The Durham Ox in Shrewley is an Old English Inn pub situated in the heart of the countryside in a little village called Shrewley. Its an 18th Century Pub, it was once well known for its Marrow Sunday post harvest celebration, steam fair, flower and produce competition and auction, before being converted in 2002 to the large pub restaurant you see now. This restaurant/pub has had new owners many times over the last 5-7 years and therefore I was skeptical as I have heard very mixed views.
It was a week night and me and Tom couldn't be bothered to cook so decided to venture out for dinner, I haven't been to The Durham Ox for a good 4 years or so. It was very quiet, I know it was a Tuesday evening but apart from a few people at the bar watching the football we were the only people in there. The waitress showed us to a free table, (which wasn't hard!) and handed us menus, the menu choice isn't huge but they do offer a Set Menu which is available Monday-Friday before 6pm where they offer starters at around £2/£3 and mains for £5/6. However, the main menu isn't very expensive and my glass of rosé was only £3.49 - which is pretty cheap! The menu was very pub-style, which is what I expected, traditional dishes including, Fish & Chips, Burgers and Steaks etc.
The menu didn't wow me in particular and I found the place to have little atmosphere, which was probably down to the fact we were the only two people in the whole restaurant! A table of four turned up a bit later on but still the place felt flat and a little lonely. Our waitress was attentive and quick but she wasn't overly friendly or welcoming I felt.
Nothing on the menu really stood out to me so I decided to go for an old favourite of mine, as you can't go wrong!
Pulled Pork Burger Served With Chips & Tomato Salsa
£9.29
This was presented very well, I like chips served in a bucket and the burger looked good on the plate. However, I feel the price is slightly expensive for what you get. I feel it should've be more like £7/8 as £9 isn't cheap and in my opinion it was not up to the price - the burger bun was slightly hard and over-toasted and the salad was a bit limp. Also, when I get a Pulled Pork Burger I expect succulent, tender pork smothered in BBQ sauce - but this was a beef burger (which was pretty dry) with some strands of pulled pork on top - which didn't taste like it had any BBQ sauce on it. I wasn't happy, and for a burger lover like me, I was disappointed!
The fries were cooked very well, they were fat pub style chips with a crispy outer skin and fluffy on the inside, these helped (slightly) to make up for the pretty rubbish burger. The tomato salsa lacked flavour too, it was watery and tepid.
Over all, the service was quick and attentive but not overly friendly or helpful, the food was average, the price is not particularly reasonable at £30 for two of us and to be honest, I wouldn't rush back anytime soon.
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