Pub grub that you can depend on (From Durham Times)

Pub grub that you can depend on

2:22pm Friday 22nd January 2010

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IT IS more than two years since the Durham Times last visited The Derwent Walk and, with the popular pub having since changed hands, I decided to pay a return visit to one of my favourite watering holes.

The two visits could not have been more different. Back in August 2007, we gazed out from the conservatory as the summer’s evening shadows spread across the Derwent Valley. On Sunday, while the rest of the country celebrated the long-awaited thaw, we picked our way through a pitch black night with 12- inch thick ice sheets encroaching on either side of the road.

A traditional country pub perched halfway up Ebchester Bank, the familiar orangey glow of its lights made it appear all the more welcoming as we made the steep decline into the car park.

Thankfully, its new owners have not made any drastic changes to its interior either.

The pub has retained its traditional rustic feel, the floor still paved with bare flagstones around a roaring open fire, heavy wooden doors with ancient latches and lowbeamed ceilings.

There has been something of a de-clutter – much of the agricultural ephemera which once adorned the walls has been stripped away.

Gone are the antlers and the angling equipment, but the railwayana remains. There are Victorian photographs around the wall showing life on the old Newcastle to Consett line, now the popular walkway just yards away with which the pub shares its name.

The restaurant area, conservatory and bar blend seamlessly into one and, the pub was about half full in the early evening, a mixture of families and regulars. We opted to sit by the fabulous fire, which was very atmospheric but also a sensible move as the rest of the pub was pretty chilly to be honest, and browsed the menu over a very good glass of house white for her and a cola for me.

Like the rest of the pub, the menu had not changed significantly, a wide selection of superior pub grub of the steak and ale pie and homemade lasagne variety. Tempted as we were by virtually every offering, we turned to the specials board.

I went for the chargrilled breast of chicken, with sauteed chorizo and mushroom, in a garlic and cream sauce (£11.50), which was very good.

The chicken was perfectly tender, hidden under a plentiful bed of superbly succulent mushrooms and shreds of chorizo, which gave it just a hint of fire. It came smothered with a thick and creamy sauce, which maybe just crossed the line between subtlety and blandness, but was a very, very good attempt.

My wife was equally impressed with the chicken and mushroom stroganoff (£9.95), which was fullbodied and flavoursome, and served with a timbale of boiled rice.

The side dishes were, however, something of a curiosity.

My meal came with chips, which were perfectly well cooked if a little spindly for my liking. Arriving alongside them was a bowl of mixed vegetables – carrots, turnip and cabbage – which were beautifully presented in simple white bowls, but left us mystified as to which meal they were meant to go with.

Certainly, the carrots were utterly excellent, but the turnip and cabbage simply didn’t go with either meal – and I was left wondering whether we were being served vegetables unused from the Sunday roasts.

Turnip and cabbage apart, we both cleared our plates and were left utterly satisfied – so much so we decided to pass on dessert.

Service throughout was excellent – speedy and delightfully friendly, and the pub thankfully turns the piped music down to a barely-audible minimum.

The final bill for two main course, two large glasses of wine and one soft drink came to a quite hefty £32.65.

With that, we departed into the frozen night considerably happier than when we arrived.

For all its changes, the Derwent Walk remains among the best pub grub venues Durham has to offer.

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