Sometimes simple pleasures are best
SUNDAY grub is now starting to be taken seriously and The Black Bull in Wylam is right up there with the best.
A well-known pub on the main street, the owners have kept the atmospheric bar as well as a well rounded restaurant which allows you to eat a proper hearty meal.
OK – so the bar and restaurant are only separated by a curtain but that suited me, as I could pretend to be listening to Mrs Eats while keeping one eye of the football.
BLACK BULL
Address: Black Bull, Main Rd, Wylam NE41 8AB Tel: 01661 853112
Rating: 16/20 Character...........................
Quality................................ Service................................ Value................................... Now on to the food – one course for £8.90, two for £11.90 and all three for £14.90. With six options for each course to choose from, it’s not an easy decision. Starters range from prawns to cod cakes, whereas the mains have the traditional picks while offering s o m e t h i n g extra like a s e a r e d t u n a Car park..................... Kids allowed...................... Real ale..................................... Wine by the bottle....................... Credit cards..................................... Vegetarian food............................. steak. Being a stickler for tradition, I went for the vegetable soup to start while Mrs Eats went for black pudding, bacon, a poached egg and salad, which she described as tasty, although she longed for crispier bacon.
My soup seemed to have a bit of a spicy kick to it which was nice surprise, even if it was missing a few chunky vegetables.
Time for the mains. We stuck to a good old Sunday roast – myself choosing the beef and Mrs Eats, trying to hold on to a bit of Christmas, going for a full turkey dinner. The first place to begin is with the Yorkshire Pudding. It was bigger than my fist – lovely and crisp, and went down well with the extra lashing of gravy.
The portions of meat were decent – three slices of tenderly cooked beef, accompanied by crispy but fluffy roasts and plenty of veg. Personal choice would have afforded some mash and a few vegetables but all in all, I would have gone back for seconds.
Mrs Eats enjoyed her little bit of Christmas, accompanied with pigs in blankets and stuffing – a woman of few words (I wish!), she agreed it was a ‘job well done’.
Even before we had sat down to order, we had clocked eyes on the desserts and knew that even if our stomachs were telling us no, we’d still be ordering something.
And that we did. There was choice, plenty of it – sticky toffee pudding, Eton mess and apple pie but for us, it was two chocolate and honeycomb cheesecakes with cream.
Now the base could have been a thicker but it still wasn’t around on our plates for long.
Washed down with a lovely pint of Wylam Blonde, the Black Bull, offers a simple yet expertly cooked Sunday Roast – just perfect after that morning stroll along the banks of the Tyne.