"Ah, that's the evening menu," says an energetic man who looks like Michael Palin but is actually called Jonathan Levy and is most enthusiastic about what they do here in the evening. It turns Japanese.

A tall, slender woman pops her head through the curtain in the kitchen doorway. This is Jonathan's wife, Yoshi, from Hiroshima. They came to Pateley Bridge last autumn from Oxford, where they established its first Japanese restaurant in the 1990s.

Jonathan talks of the food and its origins, importing the sushi rice from California. He collects the fish from Hartlepool and they bring back green tea and other commodities from Japan. This visit being during the tea shop mode, I wolf down a slice of cheese toastie (good thick bread, tangy cheese) and a beaker of the green tea, reserve a table for the following night and head off home over the hill bursting with anticipation, because he has already sold the authenticity and honesty of Yoshi's cooking.

Sentences like "if we lose our enthusiasm and belief in what we are doing, we will give up" can sound a bit TV chef-ish but he speaks from the heart – or he's a darn fine actor.

Scene two. A Saturday night in late February. The room is just as dark as it was in daylight, lending charm and subtlety to the old fabric. The Spike Milligan wisecrack about switching on a light so dull that it made the room darker comes to mind. A gas-fired woodburner glows. The room is not cold, but the baby fire isn't bringing many therms to the party.

Shortly, the street door gusts open ahead of a man I soon realise is called Jim, unbooked but ready to eat. "Have you had a power cut?" he demands of our host. Some banter follows, proof that in their seven months in the Nidderdale market town the couple and their young son have settled in.

Generally and mostly I am a big fan of Pateley Bridge and its friendly people. It has a couple of first-rate butchers, ditto the greengrocer and the hardware store, one charity shop and the fish and chippery and a proper big town garage, and so on. Oh, and I remember there's a pukka wine merchant and a terrific museum, and my favourite agricultural show every September.

It is the capital of Upper Nidderdale and a focal part of a classified area of outstanding natural beauty, which is akin to a National Park but without the razzamatazz and hoopla. And in this case, pretty magnificent.

The Apothecary's House is named after a long-gone occupant. It is an old building, maybe 400 years old, with a short flight of steps from the street. The dining rooms are on this ground floor, but those patrons with creaky joints should note that the bathroom is up some ancient stairs and along a landing which hasn't seen a set square for a few centuries. A downstairs WC is planned, plus an assistance bell at the doorway steps.

Well, I have eaten in Tokyo and Hiroshima and Kyoto and lots of other Japanese joints and the thing that impressed me, from the first time in 1980, was the reverence they place in the food and its preparation and presentation.

The ingredients are left, mostly, to speak for themselves and are often simple. An example is the sushi, where rice is formed into a bite sized cake, either rolled in a seaweed wrap with a scrap of meat or fish or vegetable in the centre (known as maki) or with the sliver of fish, etc, laid on top, without the wrap (nigiri). They are typically accompanied by shards of pickled ginger, or mustard-hot wasabe.

Sushi is very popular but if you do not like rice then move on down the menu. My meal started with miso soup (usually based on fermented soya bean paste and a familiar part of Japanese cooking). This soup, which can be strongly flavoured, is also served as a hearty breakfast, with other dishes of, say, grilled salmon and rice. Recipes vary but seaweed is a common participant. "No two misos taste the same. It's an indication of the style of the cook," explains Jonathan, who is solicitous, helpful and highly informed, and also anxious that newcomers do not order more food than they need.

Yoshi's miso suited my palate better than any I have had, whether in breakfasts at excellent European and American hotels, or on Japanese turf. It is mild, soothing and nourishing and quite lovely.

I don't share Jonathan's enthusiasm for deep fried sardine balls (with ginger sauce). They were ordered by other diners, too, and were expertly cooked so as to be dry and not fatty, a handy size for chopsticks, but tasted like sardines in a tomato sauce. I should say that the fish is fresh, not tinned, and that everyone else was giddy with praise, so it's a personal choice.

"Best fish in the world," is Jonathan's summary of the sardine. I was always partial to sticklebacks. More gems come from big Jim. "My wife says she has her eye on a new handbag. I say how much is it? She says it's half price". Marvellous. Even his wife is laughing.

Make no mistake, this is good, home-cooking. A main dish of deep fried white fish in chilli sauce has several decent portions of red snapper, with crisp strips of carrot in a ginger and chilli sauce. Connotations of thick batter should be ignored. This fish is in a light, thin tempura coating and is succulent and not at all the sort of thing that will clog your arteries. Of the other dishes sampled, three egg-shaped crab cakes were delicious. Sticky toffee date pudding and black sesame seed ice cream were further evidence of Yoshi's skills.

The menu changes regularly but expect to pay: miso soup £2.50, crab cakes £4.90, sushi £2 to £4.50, fried fish in chilli sauce £11, rice from £1.90, chicken noodle soup £9.90, green tea £1.50, puddings £2.90.

The Apothecary's House, 37 High Street, Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire. Tel: 01423 711767. Lunch and afternoon tea and snacks Wednesday to Sunday from 11am. Dinner Tuesday to Saturday, 6 to 9pm. Ring for special food evenings.Disabled access: check first.