According to the Times, Barningham is the 21st most posh village in the country. In a description which suggests that someone has at least visited its Wikipedia page if not the place itself, it was said that Barningham has 60 houses, a large green, a village hall and “a recently restored pub”.
Barningham’s poshness, apparently, is a factor of its historic buildings, its house prices and its exclusivity, so it seemed worth mulling over the scientificness of all of this in the recently restored pub.
We arrived on Saturday night in a downpour, the lane off the A66 near Greta Bridge already full of deep puddles. As we bumbled around in the dark looking for a place to park, the headlights caught a sign pointing us to a field “50 metres away” – it felt much further than that as we dashed back on foot and forded the raging river roaring over the cobbles outside.
Neil Turner, landlord of the Milbank Arms, didn't have a bar but served customers from a cubbyhole halfway down the cellar stairs
The Milbank Arms’ recent restoration was back in 2018 and it was controversial. It had been one of only eight pubs in the country not to have bar. Its landlord, Neil Turner, would disappear down some stairs into a cubbyhole and then re-emerge carrying the drink and the food offering – a packet of crisps. When Mr Turner retired in 2018, his family having run the pub since 1939, the Barningham Estate, owned by the Milbank family, brought the pub into the 21st Century.
It is now tastefully decorated (above), with the feel of an old coaching inn. The walls have local antiquarian scenes and hunting prints on them, there’s a bar with stools where the last of the locals congregate, and the cubbyhole has become a little dining room featuring illuminated stuffed game birds.
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For a posh place, the menu is very down to earth – fish ‘n’ chips, Mac ‘n’ Cheese and a burger. It is also very short: three starters (one soup) and five main courses, one of which, the burger, was not available. This meant that, as a meat eater, I was faced with either the rump steak for £27 or adding some chicken to the vegetarian wild mushroom linguine for £18.
However, my bacon was saved by the specials board which consisted solely of a duo of pork.
We shared the two different starters between three of us: smoked salmon (above) (£9) and chicken liver pate (£8). The salmon was exactly as it said on the menu: a pile of fish with a little lemon and black pepper and some greenery on top. It was the perfect temperature, but I was expecting something a little more artful.
By contrast, the pate (above) was superb. Smooth, creamy and surprisingly gentle, with toasted sesame seeds sprinkled on top to create an extra crunch and just about the right ratio between toast and pate. Some voices at the table were disappointed that there was no jam or chutney but I thought the pate was so good it did not need any distractions.
For his main course, Theo, our son, chose the Mac ‘n’ Cheese with garlic bread (£15) (above). It was volcanic. Every time he pushed his fork into it, another burble of steam erupted from its depths.
Once cooled, it tasted very pleasant – softly creamy and cheesy with a little roughness from the bread.
Petra, my wife, had chosen the fish and chips (£16) (above), which we agreed were a little overcooked. The fish was just the wrong side of crunchiness, the chips were the colour of Donald Trump after a couple of weeks in the sun. Although the crushed peas were interesting, we’d had better out of a cardboard box overlooking Tynemouth beach the previous weekend.
By contrast, my duo of pork (above) was magnificent. Its sauce was fabulous and rich, and there was a great array of textures: the softness of the belly pork contrasted with firmness of the fillet with the stringiness of the palma ham that was wrapped around it with the gentle granularity of the haggis and black pudding that was stuffed at its centre.
It came with fondant potato plus four sprigs of a la dente broccoli and it all sat on a slight smear of carrot pureed with star anise which gave a touch of unexpected aniseed to the proceedings.
It was hard to believe the same kitchen had produced this crafted dish and the overdone fish.
The pork was £20, but there was an offer of two plates plus a bottle of house wine for £50, and as a large glass of Malbec was an eye-watering £10.50, this seemed good value.
The dessert menu had three items plus a bowl of ice cream. We didn’t sample the sticky toffee pudding (£8), but Theo chose an Eton Mess with mixed berry compote (£9) while I had the trio of chocolate: a delice, caramelised white chocolate and chocolate ice cream (£9).
A delice (above) is something that gives pleasure, in this case a firm chocolate tart on a biscuity base. It was nicely pitched, not sweet nor sickly, although the white chocolate seemed only there for show.
Theo loved his Eton Mess: creamy with plenty of crunchy meringue and a great topping of rich red berries in oozy sauce which he mixed into a pinky heaven.
Service was prompt, friendly and knowledgeable (I wouldn’t have spotted star anise on my own).
Our bill came to £117.80 for three, but that included two glasses of Malbec. Sadly, as prices are rising so quickly, average main courses are now creeping towards the £20 mark so we weren’t just paying for the exclusivity of Barningham.
There was a touch of a local chippie in our meal, but there were a couple of dishes that were fit to grace the poshest table.
Picture: Google StreetView
The Milbank Arms,
Barningham, Richmond, County Durham DL11 7DW
Phone: 01833-621955
Website: themilbankarms.com
RATINGS
Service: 8
Surroundings: 8
Food quality: 6 to 9
Value for money: 7
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