Eating Out
| NORTH YORKSHIRE |  | | | CLEVELAND | | | | COUNTY DURHAM | | |
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The Black Swan, Oldstead, near Thirsk
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| QUALITY FEEL: The extended dining room at the Black Swan, Oldstead |
APRIL has turned out to be
a month of atonement for
me but it's got nothing to
do with blockbuster
movies.
On the Saturday before last, we
had one of the best meals we've
had for ages.
So why the guilt? To whom is the
reparation due?
Almost exactly two years earlier, I'd
made the journey to the little village
of Oldstead, tucked away not
far from Kilburn and Coxwold on
the edge of the North York
Moors. It was a truly
awful experience.
The timing of the visit
could not have been
worse for, not too long
after, the D&S was contacted
by the Black Swan's
new owners. Anne Banks
took the pub over to run
as a family business along
with husband Tom and sons James
(front of house) and chef Tom.
Would we care to pay a return visit,
she asked?
The invitation has lain at the back
of my mind since then. The reason
I feel so guilty is that it took so
long.
The first big contrast with my first
visit was a full car park - I may
have been slow in getting around
to a visit, but it's clear many others
have not.
The welcome was warm and
friendly, the beer good (cask Black
Sheep and Skipton's Copper Dragon),
and the fire roaring.
The menu is clearly laid out and
informative. In a climate where
local-sourcing has, happily, become
almost mainstream, the
Banks spell it out in black and
white: all the meat is emphatically
British (just how much cruellyproduced
foreign flesh, particularly
that of fowl, lingers hidden behind
restaurant menus?) and in
the main comes from as far away
as, well, Sproxton and Gilling -
down the road.
Virtually everything is homemade,
from stocks to sausages,
black pudding to bread and
chocolates.
Upstairs in the dining room, which
has been extended to offer 50 covers
with the opening up of a former
bedroom, there is a quality
feel: interesting antique oak furniture,
attractive prints and tasteful
colours and textiles.
Our starters were smoked haddock
and spring onion risotto with a
poached egg, watercress and
parmesan (£5.50); pan-fried gnocchi
with home-roasted tomatoes,
rocket salad and balsamic dressing
(£5.25); carpaccio of tuna (raw,
thin slices) with crispy Oriental
vegetable spring rolls (£5.95) and,
from the specials board, crispy brie
with apple and pomegranate jam,
pea shoots and hazelnut vinaigrette
(£4.95).
All were excellent: the presentation
was stylish but not too fussy, the
proportions modest but not
measly - the emphasis
was definitely on flavour.
My one small niggle was
that the rocket salad with
my gnocchi was a little
over-dressed for my liking;
the tomatoes, on the
other hand, were fantastic.
Next up, with efficient service
from pleasant staff
who were clearly under pressure
on the busiest night of the week,
came confit shoulder of lamb with
sweet potato puree, roasted root
veg and crushed Jersey royals
(£13.95); pan-fried seabass with a
warm sweet potato and lemon
salad, confit vine cherry tomatoes
and tomato and herb dressing
(£15.95), and from a section of the
menu titled "new twists on old
favourites", braised shin of beef
and Black Sheep ale pie with
mash, pickled red cabbage and oxtail
jus (£9.95) and eight-week
hung rib-eye steak with a rocket
and parmesan salad, chips and
béarnaise sauce (£15.95).
Silence fell. For some time.
Again, I tried to solicit any criticisms
from my companions, to no
avail.
For my part, I wasn't too taken
with the crushed new potatoes:
they were too much like lumpy
mash, and I'd rather have savoured
the Jerseys whole. On the other
hand, the lamb was melt-in-themouth
tender and the roasted vegetables
a perfect accompaniment.
A good cheese board (£6.75), dark
chocolate and almond torte with
ice-cream, vanilla panna cotta
with Yorkshire rhubarb and treacle
tart with orange custard and
lemon curd ice cream (all £4.95)
more than sealed the job. These
were first-class, delicious puds, not
afterthoughts.
Pre-dinner drinks, a good bottle of
Argentinean cabernet sauvignon
(£19.75) and a couple of coffees
brought the bill for four very satisfied
customers to £133.90 - perhaps
putting it in the realms of a
special treat meal out for most
people, but worth every penny.
12:19pm Friday 18th April 2008
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