The Red Lion, Knapton

Inside it's similarly mainstream. There's little sense of heritage or history to the place. No horse brasses, no hunting prints but no metropolitan affectations of scrubbed wood and cracked leather sofas either. The dcor is conservatively smart, more Marks and Spencer than Habitat.

The printed menu appears routine, too: soup, pat, fishcakes, omelette, fish and chips, burger and chips, steak and chips. On the bar they advertise pork pie and pickled eggs. Is this just another Red Lion with a 2010 version of chicken in a basket, scampi in your hankie and all you can eat for 5.95?

Don't be fooled. The chef and owner of this Red Lion is Annie Prescott, for four years head chef of the estimable Melton's in the centre of York. She trained there and at the stellar Le Gavroche, in London, under Albert and Michel Roux . Indeed, Albert Roux gave Prescott away at her wedding. Annie quit Melton's a year ago to step out on her own, opening then closing last month to gut and refurbish the kitchen. Now she's up and running once more and the obvious question is having proved she can cook at the top end what is she now doing sending out burger and chips and pickled eggs?

The short answer is giving people what they want at sensible prices and doing it with some panache. At 7.30pm on a Tuesday night the place was buzzing. Nearly every table was taken with a mix of couples, families and one table of women discussing Dickens and Jacqueline Wilson – the Knapton Book Group perhaps.

Most people were there to eat but it has just enough chairs and bar stools to affirm that it is still a pub. There are half a dozen real ales on tap and a modest wine list with a dozen bottles and a dozen by the glass. We went local with Skipton's Golden Pippin Copper Dragon Ale, a fine session beer, as the real ale experts

would say.

The regular menu has five starters and eight mains offering easy, no nonsense dishes of venison and pork sausage with onion gravy; home-made beef burger and chips; sirloin steak with garlic butter; ham, egg and chips.

The specials hooked onto the wall on mini blackboards were more adventurous with sauted crayfish tails in garlic butter with warm bread; cream of cauliflower soup; Yorkshire venison; chicken with cherry tomatoes, aubergine with pesto, Parmesan and shrimps; confit of duck leg; fish pie and beef and mushroom pie. Everything is keenly priced at about 4.50 for starters and 12.95 for mains, with steak and chips peaking at 15.95.

Marinated, grilled mackerel was a gorgeous little starter. Simple and honest with that metallic, iodine freshness of good oily fish. It was matched with the clean flavours of a yoghurt and mint dressing. Better still were a cracking pair of fish cakes: easy on the potato but with a generous mix of haddock and Pickering trout, given a homely, rustic coating of breadcrumbs and served with a fresh, sharp and – I'd guess – own-made tartare sauce and a few dressed salad leaves.

At mains, the breast of chicken marinated in tikka spices with basmati rice was accurately cooked: warm chicken breast and a fresh, raw, salad of tomatoes and coriander with crunchy miniature poppadoms. But this was chicken tikka lite. The Red Lion calls itself "quintessentially English" and perhaps this was a dish best left to an Asian kitchen that wouldn't dream of sending it out so mildly spiced. More heat, more fire, please. Back on local terroir, the Yorkshire venison, served only just pink was the smarter choice. It was not quite meltingly tender but had depth of flavour, a zinging green peppercorn sauce and came served on beautifully vibrant pale green local cabbage and good mashed potato.

Puddings were another high point. How tempting are these: sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce, steamed syrup sponge and custard, chocolate cappuccino mousse, vanilla cheesecake and local Askham Bryan strawberries, all priced at 4.25 or thereabouts, and all looking a picture.

A quivering, vanilla-spiked panna cotta was textbook perfect served with local strawberries, an ideal fresh and light summer evening dish. The raspberry and apple crumble was equally good. Arriving in its own dinky little white pot with an equally dinky jug of custard or, in my case, the preferred cream. No arty smears and flourishes, just deceptively easy, well made food. And that's the point. The Red Lion isn't a trendy gastropub and probably doesn't want to be. Anyway, it's prices are too sharply pegged to allow for much fancy pants in the kitchen. What it is doing, and doing brilliantly well, is offering a simple menu, using local ingredients and serving predominantly British dishes in a village local. In an era of relentless pub closures, not least in villages like Knapton, it's a common sense and commendable recipe that could safeguard the future of Red Lions all over the country.

The Red Lion Knapton, Knapton, York YO26 6QG. 01904 793957. Open: Tue-Thur, noon-2pm and 6pm-8.30pm. Fri and Sat, noon-2.00pm and 6pm-9pm. Sun, noon-2.30pm. Dinner for two including wine, coffee and service 50.

www.redlionpubyork.com [email protected]

YP MAG 28/8/10