The Daily Telegraph
William Sitwell saluted a team headed by chef Tommy Banks of the Black Swan at Oldstead who have chosen to “blindly chuck squillions at this eight-bedroomed old boozer” – an inn dating from 1786, which had been in danger of dereliction before they stepped in.
Perhaps not so blindly after all, since “Banks knows what he’s doing” and there’s now “a distinct feel of professionalism” about the place. The menu is “a vision of refined British pub grub (with) a wine list offering value to both the passing punter who wants a bottle for £30 and the prosperous North Yorkshire folk keen to drop £345 on an epic French claret”.
Dishes range from steak tartare and Scotch eggs to fish and chips, pie and mash, chops and fillets from the grill and “potatoes most ways” – all of which are done well. If Yorkshire coppa and pickles looked like a rather dreary plate of ham and chopped carrots, it turned out to be “a hymn to the pig and carrot, the sweetness of the ham perked by what was more of a prick than a stab of brined root veg”.
William Sitwell - 2025-10-05
Drinks
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