Old Lane,
Ockham,
Surrey,
KT11 1NG
(01932) 862364
The ViewLondon Review
It is rare when a pub makes you feel as if you are in your own living room, but the Black Swan achieves this with its laid-back but professional service and sumptuous furniture.
The Venue
Just off the M25 in Ockham, Surrey, and near Effingham Junction Station, is a quaint modern country pub that makes you feel right at home. Unless you’re local, the best way to get here is by car and, fortunately, there is a large car park to accommodate drivers. The outside of the pub has lots of seating and beautiful stone tables which will be wonderful during the summer months. There is also an area where you can play boules, so you can tell straight away that this is a family-friendly pub.
Inside the pub you feel as if you are entering your living room as the welcome you receive from the staff is lovely. To the left of the venue is the restaurant area and to the right is where people come to chill out and have a more informal experience. The restaurant is light and airy with many rustic wooden tables, including a large table where all the bread is cut with an old fashioned till on it, whereas the other side is a bit darker and conveys a more cosy and relaxed feeling. In this area there are large leather seats and huge comfy sofas with the option of playing some board games or just sitting back with the day’s newspapers. The coat pegs on the wall next to tables are a nice touch, as it means you don’t have to drape your best garment over your seat.
The Atmosphere
The Black Swan wants you to feel at ease and to be completely taken care of. Even in the restaurant area, the staff make you feel as if you are at a friend’s house for dinner, not a gastropub. Typically you will find locals here with families and it is certainly child-friendly. The bar staff are very knowledgeable and will help you decide on what beverage you desire if you are not sure.
The Food
The menu is modern British with a few old classics thrown in for good measure. Starters consist of guinea fowl terrine (£7.50), black pudding, bubble and squeak with a poached egg (£7.95), soup of the day with crusty bread (£5.05) and sweet pepper and goat’s cheese tart (£7.95). The terrine is a good size and comes with two pieces of freshly baked bread. The terrine itself is soft and moist and doesn’t taste overly gamey. The salad leaves on the side, big chunks of mushroom, sweet piccalilli and the soft lemon dressing all complement each other extremely well and you are left feeling quite full but satisfied.
The mains start at £8.50 for a prawn and salmon penne and include other dishes like pan fried calves liver (£15.50), wild mushroom and spinach risotto (£10.50), and a Dexter rib-eye steak (£18.75). The risotto, however, is a bit of a let down. The concept of wild mushrooms and spinach sounds great, but, in practice, it just doesn’t work. A risotto should be binded together with a thick sauce, but this dish is a bit too watery making it taste quite bland. There is also the classic pub staple - the ploughman’s (£9.75), which is served as a huge chunk of cheddar and thickly sliced ham with all the trimmings.
Desserts range from bread and butter pudding (£5.85) and raspberry creme brulee (£5.85) to homemade brownies with plump raspberries and nuts served with a small jug of cream (£3).
The Drink
The drinks on offer at The Black Swan are plentiful and of a good quality. The house white, a Lerane Terret Viognier (£3.70/£5/£13.90), is particularly good with hints of honey, peach, apricot and limes, making it an easy, light drink. Other whites of note are the 2008 Chablis (£24) and the Louis La Tour Chardonnay (£4.50/£6.10/£17.60). The reds also have a decent house, the Lerane Grenache Merlot, and the Rioja Crianza (£4.90/£6.70/£19.40) is also worth a try.
Out of the sparkling options there is a great bottle called Jansz (£25), which is from Australia and it tastes just as good as expensive Champagne, at a fraction of the price. Or if you want the premium stuff, it starts at £36 a bottle and £6.30 a glass for a
Comte Audoin de Dampierre. If you feel like splashing out then you can on the Pol Roger Reserve (£50) and Pol Roger Vintage 1999 (£64.40).
If you’re more of a pint-swiller then you’re in luck as there are ten drinks on tap, including Aspalls Cyder, Adnams Best, Bitburger, Carlsberg, Becks and Stella, to name a few. Pints start at around the £3.05 mark.
The Last Word
The Black Swan offers a retreat from the stresses of modern day life and, once you sit down in one of their comfy chairs, you’ll find it difficult to leave.
Black Swan has been reviewed by 1 users