Press - Darlington & Stockton Times 25/09/09

Many larger rural communities had already lost their village local, so the closure of the Black Horse was just another example of how the credit crunch has been the final straw for so many similar village enterprises already fighting a losing battle against voracious pub companies, cheap supermarket booze and a home entertainment culture based around the TV screen, Playstation and takeaway.

But the Black Horse has reopened and, this time, it may well be for good. Now in the hands of Philip Barker, owner of that acclaimed old favourite the Black Bull at Moulton, it has been extensively refurbished. Well, actually, it has been comprehensively torn apart and re-assembled, the only aspect recognisable from the old pub being the layout, with the bar still centre-stage at the front and dining room to the rear.

At first glance it looked like another standard gastro-pub creation, but closer inspection revealed a very classy job has been done. The colour scheme is based on sage green walls and earthy, neutral tones. Traditional beams have been retained, along with the stone-flagged floor in the bar, hessian carpet elsewhere. There’s also a bit of quirkiness in the loos where large, stone shallow sinks, presumably reclaimed from a farm kitchen, have pride of place (careful you don’t splash yourself).

We had booked late and the only table available was one in the bar. As the Black Horse has reclaimed its rightful place as the village local – Black Sheep and Copper Dragon on tap and dart board in the corner – it was not the most conducive spot to absorb the place’s atmosphere as a dining pub, but we read the novel menu while earwigging one local’s lament about the difficulties of buying his son’s rugby boots at Teesside Park (should have gone to Northallerton, shop local etc, use-it-or-lose-it were the thoughts that came to mind).

Local ingredients are well to the fore on a menu offering “small plates” at £5, “large plates” at £9.50, and “classics”

– nothing more than £13.50.

There are also “bits and pieces” like Swaledale cheese on toast and pork scratchings (both £1.95), pickled eggs (95p) and rock oysters (£1.50 each).

“Speciality boards” offer a selection of East Coast fish, five British cheeses, or potted ham hock, scotch egg, ox tongue and smoked duck costing £7 for one, £10 for two and £13.50 for a family.

Diners are free to mix and match from all of the options.

Sylvia chose vine tomato soup with basil and pine nuts (£3.95) from the bits and pieces section and Black Horse corned beef hash with camp-fire baked beans (£8.50) from the classics. I opted for Morecombe bay shrimp and spaghetti on toast (£5) from the small plates and Nidderdale lamb shepherd’s pie with goats’ cheese mash, peas and carrots (£8.50) from the classics.

The tomato soup, accompanied by hearty chunks of bread and butter, went down a treat. Sylvia thought the seasoning spot-on and that the pine nut flavour came through stronger than the basil, but neither overwhelmed the tomato.

My first thought on seeing my shrimp and spaghetti was that it looked like the Heinz tinned stuff, served chopped up and cold. Despite such an unprepossessing appearance, it tasted wonderfully fresh.

Perhaps it could have done with a few more shrimps in the mix, or maybe I need new glasses.

The Black Horse version of corned beef hash – traditionally a thrown-together potluck dish – was three, carefully crafted lightly deep-fried balls of mashed potato, beef and onion.

Sylvia enjoyed this thoroughly for about one and a half of the balls before deciding they were on the dry side – perhaps more of the shredded beef and onion and less potato would have made them a little more moist. Some HP sauce might not have gone amiss either.

My shepherd’s pie was faultless.

Light as a feather mash sat atop a deeply, richly flavoured minced lamb, carrots and pea filling. The pie was also accompanied by some beautifully glazed chunky carrots.

We also shared a side dish from the “something extra”

menu section of spring greens and Cumbrian bacon (£1.95) which turned out to be mostly mange-tout, green beans and bacon. Very nice it was too, if not quite meeting the requirements of the Trade Descriptions Act.

Dessert was Makins (Micklefield, near Leeds) strawberries with strawberry balsamic and Stamfrey Farm (Northallerton) clotted cream (£4). Served in those vogueish Kilner jars, the berries were sweetly sharp and mixed with something crystalline and crunchy. Yummie.

We would have liked to have eaten in the elegant-looking dining room, but that was our fault for booking late. The £36 bill was very good value for top-notch and charming service and some novel twists on British classic dishes. The Black Horse rides again and we reckon it’s unlikely to unsaddle its rider this time.