THE inside of the Boat House is proof that appearances can be deceiving.

The mock-Tudor facade on the River Thames masks what is essentially a Wetherspoons-style pub, with Sky Sports on flat screen TVs.

After finding a space in the tiny car park, we sat down indoors.

Despite arriving for Sunday lunch, it was far from busy, although there was a smattering of people sat outside too.

The pub’s new menu landed on Tuesday, but I was pleased to see a variety of dishes on offer.

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An array of starters and sharers were joined by pub classics, burgers, steaks and even fajitas, suggesting the pub tries to be a little different from the norm.

To begin with, we went for two of the more unusual items on the menu: the deep fried four cheese ravioli, served with tangy salsa, pesto dressing and rocket (£5.79) and the halloumi fries, topped with sour cream, fresh tomato salsa and rocket (£5.99).

The halloumi came in a small dish and was crispy on the outside but melted in the middle, which sat nicely with the salsa and sour cream.

The one criticism was the lack of salsa, while ironically the ravioli had a little too much.

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Otherwise, the latter made a nice change from your standard pub starter, the flavours blending well and not overpoweringly cheesy.

Once the very attentive staff had taken our empty plates, it was soon onto the main course.

We opted for the vegetarian Sunday roast option, where a beetroot, sweet potato and butternut squash tart replaced the meat (£10.99).

This came with roast potatoes, vegetables, mashed potato, sage and onion stuffing and a Yorkshire pudding - plus, we ordered an extra one for good measure.

As is probably evident, this was a huge portion that both of us needed to take on - and we still did not finish.

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While the pie was very good, the Yorkshires were a little soft and the mashed potato a bit stodgy, while the roast potatoes did not appear to be homemade.

On the other side of the table were my chicken fajitas (£9.79), which was a make-your-own scenario.

A dish of spicy chicken pieces on a bed of mostly peppers and onions came with pots of sour cream, tomato salsa and grated cheese.

Sadly, there were only two half-wraps to pack all this into, but when I did get everything inside, it was lovely.

For me, it summed up the pub: there was plenty to like, but maybe a bit too much going on.

Boat House, 103 High Street, Wallingford, OX10 0BL