REVIEW: What we thought of Otter and Fish in Hurworth

But the bill still has to be paid when it is time to leave.

The village of Hurworth, a couple of miles to the south of Darlington, has two of the finest places for fine dining in the area, in Rockliffe Hall and the Bay Horse. There’s also the chippy by the churchyard.

At the east end of the village is the Otter and Fish, which caters for a different market. When we last visited 18 months ago, we had a perfectly pleasant, although not overly remarkable, three course meal for two which cost us £72. Now, though, the pub offers a special menu, which has recently been extended to 8.30pm each night, for £18 per person for two courses or £22 for three courses.

During Darlington Restaurant Week, which runs from October 24 to 30, the three course meal is £20.

There is an a la carte menu, with tempting main courses priced at up to £25, but we confined ourselves to the left hand side of the page with the meal deals on.

Starters are priced at about £7, and Petra, my wife, chose the gratinated goats’ cheese on a toasted crostini (above) – nice crisp bread with a gentle dollop of cheese on top finished with an enlivening, if fruity, layer of onion chutney.

I chose the creamy garlic mushrooms (above), which were large chunks of mushroom in a lovely creamy sauce. They came with a warm mini-baguette which was accompanied by two ice cubes of butter.

It caused me to wonder if Hurworth is at the cutting edge of a new culinary trend. Only this week I’ve been reading how butterboards are the new dining sensation. Fuelled by TikTok, 83 per cent of Americans apparently have tried them and love them.

You get some butter – softened – and spread it on a wooden board. Then you sprinkle all your favourite flavours onto it: chilli, salt, garlic, honey, mustard seeds, almond flakes, kimchi, feta, spices… You can top off with nasturtium petals to make it look pretty.

Then you scrape it off the board and spread it onto slices of artisan bread with strange baked in ingredients – roasted carrot sourdough or giraffe dung brioche – so you can enthuse about how the flavours all meld together into a buttery delight.

Unfortunately, my butter was so cold that it refused to meld or even melt when introduced to the warm bread, and instead tore through it when I tried to spread it.

Main courses are priced at £15 or £16, and they are honest fare: fish and chips, burgers, parmos, lasagne.

I went for liver, bacon and onions (above), which was served with crushed potatoes and green vegetables. In my schooldays, liver was as off-puttingly rubbery as wellington boots, but this was really nicely cooked in a tasty brown gravy. There wasn’t much bacon, though, to cut through the liveriness.

Petra was more adventurous, going for the smoked peppered mackerel salad (above). The fish was nicely done and placed on a lively green bed. Hidden among the leaves were salad potatoes so she found this a good and substantial dish.

Across the table, Theo, our son, and his grandma had each ordered a chicken sizzler (above), which arrived at the table in iron dishes with great sizzling drama. In the sizzler were peppers and onions plus an Oriental sauce: Theo had sweet and sour and grandma sweet chilli.

Served with a timbale of rice, both dishes were well received. Both diners said they preferred the sweet chilli, although my taste test suggested the sweet and sour had a greater depth.

For grandma, the sizzler was much too large and she was considering asking for a doggy bag when her grandson realised the awkwardness of her position and so moved in, like a gentleman, and cleared a second sizzler. He did enjoy it.

There are six desserts on the menu, priced at £7 each. Theo enjoyed his unorthodox cheesecake as much as he enjoyed his sizzler. It was a firm swirl of fruity cakey mix on top of a rough biscuit, and the two parts worked really well together.

I had a waffle topped with chunks of brownie and smothered in chocolate sauce with a ball of ice cream and finished with a thin piece of chocolate, which was a nice touch. It was a huge dish, but like Petra’s brownie, it was not overwhelmingly sweet so I heroically struggled to the end.

As the nights are now drawing in, the Otter and Fish is a very welcoming pub, with its wooden floors and floodlit wooden ornaments. Even more welcome was the bill. Because of the offer, Petra and I paid £58 for our three courses plus wine and drinks whereas 18 months ago when we visited, we paid £72. Perhaps the food is a little formulaic, and certainly it doesn’t have the finesse of the fine dining establishments down the road, but £22 for three well cooked courses is an offer of a little light in these dark times.

Otter and Fish,
1, Strait Lane,
Hurworth, DL2 2AH
Phone: 01325-720019
Web: otterandfish.co.uk

Ambience: 8
Food quality: 7
Service: 8
Value for money: 8