Dark Horse, Brading
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.
Review continues:
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.
Paella £9.95
Chicken supreme £11.45
1 x dessert £4.00
2 x coffee £3.40
Drinks £3.50
Total £32.30

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.
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Categories: We like, Pub Grub, Family friendly, Sandown & Shanklin, Local produce
30 comments
After running the White Horse Inn, Whitwell for the last 12 years My fiancée & I have taken over the the fox we are in the process of redecorating and freshening the place up.
The pub is going to be called "The Dark Horse" and I will be cooking a very similar menu to what I used to cook over at Whitwell, however there will be even more of an emphasis on fresh local produce.
We are opening the doors on the 23rd Oct for opening night drinks and then be open as usual as of Saturday.
Also we will be open all day on Sundays serving Sunday roast using Isle of Wight meats all day
Look forward to seeing you all soon Jerrie & Hayley
Matt & Cat respond: we have seen you busy there and wondered what was going on. So we're very pleased to hear your plans, thanks for letting us know.
Welcome back Jerrie and Hayley and good luck with the new location we will be back for more keep up the good work.
Best wishes
Lee and Sandy
We've always enjoyed eating at the White Horse Inn, and we are glad to see that Jerry and Hayley are continuing in another establishment.
We will be going again soon!
It is cosy, welcoming and the food is fantastic.
We shall be returning!
BUT....
the manageress's attitude was absolutely disgusting, i have never been spoken to in the manner in which i was today over the fact the food was not as stated on the menu.
We were informed our chicken burger would be fresh chicken breast, which it wasn't it was a bought in frozen what i can only describe as processed chicken.
And to walk off when i was speaking to her trying to discuss the problem that we had, eventually i got told it was "tough and that i would have to get over it".
so £8.50 for a portion of chips and some salad, and burger that wasn't what it said it was, and to argue with us because we hadn't enjoyed our meal i thought was pathetic, rude, and arrogant.
I ate at there previous premises, myself and family really enjoyed ourself's there and was completely appauled by the service and attitude at the dark horse!!! I highly doubt i will ever be going back in there again which is a shame as the food that was eaten was really nice.
Not so happy with the price of the drinks which I thought very expensive.
Main gripe about the place was the small car park. We arrived around 7:15 and the car park was full. So full in fact I couldn't turn round and hence had to back out into the main road!!!
It's definetly one of our favourites for pub food now!
As a tool to determine how good a place might be this site is next to useless. Comments differ to such an extent that it makes any reasoned choice impossible to make.
The only fun I get is seeing the standard of spelling from some of the rather sad offerings.
Truly "appauling" in most cases!! (A nod to Mr Scott there)
Looks like it's down to good old fashioned Pot Luck when looking for somewhere to eat. Or staying in with a sandwich.....
I have been going to the Dark Horse probably every week since it was recommended to me at Christmas time, It really amazes me that there are such petty comments and complaints about a burger really come on if you go to the Dark Horse why on earth eat a burger the menu is fantastic there has got to be at least 100 options on there and undoubtedly serve the best steaks on the Island.
Like I said I have probably eaten there a dozen times this year and always have something different and never once felt a need to come on to a website to complain that my salad looked the same as the person sitting next to me, my chicken burger which is clearly stated in the menu is a burger not a chicken breast, my coleslaw has a bit to much salad cream in it, I had to many chips served to me (which i think are great even if they are frozen there nice fat steak chips not silly skinny ones), I cant park in the car park, the price of my well kept real ale was an astonishing £2.90 well come on guys get real this is probably one of the best all round food pubs on the Island how about focusing on how well cooked the local skate I had last week was or perhaps how fantastically tender the local lamb shoulder is and the veg was fresh and steaming hot the beef stir fry was mouth watering and so well seasoned and the fillet steak with Stilton sauce is the best I have ever eaten far better than the one I paid £10 more for at burrs last month.
Well guys I suggest you ignore the stupid comments about burgers and get yourself along to the Dark Horse and try the REAL food on offer for yourself and lets get back to what this sites really about. A food review site not a MCDonalds comparison site Keep up the good work I have yet to be disappointed look forward to hearing your comments
If you want full choice of the menu including the specials board, get there really, really early!
Not quite my vote for the best pub grub on the Island(Taverners,Godshill) but certainly well above average
We will definitely be going back for a full meal.
Unfotunately, one of our Ladies is disabled and she was a bit upset that, when she asked the waitress to please get her another drink, the answer was that she would have to go up to the bar. This same Lady commented that it would be useful to have a disabled bay in the car park. We may go to The Dark Horse again but we all agreed we would be better off choosing from the huge selection on the a la carte menu.




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