If you haven’t been to The Black Swan in Ockham yet, then this is the time to try out the award-winning gastropub. Their stunning new S/S25 menu, introduced on March 20th, is by far and away one of the taster’s best gastronomy reviews yet and we are close to 450 of them now!
The food, drinks, service and ambience were spot on. It is no surprise The Black Swan have won ‘Best Gastropub’ in the Surrey Awards two years in a row. Can they make it a hat trick? Find out on May 15th 2025 at G Live in Guildford.
OUR EXPERIENCE
From the minute we walked through the door, we were warmly greeted by Barbie (the charming proprietor) and shown to our seats in the cosmopolitan dining room, adorned with chic blue leather booth-style seating – both spacious and comfy, seating large groups in the beautiful, sky lit, main dining area. There are also beautiful alcoves for romantic couples’ dinners and a beautiful, large al fresco dining area to enjoy on warmer Summer days, complete with table tennis and a park for the kids.
The new Black Swan S/S25 Menu was amazing with 30 tantalising options to choose from in total. The varied menu doesn’t leave you too spoilt for choice though as there 9 Starters, 14 Mains and 7 Desserts. All the food is freshly prepared on site and there is an international wine list to accompany, handpicked by Barbie, a true wine connoisseur and her brilliant sommelier and assistant manager Nathan.SUPERB STARTERS
We were treated to a selection of the great new Starter menu, with 3 diners and 6 dishes in total we were in for a feast! My personal favourite was the ‘Teriyaki Chicken Skewers, Toasted Seed & Puffed Rice, Sunflower Seed Satay’ – the meat was so tender and marinated beautifully in the flavoursome Teriyaki. The Satay Sauce with crunchy seed accompaniment blew us all away too – hitting all the right taste notes with the Peanut, Teriyaki and Seed flavours
Their famed ‘Lobster Thermidor Sourdough Crumpet served with Pink Grapefruit Salad’ – was the dish we had been waiting to try from their Instagrammable posts of late. And it did not disappoint! Lashings of Lobster served with gooey melted cheese oozing into the fresh sourdough crumpet was perfectly offset with the tanginess of the Grapefruit.
Next up, the ‘Tomato & Mozzarella Gnocchi with Smoked Tomatoes & Basil Pesto’ smelt amazing and tasted even better – fresh, wholesome Italian food at its finest. And healthy may we add! Just like the next Starter dish of ‘Hoisin Mushroom Spring Roll, Pickled Cucumber served with Pink Ginger’ packed full of mushroom it was a great vegetarian option – full of flavour and spices.
The fifth Starter dish of ‘Chalk Stream Smoked Trout, Avocado, Mango, Salted Corn & Wasabi Peas’ turned even one of our reviewers into being a lover of fish (!) as he confirms on his recent Facebook post: ”I don’t eat fish and to be honest I decided to try everything out of courtesy. I LIKE FISH!! I had Trout and Lobster!! Something I swore I would never even contemplate eating… I am so glad I did!!! I was blown away with all the flavours that compliment the dishes. The fresh smells really made you ready to tuck right in.”
Finally, we were treated to a mainstay on the menu – ‘Baked Camembert, Roast Garlic, Rosemary, Hot Honey with Warm Sourdough.’ It was sublime and was lapped up by all the diners – not a morsel left on the plate, even the whole garlic cloves were consumed… delicious. A must try dish!
MASTERFUL MAINS & SIDES
Barbie and The Black Swan benefit from having a flexi-menu where they can make tweaks on all the dishes as they see fit. Their main dishes really do cater for vegetarians and vegans, whilst also pushing for more healthy food choices as well as mainstay ‘Fish & Chips’,
‘Pie of the Day’ and ‘Burgers’ – they also have a wide and varied Steak Menu and great international dishes like ‘Garlic Chicken Kiev’s’, ‘King Prawn & Monkfish Malabar Curry’ and ‘Heritage Tomato Panzanella.’
Our first new menu tasting was the ‘Asparagus, Jerusalem Artichokes, Radicchio, Burrata, Orange & Almonds’ – fresh and delicious this was a great alternative to having traditional vegetables with your mains – which we all welcomed. The Burrata Cheese presented in the middle of the vegetable medley was a great idea too.
As was the exceptional new side dish of ‘Baron Bigod Cauliflower Cheese with Parsley Crumb!’ As all our 3 diners agreed wholeheartedly – you can never have enough cheese!
Next up the ‘Tempura Kimchi, Coconut Yoghurt, Guindillas with Miso Tahini Dressing’ was so beautifully presented and tasted divine. The Coconut Yoghurt went perfectly to cool the spicy Kimchi.
You can tell just by presentation of The Black Swan new menu offerings that so much thought has gone into it and the chefs are so skilled and passionate about each dish they produce. Then when you tuck in you can taste the warmth, passion and heart that has been put into it all. All fresh produce with immense colours, textures and flavours – all cooked on site fresh that day with local ingredients from top suppliers. Five star all the way!
DECADENT DESSERTS
As it came time for the Dessert Course, we really were full, but that didn’t stop us!
Who doesn’t love Dessert and at The Black Swan you have every discerning tastebud covered with the likes of ‘Strawberry Shortbread Cheesecake’ to ‘Sticky Toffee Pudding’ and the Spanish favourite of ‘Orange Polenta Cake’.
We were treated to the most divine new S/S25 Menu offering of ‘Panna Cotta, Thyme Poached Peaches with Yoghurt Crisps.’ The Panna Cotta was so smooth and tasty, rich but not overbearing. The Peaches were plentiful and delightful and the crunch of the handmade ‘Yoghurt Crisps’ ensured it was a superb dish.
The truly remarkable final dish of the day was the new ‘Dark Chocolate Mousse Bombe, with Dulce De Leche’ where you have to crack the chocolate casing exterior of the dome shaped dessert with your spoon to reveal the creamy mousse interior. Sweet, rich and delicious chocolate served with a scoop of the creamy Dulce De Leche on the side made this one to remember! And one we will all definitely come back for.
IN SUMMARY
A huge shout out to the beautiful proprietor Barbie and all the staff at The Black Swan we thoroughly enjoyed our entire visit you were all super friendly and made the experience for us. The new S/S25 Black Swan food menu really is sensational!
We are signing off now until next time………which will be very soon!
CONTACT
The Black Swan, Old Lane, Ockham, Surrey, KT11 1NG
01932 862364
@blackswanockham
