The Black Bull Inn, Sedbergh: 'We were properly fed and watered' - restaurant review

The Black Bull Inn, 44 Main Street, Sedbergh LA10 5BL (015396 20264, theblackbullsedbergh.co.uk). Snacks £4.50-£6.50, sandwiches £6.95-£14.95, starters £9.95-£10.9, mains £18.50-£27.95, desserts £7.50-£8 £.50, wines from £28

It would be easy to misinterpret the Black Bull at Sedbergh, located in that part of the Yorkshire Dales which offers a high wave at the Lake District. On a weekday lunchtime, the dining halls quickly fill with parents in expensive waxed outerwear, having lunch with their children from the eponymous boarding school that towers over the town. A parade of burgers and sandwiches, stabbed with precision with cocktail skewers, sit alongside soups with slices of bread at the door, troop out of the kitchen. And a pint please for the rosy-cheeked, broad-chested guy with the Range Rover outside. the way any versatile country pub earns its crust and crumb. But take a look at the bar menu these family groups are ordering from and another story begins to unfold. Yes, it includes beef and horseradish sandwiches, and another filled with hot roast pork from nearby Mansergh Hall Farm, famous in Moon Valley for its free-range pigs. So far so shabby chic. But there are other less traditional things: a curry of chickpeas and lentils for example, or a stew of pork and kimchi, or perhaps a crispy Korean beef with shiso and sesame, offered as a snack.

The same juggling number is there in the layout of the place. To the left of the front door is the bar. It comes with beers from the Fell Brewery, Lakes Brew Company and Timothy Taylor's on tap. This might just satisfy the furious members of the Pub Liberation Front who believe that serving good food in such places is a bloody disgrace. What's wrong with a packet of scampi fries, huh? (Nothing, in this case.) Immediately to the right is the casual dining room, with its curved red leather booths. Beyond that is the restaurant proper, a more austere space with raw wood paneling alternately clinging to large charcoal landscapes. It's a real riot of grays and blacks.

It all starts to make sense when you learn more about the legacy of head chef Nina Matsunaga who runs the pub with him...