It’s very pleasant inside The Oak, in Oak Street Fakenham. The staff are always helpful and friendly and even manage to put up with the banter from my mate with a cheery smile (we’ve been in there enough to be recognized now). Last night I dropped in for a meal and a pint with two pals after working late at the office – it was around 7.45 when we arrived.

The menu was in a state of flux (a new list of dishes was arriving next day) . Many dishes were ‘off’ but we managed to make a choice from what remained – my mate and I both went for a liver and onion suet pudding (I know – it sounds unusual) and his partner chose a fish dish. After being told subsequently that only one liver pudding existed, my mate chose the fish too. We didn’t have to wait long for it all to arrive, as there were only a few people in the place. I’ve never seen it choc full.

The liver & onion pudding (avec les chips ‘n’ peas) was fine, if a tad strong tasting. Maybe because it was beef liver (as we were informed). The fish dishes came served in a creamy sauce along with a single bowl of chips to share, which had been requested instead of mashed potato. Strangely no vegetables arrived to go with them, despite being included in the description we found afterwards. The desserts were fine, I was told (I didn’t have one myself) so overall the food was OK but not ideal. I’ll let them off though, due to the menu thing. Maybe next time I’ll try the Mexican Fajita Tower they were planning to introduce on the new menu. That does sound nice!

The beer: Us fellas had originally ordered a pint of Wherry, the only ale available, but when poured it was completely vinegary and undrinkable (not the first time that’s happened to me there). As the only other choice was a smoothflow-type bitter, we were offered a bottle of St. Peters each which was fine. They were the only bottled ales in the pub though!

The verdict: I quite like The Oak. The owners and staff are great and the surroundings are really nice. It’s a very pleasant place to go. However, I always leave thinking I’d really like it a lot more if they paid more attention to their beer. I think they are in a bit of a ‘Catch22′ situation as they don’t have the turnover to justify more ales – let’s face it, if the very popular Wherry doesn’t sell fast enough and goes off they’re not selling lots. I have suggested ordering smaller quantities of local brewers’ ales in the past, but maybe that didn’t prove possible. Last night I suggested that they could try ofering a wider choice of bottled beers – maybe with a local flavour or conversely a range of good Belgian beers. They need to attract more custom and a Unique Selling Point like that would provide a good reason to go there. We’ll see – I’ll no doubt be going there again soon!