Lockton Tea Rooms & Gallery review: Supper club in arty North York Moors village is something special

Pickering, five miles down the way has more than you can shake a fat rascal at, but the first time I turned left into Lockton I knew I’d stumbled on something special. You know that feeling when you first walk into a place? Recently I had it at Finns Bakery in Guisborough, and Craig’s by the Sea in Marske - both modest outfits but with something special quietly happening in them – sometimes it simply comes down to the quality of the coffee and the care that’s been taken with the bake on the scones.

This handsome but modest stone building doesn’t give much away. But forget doilies and flowery table cloths; instead, mid-century-modern Scandi furniture, subtle lighting, oak floors and of course Lockton art on the soft green walls. Cool tunes complete the scene.

Breakfast (10 til 1130) features the likes of Turkish Eggs, Sourdough Avocado and a good old bacon sarnie. The lunch menu is varied – you’ll find Yorkshire rarebit, mushrooms on toast and their very popular Big Fat Sausage Platter (£7.50) plus a handful of interesting salads. Falafel Mezze (£10.50) is a generous bowl, freighted with roast red pepper, hummus, grains, seeds and pomegranate molasses, and the chicken avo is a belter too. There are toasties, wraps and very good sandwiches – usually I’m on the move and have a take-out: egg & cress & two flat whites (one is never enough ..)

Several times a year they host a supper club. For one reason or another I’ve never managed to score a table but finally I get lucky and four of us set off on a filthy night across the moors, pulling up in torrential rain, sprinting from the car towards the pool of light spilling through the door. The welcome couldn’t be warmer, and the dining room takes on a different vibe to the daytime – one of relaxed sophistication, and a bit more grown-up. The menu is in the classic 3/3/3 style and we motor through pretty much all of it. To start, a nicely griddled peach arrives with giant cous cous and stracciatella (a soft Italian cheese) a good looking dish bursting with flavour. I’ve never seen cavolo nero waffle on a menu; a cabbage waffle has to taste better than it sounds, and of course it does, helped along with an intensely creamy labneh and sweet roast tomatoes, it’s a riot of colour and taste. Lemon courgette with fried butter beans is simplicity itself and why haven’t I thought of that for a satisfying supper? It’s summer on a plate.

Pork is often given a bad rap: it’s sometimes thought to not have much flavour and a dull texture but here a tender juicy cutlet is paired with a properly spiky salsa verde and a smooth tomato basil sauce, with a scatter of new potatoes and griddled gem lettuce – and it’s delicious. King prawn and mussel linguine, smoked garlic and chilli gets the thumbs up, though Jill would have liked a touch more broth – but all the flavours were there. There’s roast butternut squash with tabouleh, pomegranate and feta for non-meat eaters.

Owner/cooks Michael Hester and Andrew Graham gave up their London lives around the time of the pandemic and swapped the kind of jobs that you wouldn't necessarily imagine would set them up for what they do now: Michael was a graphic designer and Andrew worked in men’s fashion. Originally from the North - Michael from Pickering and Andrew from Co Durham, there was a long-term plan to move back and do something different. They embarked on a long house hunt, which was originally centred in York, where they planned to do some commuting to London. A couple of sales had fallen through when Michael’s mum Julia spotted the For Sale sign in Lockton and planted the seed in their heads. It wasn’t remotely close to their ‘new life’ plan and despite neither of them having any formal training in cooking, they leapt.

We finish with a couple of fabulous desserts: lemon and earl grey tiramisu is another dish I can’t recall ever seeing on a menu, and it transports me to another place. Somewhere where it’s not raining stair rods and there’s a sun setting over the sea. Just as good in a different way is a beautifully moist apricot and almond tart with possibly the best ice cream I’ve had all year; icy slivers dissolve on the tongue like snowflakes, and it’s made of cheese – ricotta to be exact, and it’s extraordinary. It’s an inventive flourish, but overall this isn’t try-hard food, there’s no pointless faffing or kitchen chicanery - the appeal of the cooking lies in its simple honesty.

So, a tea room. With excellent coffee, chocolate cardamom cake, blueberry crumble and raspberry blondie, and if you’re lucky, still warm cheese and chive scones, good art on the walls, a warm, inclusive vibe and if you’re quick enough to score a supper club table a memorable dinner that’s so much more than the sum of its parts.

Lockton Tea Rooms & Gallery, Lockton, North Yorkshire YO18 7QA. T: 01751 460467 www.locktontearooms.co.uk. Two courses £28, three courses £32. Bottle of Vinho Verde £28.