New Inn, Flawith Road, Tholthorpe, near Easingwold

10:11am Saturday 12th April 2008

Mike Laycock pays a return visit to a refurbished New Inn at Tholthorpe.

IT MAY be situated in the heart of the Vale of York, but visitors to the New Inn at Tholthorpe nowadays enjoy a warm Lancastrian and Scottish welcome.

The pub, situated on the green of this picturesque village near Easingwold, was taken over last year by Scotsman Cameron Reid, who is the pub's head chef. His in-laws, who work behind the bar, hail from "over the hill". After buying the pub last year, Cameron shut it down for several weeks to carry out refurbishments. Having reviewed the New Inn for Eating Out a few years ago, I decided to go back last weekend to check out the changes.

Last time I went, we picked our way to the village along roads scattered with fallen branches after a fearsome gale. Inside the New Inn, the food was okay, the music a little too loud, the fire unlit and the tables under-occupied. So how would the revamped pub compare?

This time it might have been April but it was as cold as December, albeit gale free. The chef's in-laws greeted our party - my wife, daughter and myself - with a friendly smile, and suggested we have a drink in the bar and study the menu before heading for the restaurant.

I noticed with approval that the kitchens used locally sourced food. The vegetables came from Dooleys of Easingwold and the meat from Hartleys butchers, based in the village, which uses produce from farms in the area.

Also, I noticed with relief that the old RAF photographs on the walls had survived the revamp. The pictures feature bomber crews from the time of the Second World War, when the now-disused Tholthorpe airfield was an important base.

The pilots, gunners and navigators probably drank in this bar after returning from dangerous missions over Germany, and it would be a shame to forget this strand of our history.

On moving into the restaurant, the fire was still unlit and the tables again were by no means full, but we had no blaring background music to talk over and the place looked clean and tidy, with attractive new tables and chairs on a new stone floor. While the bare wooden chairs may have looked nice, they were not comfortable to sit on for an hour or so, and cushions would be a useful addition.

The young waitress who mainly dealt with us for the evening was friendly and efficient, happy to check one or two items on the menu for eggs because of an allergy problem within our group.

For starters, I decided to ask for the homemade soup of the day, which was cauliflower and oil of truffle (£3.95). My wife chose pressed terrine of duck, pheasant and chicken, served with warm brioche and grape chutney (£5.95), while my daughter asked for cheesy garlic bread (£2.95).

The soup was my highlight of the evening and tasted wonderful - quite unlike any soup I had ever had before - and was piping hot, too. The chef told me later he had made the dish because he had bought truffles for a food and wine evening and had oil left over.

The terrine was not quite as gorgeous but good enough, with the meats competing to lend an interesting mixture of flavours, while the chutney added a pleasant contrast. I generously let my wife try my soup. My daughter said her cheesy garlic bread was "really nice".

For mains, she decided to ask for a "bar bite" item, a New Inn beef burger with home-made coleslaw, chunky chips, cheese and sweet cured bacon, for £8.95. Now call me old fashioned, but I reckon that's a bit steep for a burger, no matter how nice, though this one was nice enough.

I went for the hearty traditional steak and ale pie, which the menu said was cooked for hours with real ale. The £9.95 price seemed more reasonable. The pie came in a little pot, topped with a thin layer of short-crust pastry, and served with veg and chips. I tucked inside the pastry and found lots of thick tasty gravy, some tender pieces of beef and mushrooms. Accompanied by a pint of Black Sheep bitter, it was a wholesome, filling meal that I struggled to finish.

My wife chose rump steak with chips and salad (£12.95), accompanied by a glass of house red. She asked for her steak well done and that was what she got. The village butchers appeared to be doing their job, for it was a fine steak with none of that unappetising gristle.

I wondered how I would manage a pudding, but a restaurant reviewer has to do what a restaurant reviewer has to do, so I ordered poached pear with pannacotta (£4.95), a delicious Italian creamy set dessert.

The bill came to £59.35, which seems fair enough for a good pub restaurant meal for three.

* New Inn, Flawith Road, Tholthorpe, near Easingwold.

Tel 01347 838329.

* Mike Laycock visited the New Inn on Saturday April 5.

Fact file

Food: good

Service: friendly

Value: Okay

Ambience: pleasant

Disabled access: No

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