Ipswich Star pub of the week is Black Tiles in Martlesham

This week, we venture a bit further outside Ipswich, to Martlesham, at the recently-reopened Black Tiles.

In February, it was announced that Chris and Emma Sciortino were to take over the Black Tiles, which had closed in February 2024.

After taking over the pub, they said: "We realise how important the Black Tiles has been over the years, and we are so excited to be the ones to be taking this adventure/challenge on."

Chris and Emma Sciortino, owners of the Black Tiles in Martlesham (Image: Lucy Taylor)

The couple behind Kesgrave Kitchen renovated the space over the course of a number of months, with the new restaurant and pub reopening last month.

Walking in, the first thing that you notice is the brilliantly-transformed garden, which is spacious and has plenty of seating - perfect for a summer's day.

There is also a children's play area, which looked really great, and gives the little ones something to do when waiting for food.

The bar in the Black Tiles (Image: Tom Cann)

Walking in, the service was really friendly from the staff working that evening who greeted us with lots of smiles.

As you walk in, the bar is immediately ahead of you with a nice little bar/pub section with plenty of seating inside that area. To the left and right of the entrance it feels more like the restaurant area.

We were shown to our table and asked if we wanted a drink. I got a Cruzcampo with a lot of other options on offer.

The bar in Black Tiles (Image: Tom Cann)

For food, I went for the Aspall-battered haddock fillet which was really good. It was a nice piece of fish, chips were chunky and I was able to swap out the minted crushed peas with normal, garden peas.

This is something that they do really well, the menu states that, wherever possible, they are happy to adapt dishes for vegetarians, vegans or if you have any preferences.

They also have a specials board with a number of starter, mains and dessert options available.

The fish and chips at the pub (Image: Tom Cann)

The prices for the main meals are slightly more, but you pay for fresh, local food. It's a limited menu but you know that what they do will be done to a high standard and will be locally sourced.

The only blemish to the Black Tiles menu is the prices to the starters and desserts.

In my opinion, no starter or dessert should cost more than £7 - £8 at a push.

Inside the new restaurant (Image: Tom Cann)

The cheapest starter on the menu at the Black Tiles is the soup at £8.50, with the most expensive being either the Mussels or prawns, both costing £12.

For dessert, the majority cost £9, with the most expensive being the East Anglian cheese board at £12.

As I don't like hot desserts, of any kind, so I went for ice cream, which was two scoops of Panache ice cream - made by a local company.

The new garden in the Black Tiles in Martlesham (Image: Tom Cann)

The ice cream was nice, but it cost £6 - which is far too much for two small scoops of ice cream.

Despite this, it was a great evening. Everyone was having a nice time at the newly reopened Black Tiles.

It is great that the Martlesham community and beyond once again have this fantastic restaurant and pub back.

There was a brilliant atmosphere as well with fantastic service and really nice food.

I would definitely recommend visiting the Black Tiles in Martlesham and it was great to be able to visit for our pub of the week.