Fortunately, a request to be driven to the far side of Doncaster for dinner – and picked up in Leeds – led to an obliging "what time?"

The object of our journey was the Cadeby Inn in the village of the same name off the A1. Word had reached me that it now belonged to Robert Craggs and I had enjoyed his food when he was head chef at the Harvey Nichols' First Floor Restaurant in Manchester. His inventive and polished creations literally rose to the challenge of that stylish space with towering assemblages that wowed with instant eye-appeal.

I was keen to see how his skill would transfer to the more rustic surroundings of South Yorkshire, and my companions were happy to travel for a good dinner and the wish to tick another destination on their culinary map of the region. When I booked a table and asked if Robert was indeed the head chef, I was rather hesitantly told that he was the owner and was teaching the chefs rather than cooking himself. His appearance in the pub as we sat down seemed to confirm that he wasn't cooking the night we ate. But maybe it was no matter, as the menu read well and immediately started a debate as to how many courses and how to narrow down our choices to one of each from starter, main and dessert lists.

The Inn has a substantial new addition at the back – and it was here we were sitting, guessing which parts of the building were new and which old as the additions are well put together, although the room did feel a little bare.

Contrary to fashion, there were few pictures and no ornaments and it seemed the place was still developing its own character. For the food, I wasn't anticipating the theatrics of city-centre Manchester, but I was hoping to see the firm guiding hand of a well-travelled and well-regarded chef giving each dish his own recognisable signature – regardless of who was actually doing the cooking.

We chose from a denuded wine list, an unremarkable New Zealand Sauvingnon at £15.95, having been assured by the friendly waitress that stocks were low because the list was being rewritten.

Chicken liver parfait was beautifully textured, if under-seasoned, but marred by a full centimetre of clarified butter on top of the slice and served with a fridge-cold, and therefore rather bland, onion marmalade. A crisp salmon fishcake was a delight, however – sizeable, fishy and light. A third starter of baked Italian flatbread with prosciutto and mascarpone turned up as an elegant mini pizza which, although salty, looked stylish and interesting on the plate.

All of the main courses promised good solid flavours and I was hoping each would be given a twist or flash of panache which was present with the flatbread. A vast bowl of pot roast lamb and pearl barley was nicely flavoured but was topped with stone-cold (if beautifully velvety) mash and not accompanied by the advertised root vegetables.

A Galloway rib-eye steak was well-timed but lacked flavour. It was served with an inventive mushroom suet pudding and a fine dauphinoise. A pan-roast Whitby cod with parsley sauce and mash had little to set it apart from what you might expect at any decent pub or restaurant. There were no vegetables either on the plate, or advertised as side orders.

Desserts did have more of a "wow" factor in both appearance and taste. A lovely rhubarb and custard was served chilled and layered in a glass. There was a fine lemony posset and an intriguing treacle tart that tasted of some mystery ingredient. One of our party identified it as ginger, another as suet in the pastry. It was pleasing to end on a high note as I'd been keen to like the place and hoped that the food would reflect some of Robert's previous glory. The Cadeby Inn is not cheap, at £40 per head. As to judging its ambitions on one visit, I wished that Robert had stamped his personality on the food more clearly with a firmer hand on the tiller in the kitchen to help his undoubted talent shine a little brighter on the table.

People in Yorkshire do have a history of being happy to travel seemingly unreasonable distances for excellent food and wine – and pay a decent price for dinner. But they expect to be rewarded with something special, which they couldn't have got closer to home.

The Cadeby Inn, Main Street, Cadeby, Doncaster. DN5 7SW. Tel 01709 864009. Customer car park at the rear.