As I mentioned in my Prezzo post back at the start of the year I found myself in Bury St Edmunds and I met some of my partners family for the first time with a trip to Oakes Barn.

The items on the menu are pretty common pub fare; Sandwiches, fish and chips, curry and of course burgers. So a burger it was and I loved the presentation of these. At one point in time I was strongly against things being served on not plates but at least these are chunky boards (though I wonder if they are made of oak to match the name) and the little chip basket made me smile as chips served in baskets, though not like this, bring back special memories to me.

Not only did they look wonderful in their little faux fryer basket but they tasted wonderful as well with that perfect golden outside and fluffy inside. And they were proper chunky chips and not thin fries which really helped as well. Especially given I am the sort of person to take the salad out to eat separately and make the burger a bit easier to hold (smushing down a burger like that with a hefty piece of tomato is going to have limited effectiveness) or because I want to add a bit of sauce in but I acknowledge this might be personal preference.

The coleslaw was much of a muchness. You can of course get bad and incredibly coleslaws but this was very much your average combination without any added extra ingredients or flavour enhancements.

My burger, the pork and apple one, was delicious but the salad being on the bottom bothered me slightly. I can understand the logic to a degree, keep the patty away from the toasted bread to stop it going soggy, but it could have been better balanced with lettuce on the bottom and tomato on the top as a big slice of tomato like that doesn’t tend to be so moist that it will break through the toasted bread crunch.

That is as big of a gripe as I can have with this place though. The atmosphere was lovely and it had a really quaint cozy feel to it where you can tell it is respected and enjoyed by locals. From what I can tell they do not tend to take table bookings and it is first come first served so if you go as a larger group you might need to do some strategic planning of your time and day to visit.

I really enjoyed my visit to Oakes Barn and would recommend, especially with some wonderful company to enjoy it with.