FIRST the gripe. When you book a table at a restaurant, you expect somebody to make a note of the booking. So when four of us turned up at Malton's Tuddle Lane restaurant, we were a put out to find nobody knew anything about us.

The man behind the bar ran his finger down the bookings, and said we weren't there. Occasionally, he apologised, when people rang up to book in the afternoon when the restaurant wasn't open, whoever took the booking forgot to transfer it.

No matter. The restaurant was busy and we couldn't be seated in the pretty front room overlooking the market square; instead, we were led to a kind of conservatory at the back.

The Tuddle Lane is a pleasant place to eat. There are rustic, stone-flagged floors and sturdy wooden tables, all down-to-earth and rural in a sophisticated way. The chairs took us by surprise, being they were lower than we had expected and putting the table too high once we were seated. But our host promptly provided us with cushions, which improved things enormously.

We ordered drinks - two glasses of delicious freshly-squeezed orange juice for my wife, Lily, and my mother, a J20 for my Aunt Barbara and a bottle of Czech budweiser for me - and pondered the menu. It was inviting, the range of starters including the likes of soup of the day - French onion, at £3.95 - and baked goats cheese with olive and herb crust (£4.95). The main courses - which seemed on the pricey side - consisted of a tempting range of modern European dishes: spring lamb chops on minted mash (£14.50); fresh salmon wrapped in lemon sole with a dill and lemon cream sauce (£14.95); salad of roast peppers, feta cheese and artichokes (£7.95). There was also a specials board.

For starters, my aunt and I both chose the beef tomatoes stuffed with bacon, leek and parmesan (£4.50), while Lily opted for the cold sweet chilli roast salmon on oriental salad (£5.95) and my mother the crab, salmon and tuna fishcake (£5.50).

There was a little confusion on the main courses when we were told one of the specials chalked wasn't available that day: but eventually my aunt and I again opted for the same dish - the spring lamb chops - while Lily chose the roast pork fillet (£14.95) and my mother went for the roast chicken breast stuffed with leek and bacon (£13.95).

My stuffed tomato starter, when it arrived, was a decent size and attractively presented. The tomato itself was beautifully baked, but the filling - which seemed to me to be dominated by couscous instead of bacon or leek - was disappointing, rescued from blandness only by a delightful, crisp melted cheese topping.

Lily's salmon, however, was pleasantly piquant, and my mother's fishcake - pronounced very good - came adorned with two whole king prawns, which Lily and my Aunt Barbara pounced on.

The main courses arrived after a nice interval, with a side-order of vegetables that included minted new potatoes, roasted carrots, broccoli and green beans.

The lamb was very good; a generous portion of chops, perhaps a tad less tender than I ideally like, but juicy and tasty with a tang of mint. The bed of minted mash on which they rested was equally good.

The roasted carrots, while looking nothing special, were a revelation in taste, and the other side vegetables almost equally good. Only the new potatoes were a disappointing, with none of that earthy taste.

Lily's roast pork fillets arrived with chips, as she had asked, and without fennel, also as she had asked. They were a little dry, but wonderfully flavoured, with a hint of peppercorns. She pronounced herself well satisfied. My mother also enjoyed her chicken, which was tender and tasty.

Lily and Aunt Barbara passed on desserts, but my mother chose the lemon and kiwi fruit sorbet (£3.75), which she said was deliciously refreshing, while I chose the caramelised lemon tart with a compote of berries (also £3.75). It was delicious, tart and cool, and so beautifully presented it seemed almost a crime to eat it. That didn't stop me.

Coffee completed the meal: a fragrant brew from Java that was the perfect end.

The Tuddle Lane serves food that is very good without quite being consistently excellent. It is, to my mind, a bit pricey. Our meal for four, including drinks and coffees, came to just over £100. For that price, you should expect the service to be a little better, and for there to be no annoying complications such as the failure to record our booking or the mix-up over the specials board.

But it was an enjoyable meal in a pleasant restaurant that has the potential to be even better.

Fact file:

Food: Very good

Service: adequate

Value: pricey

Ambience: rustic chic

Disabled facilities: no

Tuddle Lane Restaurant, Market Place, Malton. Tel: 01653 697100.

Steve and party visited the Tuddle Lane on May 10.

Updated: 09:44 Saturday, May 17, 2003