The Black Swan — Restaurant in Amber Valley

Visited The Black Swan last Thursday evening for a pint and something to eat. Couldn't ask for anything more out of a pub, it was fab. The atmosphere inside and outside was chilled and friendly with a mixed age group of people using the place, The staff from entering to leaving the pub were friendly, attentive and everyone of them had a smile on their faces, a really lovely bunch of people who made you feel welcome. The beer was on tip top form and as for the food I couldn't fault it, it was delicious. The sloppy vegetarian burger and fries I had, I could have eaten again and again. Big plateful of food, looked nice and more importantly tasted full of flavour. Definitely be going back there to eat...

Not bad, not great.

For context, nobody is actually expecting anything that looks like authentic tapas in a pub in Derbyshire, but the effort was a bit of a mixed bag.

Nice place. Good service. Lovely staff.

Some of the best cooked squid I've had anywhere - 5 stars, big points!

Patatas bravas wasn't bad, might have gone a bit OTT with the paprika, which leaves it with a weird dusty taste.

Chorizo and meatballs were pretty good.

Without doubt the worst hummus in the world - what on earth was it meant to taste like? Vodka?

But the crispy chicken! What sort of crispy chicken possibly equals a chicken goujon chopped into pieces? It's neither actual chicken nor crispy!

Bit of a gamble depending...

The Black Swan on Market Square, Belper, is a good real ale pub of the more "modern" kind - a brighter interior in terms of both furniture and light floating in from outside, and general layout. A friendly place overall, and that also applies to the staff. A small selection of changing mains (1/2 of them burgers) is available. We found the cask ale selection to be a limited though, but those offered were non-standard beers by smaller breweries, which of course is commendable. A good option on a pub crawl in Belper, a tiny town blessed with an alarmingly high number of good pubs (traditional,...