Matt and Cat had many a pleasant meal at the delightful, if at times slightly chaotic, Smart Fox, Brading. They have also eaten some excellent food at Whitwell's White Horse.

Now it appears that the best bits of both these establishments can perhaps be enjoyed in one place. The Smart Fox, long closed, is now reborn with the former proprietors of the White Horse at the helm. The cosy-cottage interior of Brading's former Red Lion pub and the marvellous cuisine of Whitwell's finest inn, why didn't someone think of it before? And the name? Imagine what sort of mammal hybrid could be born as a result of these two venues amalgamating. The Smart Horse? Or the White Fox? Perhaps wisely, with a nod to Whitwell, the new pub calls itself The Dark Horse. Matt and Cat have been inundated with suggestions to visit and so, less than a fortnight after it reopened, they walked through the door one evening to see what all the fuss was about.

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Now it's probably worth noting that Whitwell's White Horse is far from closed - in fact M&C have eaten there since the new owners took it on, and found it as good as ever. The couple formerly managing the pub were the ones who made it one of the best and most consistent pub grub experiences in the Ventnor area: so can they repeat the magic over in Brading?

The Dark Horse plays to the strengths of the old Smart Fox venue. Indeed it would have been hard not to, with the huge stone hearth, low beams and flagged floor. M&C parked in the convenient car park behind, and walked through the inviting front door into a warm and welcoming hostelry. Anyone who likes the village inn style will feel right at home here, and Matt and Cat soon found themselves settled in a cosy corner by the glowing fire, opening one of the most extensive menus they'd ever seen.

There are two opposed theories in the design of menus, which amount to either 'short is good', or 'long is good'. The Dark Horse most definitely subscribes to the latter school of thought. Over eleven pages of closely typed menu was supplemented with a big chalkboard of specials on the wall. Details of the local provenance of the food were most prominent, not only were the names and locations of the suppliers shown, but there was even a handy map indicating the farm locations. Normally M&C will make a few notes about the menu, to give some idea when writing a review later of what else is on it. But this time, after leafing through this epicurean epic, they couldn't even begin to précis it. So just assume that whatever you want, it's probably on there.

Cat suffers intermittently from what she calls Empty Car Park Syndrome. It's a debilitating, embarrassing disorder... but wait! Put that old gorilla suit down, and get off your bike: there's no need to ride to Yucatan for an ECPS charity appeal. Actually empty car park syndrome is what the rest of us might call an embarrassment of choice. When faced with a great many choices (such as might be found in an empty car park) Cat just can't help but circle helplessly between them, unable to come to a conclusion in case she doesn't get exactly the right one. Sometimes the only way out of the loop is for someone less refined to just choose at random for her. And you probably know who that somebody is. So, that safely said, it's possible to explain the surprise that Matt felt when Cat immediately made her choice from the main menu: chicken supreme with tarragon sauce. Despite a plethora of attractive alternatives she was quite certain. Unusually it was left to Matt to prevaricate, and eventually he decided to go and have a look at the specials board. He was glad to have done so, as an attractive list included meat paella, with chorizo, local chicken sausage and chicken breast. That sounded too good to miss, and so, orders placed, Matt and Cat settled back with their drinks and enjoyed the ambience.

Before very long, the scrubbed pine tabletop bore two steaming plates of food, plus proper chips and a cute dish of hot vegetables for Cat, and a fresh side salad with a big hunk of crusty bread for Matt. It all looked very promising.

Cat's supreme pleased her greatly. The menu may be vast, but it didn't seem to affect the quality of this dish. Easily the equal of similar dishes she's enjoyed at the White Horse in the past. A thick, rich sauce - which Cat mopped up with the chunky chips - enveloped the hefty chicken breast. It was all delicious.

Matt chewed on the tasty crusty bread and considered his paella. It looked hearty but was not what he was expecting - rather than the traditional saffron-yellow this dish was pinky-red. There was a good supply of chicken sausage chunks, along with chicken breast. The promised chorizo, by contrast, was barely detectable. Matt only found two bits - he knew exactly how many as the skin had been left on the sausage, necessitating the extraction of that resilient wrapping from between his teeth. The medium in which this melange was assembled proved to be nothing more exotic than rice, peas, fried onion and some tomato-based sauce. Overall this was a good basic meal, but fairly homogeneous, and not really like paella. Perhaps it could have been billed as a risotto, which it wasn't either, but at least that would have been closer.

Throughout the meal Matt and Cat were left alone - not once were they asked if their food was ok. This was actually a pleasant change; M and C found themselves agreeing with Diner, who makes the point that these visits from staff nearly always coincide with a mouthful of food or at another inopportune moment. Occasionally it's appropriate to be asked but, for the majority of the time, there's nothing useful to be gained from this interaction. What do readers think?

Whilst they'd been enjoying their main course, Matt and Cat had been entertained by the antics of a big group nearby, who were evidently celebrating a birthday. The Dark Horse treated them well, and even brought out the birthday boy's favourite tiramisu pudding in a big bowl. Matt and Cat chuckled along as there was a hearty rendition of 'Happy Birthday', but their pleasure was slightly reduced when they ordered tiramisu themselves, only to find it all gone! Luckily there were plenty of other options on the menu, and so they decided to share a meringue and honeycomb ice cream sundae. This was supplied in a huge glass, with two spoons thoughtfully provided. In fact, served with the coffee, it wasn't too far from tiramisu anyway.

The dessert proved to be a decent - and good value - finale to the meal. M & C went back out into Brading's cold night feeling much encouraged that the old pub was once more looking as though it had a bright future. It'll take a few more visits to fully explore that colossal menu, but that might well be a challenge your reviewers will take up.