Was it really just over a week ago we were basking in lovely bright sunshine? I had to ask this after we had just driven though a black hailstorm to The Nag's Head at Askham Bryan and I was eyeing up all the comforting foods on the menu.

The Nag's has just undergone extensive refurbishment and we hadn't known quite what to expect in the way of food or service. Was it going to be posh - after all Askham is one of those sought-after little villages just off the A64 - or pub grub?

But nothing could have prepared me for the changes made.

I vaguely remember the pub as several small rooms with not a great deal of atmosphere. All wallpaper and moquette seats.

Now they've done away with the dining room and made all the rooms interconnect, cleverly creating little corners which makes it almost seem as though there are more rooms.

Lots of wood, and walls and ceilings decorated to look as if a party of chain smokers has spent the past 20 years puffing away in the bar, completes the modern-old-pub look.

But I liked it. It is comfy and casual and hasn't been turned into a pretentious foodie pub at the expense of the regulars and a favourite beer, Speckled Hen, was on tap.

However, I was glad we hadn't opted to eat our meal in the end room as before not very long it was full of locals watching the Leeds/Liverpool match on TV. Might have felt a bit out of place trying to eat among all the aahhs and groans.

The menu is fairly limited with only three starters on offer, soup, prawn cocktail or melon. Chris ordered the prawns and feeling the change in the weather I chose the soup.

You can't really go wrong with a prawn cocktail, perhaps the sauce makes or breaks it, or more usually the generosity with the prawns is the yardstick, and for £2.60 this couldn't be faulted.

My soup was superb. The best £1.85's-worth I've had this year. It was chicken and mushroom and home made. Rich, savoury and full of chunks of chicken it came with a good-sized piece of warmed crusty French bread and was delicious.

The menu for main meals again is fairly small with mainly traditional pub grub favourites of steaks, lasagne and a veggie option. This is supplemented by a specials board which, when we called, offered roast beef and the trimmings, meat and potato pie, chicken and ham pie, curry, which I ordered, and liver and onions, which was Chris's choice.

"Did I want rice or chips with my curry or both".

Well, faced with that sort of choice I couldn't refuse and had both.

It turned out to be a bit of a chicken night for me as the curry was chicken too, but it was a very tasty plateful and the chips were cut like big scallops and were nice and crispy around the edges.

Mash, carrots and peas accompanied Chris's liver which again had all the tasty hallmarks of being home made.

Our bill came to a more than reasonable £14.95, which we queried as we thought we had been undercharged, but no, I just can't add up.

We didn't have a pudding, somehow it doesn't really feel like the kind of place where you would go for a three-course meal. In fact one of the more popular meals is the pie and peas for £1.95 which is on offer from opening until closing time. Might just pop along in the near future and have some. Haven't had pie and peas for ages...

Restaurant: The Nag's Head

Address: Askham Bryan, York.

Telephone: 01904 706953

Reviewed: April 17, 1999

Food: Tasty pub grub

Value: Excellent

Service: Prompt

Ambience: Rustic comfort

Food is served between noon and 2.30pm and 5.30pm to 9pm. On Sundays, a traditional roast is available from noon until 6pm.