Eating out review: The Oak Tree, Middleton St George

We were eating outside in a tent at night during the coldest snap of the winter.

A patio heater beside us fired up a plume of flame which kept one side of my body beautifully warm, but that only emphasised how cold the other side of me was becoming.

Petra, my wife, called for another drink – and, more importantly, another blanket.

The entrance to the marquee at The Oak Tree

Let’s explain. We had originally booked an evening at a quiet country pub with, I imagine, a roaring fire and – most importantly for a restaurant reviewer – a nice storyline, but, less than two hours before our reservation, they apologetically phoned and said the kitchen had broken down and there would be no food.

We could have stayed at home, huddled around our woodburner but, just as crime doesn’t crack itself, the eating out page does not fill itself, so we hurriedly rang around. Most places, despite the cost of living crisis, were full or could just about fit us in at 8.30pm. At my advanced age, I struggle to stay awake for the end of the news – the early evening news – so that was out of the question.

The Oak Tree was also full, but there were places available outside in the marquee, if we wished…

Oak Tree was an agricultural hamlet – in 1871, it had a population of 44 – which is now being engulfed by the sprawl of Middleton St George, and while other country pubs have struggled, this has given it a new and expanding market on its doorstep.

For the last year or so it has been run by the team who built up The Derry in Long Newton, which also featured a “stretch tent”, and it offers a broad and popular menu of parmos, burgers and grilled steaks, plenty of fish dishes and vegetarian alternatives.

Out in the marquee with us were a couple of other diners, two groups of drinkers and several people waiting for their tables in the main restaurant to become available.

As well as the patio heater, a waiter with a glint of a pyromaniac in his eye, mixed up a cocktail of fuel for our tabletop burner and then ignited it with a blowtorch.

When we left the car, the temperature was minus one, and it was chilly sitting in the marquee – even the cockapoo on the table next to us was wearing a coat. Petra had four layers on and a pair of fashionably ripped jeans – a concept I’ve never understood and was here shown to be full of holes.

All starters are priced at about £7, and they arrived promptly. If we’d been brave, we’d have gone for the grilled watermelon with feta cheese, but instead Petra had chosen the halloumi chips while I opted for the crispy fried potato skins.

Petra had seven Jenga-style fingers of cheese (above) which were served with sour cream plus cranberry sauce and pomegranate seeds. It was a good combination with the fruitiness taking the saltiness off the halloumi.

My substantial potato skins were covered in pulled pork and grilled cheese (above). The potato was crispy while the cheese and the meat was nice and gooey, although a blast of something strident, like bacon, would have made it great.

As our plates were cleared away, and Petra called for another blanket to cover the holes in her jeans, the head waiter offered to find us somewhere warmer inside. On a less Baltic evening, the marquee might well have had an invigorating, outdoorsy atmosphere, but it was becoming a Wim Hof ice endurance experience for us, and we were pleased to accept the invitation – even though someone with a reservation was obviously delayed in accessing their table.

Ironically, as we began to thaw out Petra’s main dish turned out to be too hot.

Most of the mains are priced around £15, and she’d chosen the soy and sweet chilli Japanese Udon noodles stir fry (£13) (above). They came with plenty of peppers and onions and greenery, topped with crispy prawn crackers, but the heat was too much. My benchmark for heat that I enjoy is a jalfrezi, and my forkfuls suggested it was hotter than that.

By contrast, my belly pork (£16) (above) was a nice, mellow dish. The meat fell gently to pieces. It was accompanied by two deep fried balls of soft black pudding, with a nice crispy outside, and plenty of smooth mashed potatoes, topped off by a warming gravy and lots of vegetables – broccoli, carrots and peas. I thought it needed a bit of zing, but then I tried the brittle of pork scratching, which was pungently piggy without being overpowering and, best of all, not too demanding in the dental department.

Desserts are £7 each. The ladies on the table next to us enthused about the sticky toffee pudding – “one of the best I’ve ever had” – so I chose the chocolate sundae while Petra had the strawberry, pistachio and lemon curd roulade (above). The roulade sounded as if it should have been a riot of flavours, but really it was just cold and sweetly creamy with a hint of strawberry.

My sundae (above), though, was great: ice cream, chunks of brownie, lots of chocolate sauce and topped by a wafer with the Oak Tree motif on it.

Rather like my main course, it was not super-sophisticated but it was popular fare for a comforting, community pub.

Our bill came to £74.85, which included £6.95 for a 250cc glass of Merlot, and perhaps the best part of the evening was the service. There were loads of young people dashing around, some with blowtorches in hand. Most places would have been content with that, but there were also some older heads, happy to chat and to read the room. Even though we’d volunteered for the tent in our search for a storyline, they realised that we were becoming uncomfortable and so, like a plot in a John le Carre spy novel, we were the undercover reviewers who came in from the cold.

The details
The Oak Tree, Yarm Road, Middleton St George DL2 1HN
Phone: 01325 333907
Web: oaktreemsg.co.uk

Ratings

Service 8
Surroundings 7
Food quality 7
Value for money 7