Craig’s By The Sea, Marske: The foodie hotspot loved by locals in one of the Yorkshire coast's hidden gems

Other reasons to head for Marske Sands? For me, the chance to spot sea glass washed down from Seaham. I’ve got jars full, tiny jewels which shimmer when the light catches them.

There was beauty too in the contrast between beach and industry with the monumental skeleton of the Steelworks at South Gare on the horizon, but the Teesside skyline changed for ever when it was recently razed to the ground. I’d have listed it as an irreplaceable monument to our industrial heritage, but no one’s yet seen fit to put me in a position of power.

There’s another reason to head for Marske; Craig’s By The Sea. Chris and Ruth Laing opened a fairly straightforward cafe in 2019 with limited opening hours and a shortish menu featuring (very good) coffee and (even better) cakes but it’s matured into a bit of a hotspot attracting not just lucky locals but hardcore foodies from all over, and an entry into the Good Food Guide. It’s no surprise given the standard and range of the ever-changing menu littered with interesting and unusual dishes and ingredients, the like of which you don’t see every day. Take Shawarma cauliflower flatbread. They’re predominantly bakers here, so all the bread products are outstanding (I routinely leave the place with a seeded sourdough which has a fabulous texture and makes the best toast) and the flatbread in this winning dish is no exception. The cauliflower has a tiny bit of bite and it’s piled onto the bread in a miso and spiced tomato butter sauce with fermented cabbage and black garlic mayo; sharp and sweet at the same time with great depth of flavour. Rendang mutton cruffin (croissant/muffin hybrid; terrible name, great invention) here made with cultured butter and loaded with shredded meat in a rendang sauce – not so much a curry vibe but certainly there’s a bit of heat to it. On the top is a quenelle of grapefruit and kafir salted cream, four words that surely were meant to be together. It’s such a great dish; the multi-layered pastry falling apart at the fork, and when the soft, moist mutton and salted cream comes together with the pickled carrot … man it’s a miracle. Where do these ideas come from? “We’re just curious cooks and like to push a bit,” says Chris. “We’re testing ourselves as much as possible, trying things out, seeing what works. It would have been easier to serve bacon butties and the like, but we were determined to stick to our guns with a slightly different offer.”

The skillet dishes are making a bit of a name for themselves too; there are always one or two on the specials board – or rather the sheet of brown paper hanging on the kitchen wall. Today it’s chickpea dahl with tamarind chutney, pickled cucumber and sourdough. There’s a breakfast skillet – local smoked bacon, hog roast sausage and Doreen’s black pudding with a couple of eggs – fabulous after a long walk on the beach and/or a heavy night. The shakshuka - baked eggs in a spicy tomato and pepper sauce – is a winner too.

After deferring his degree for a year, Edinburgh-born Chris worked at Breadwinner, a legendary, family-run bakery that had been around since the early ‘70s. He was inspired by its founder Sean McVeigh who was way ahead of his time in the wholegrain movement. Chris and his future wife Ruth met in Scotland – she did a useful stint at The Three Chimneys on Skye. In time they left for Canada and worked together in Vancouver before heading back to the UK and Marske, Ruth’s home town, with a wealth of experience between them. When a shop on the high street came up they jumped at the chance to open their own place.

Chris, Ruth and head chef Shaun Allan make everything in house; as well as bread and patisserie there’s quite a lot of fermentation going on for kombucha and kimchi. An occasional supper club features a tasting menu which might begin with the likes of lamb tartar with sherry vinegar and coal, followed by kohlrabi miso potato with wild garlic (foraged from Valley Gardens in Saltburn) and a dessert of dark chocolate and fennel. It doesn’t run in the winter months but head for their website for info for future dates.

Find the usual suspects on the counter including salted brownies and spiced apple and plum crumble slice, but if you’re pushing the boat out The Cabinet is the place to head for beauties you don’t often see outside Patisserie Valerie. The sesame and caramel choux – a thing of such loveliness it seems a shame to crash a fork into it – absolutely delivers, as indeed does a bruleed apple cruffin – the same feather light, multi-layered base as the savoury mutton one, but with softy spiced apple and an extraordinary Earl Grey cream, a blob of salted caramel and a scattering of roast oat crumb for crunch.

It’s all here. Swing by for breakfast: the skillets or just poached eggs on toast. Elevenses: a Rounton espresso with a brownie. Lunch: a red chermoula chicken skillet with sumac pickled onions or a dish of fresh taramasalata with red & green mojo verde and dukkah. All this and a yomp on a fabulous beach with just seabirds and the rolling North Sea for company. What more do you want, really?

Craigs By The Sea, 121-123 High St, Marske-by-the-Sea, Redcar TS11 6JX www.craigsbythesea.com