Gimbals, Sowerby Bridge

But follow the sound of happy chatter and there you are in the light, airy dining room with scrubbed oak floors, Bentwood chairs and soft lighting setting a comfortable, inclusive vibe. There's interesting artwork on the subtle Farrow & Ball walls and along with one or two more rococo mirrors are cute kitsch touches like the standard lamp in one corner with a pink pleated frilly shade, just like your auntie used to have, and you said you'd never give it house room. Yet here it looks good. If I was in any doubt that someone here has a good design eye, a trip upstairs to the loo at half time dispels it (more later).

It's a number of years since I've been here, and I'm not quite sure why; it was always good – Janet and Simon Baker have been making people happy with wholesome, interesting food since 1995 – but I'm very glad I've re-found it. The menu is as appealing as the dcor, and it really is very difficult to choose.

Generally one or two dishes leap off the page, the rest loitering rather lifelessly, echoes of plates you've seen in a dozen restaurants. So we had to send our eager waitress away (sorry, Stephanie) while we spent another five minutes scratching our heads, choosing then changing our minds. In the meantime, a bottle of perfectly chilled Chilean Sauvignon Blanc arrived with a jug of iced water and a basket of warm olive bread and some fruity, peppery dipping oil. There are two sittings, so you might think you'd be hurried along, but not a bit of it.

There's a pan-European sensibility at play here; peach, air-dried ham, mozzarella and wild rocket with salted almonds and a minted honey mustard dressing battles in the starter stakes with Cornish crab, crushed minted broad beans, crme frache and lovage with celery salt crostini and beetroot relish. The latter won, and what a triumph! Three little mounds of delight and a crunchy crostini to scoop them up, the flavours light but clever. Lovage is a versatile but pungent herb and can overpower easily if put in heavy hands – but it's perfectly judged here. My buttered eggs with brown shrimps and samphire on English asparagus likewise; four ingredients put simply together, the result light, vibrant and accurate.

However good the beginning, nothing could prepare me for the absolute delight of what was to come. I'm a sucker for simple dishes that pack a punch. It's joyously rustic food and it's what I try to copy in my kitchen when I come back from the Mediterranean, and what The River Caf and Moro do brilliantly.

Well, so do Gimbals. Lamb kleftico is slow-cooked leg of lamb in paper with garlic, lemon, thyme and redcurrant jelly, accompanied by chickpea pure and hot mint sauce. It's not the prettiest plateful, but any aesthetic concerns dissipate as I tear open the charred paper, memories of a hot Greek holiday flooding my senses. The meltingly tender chunks of lamb have a perfect partner in the pure, which has an extraordinary texture and an ingredient I can't quite fathom. Off pops Stephanie to ask in the kitchen and back comes the answer; saffron. I wouldn't have thought of that. Rose harissa baked chicken with pistachio sauce and radish and rocket salad with a pomegranate molasses dressing is summer on a plate, more fetching than the lamb but with the same depth of flavour and clever use of ingredients. What with Ella Fitzgerald at the right level (ie, low, background) this is turning out to be a classy affair.

They've got a nifty idea in the pudding department; for 6.90 you can have a selection of fruity delights, which includes strawberry pavlova and vanilla pod ice cream, cream and lemon curd mousse with cardamom biscuit and poached peaches with blossom honey and milk ice cream. Then there's a chocolaty option with brownie, brle and a white chocolate trifle. Or you can have any of the above for 4.20. We had the mini selection and two spoons.

The Bakers live just down the road in Friendly, and have a south-facing garden in which they grow many of the summer herbs and leaves for the monthly-changing menu. Janet confessed to being an incorrigible forager, picking wild garlic in the nearby woods. Simon's parents' allotment provides a good proportion of the veg that finds its way into the kitchen. With today's emphasis on traceability, this makes such good sense – and it translates into taste and value on the plate.

Upstairs there are two big deep purple rooms and it's a comfortable, bohemian space furnished with squashy leather sofas and lots of crushed velvet, cascading lights and sweet swallows swooping across the walls. A stunning snowflake light turns out to be a redundant Blackpool illumination bought by Janet from a warehouse sale. Vintage and modern sit stylishly together.

The entire enterprise is sprinkled with pixie dust, and with the midweek two courses for 14.90 offer, you don't have to wait for a special occasion. Just walk through the looking glass to a magical world beyond it.

Gimbals, 76 Wharf Street, Sowerby Bridge, HX6 2AF. 01422 839329, www.gimbals.co.uk. Midweek menu: two courses 14.90, three courses 17.90. Open Mon-Sat from 6.30pm. Closed Sunday.

YP MAG 14/8/10