wouldn’t give a t*** that they had dropped £50 on something so utterly unmemorable."

Writing in the Observer, Mr Rayner lamented the Banbury Road restaurant's prices and added: "the only reason I know what I had is that I took notes and photographs."

The restaurant is listed as the second best venue for 'fine dining' in Oxford on TripAdvisor.

The restaurant has been approached for comment.