Trenchers Restaurant, Whitby

It is not the sort of place where day cost-conscious trippers will bring in their hungry children, though there is a Junior menu which offers, say, "chunky fish pieces", chips and beans for 5.60. Yes,

your average family of five will probably move on.

Trenchers is up-market and the cheapest fish and chips for grown-ups is 8.70. We all like bread and butter and a cup of tea with fish and chips and for this you will pay 45p per slice and 1.90 per person for a pot of tea.

Trenchers has a reputation for its fish and for its lavatories, winning industry awards on both counts. There are a few meat and vegetarian dishes on the menu but its forte is food from the sea: cod, crab, haddock, lobster, plaice, halibut, shellfish, skate and salmon. It opens just before noon and closes mid evening, every day of the year except December 25. Getting fish and chips in Whitby is not hard, and many of the cafs charge prices which are considerably lower than the rates here where it's 8.70 for a small haddock with chips and salad and whatever the market rate is for cod.

On this visit a small cod with chips was 9.70 and a regular cod was a tail-thumping 13.20, compared to 11.20 for a regular haddock.

These "regular" portions are not the plate-engulfing piscean monsters of the traditional seaside caf. They are just adequate for the average appetite and Trenchers has obviously pitched its product accurately because the dining room was ticking over nicely, even on a Tuesday afternoon before the season had got going. It is a bright room, with a full-length glass front facing the town's information centre and railway station, a prime spot for the arriving tourist.

From the outside it does not shout its presence. The name board is in a cursive 3-D type script which is actually awkward to read. It says simply Trenchers, a name to those in the know synonymous with fish meals for many years.

The open-plan dining room on the ground floor is mostly run well, with smart local ladies in white blouses and black skirts, the men in white shirts and black slacks. There is a cold counter with the ready to serve starters. Not a whiff of hot oil or fat seeps into the room. The fish is similarly "clean", with a light, crisp and grease-free batter doing nothing to detract from the sea-fresh flavour and texture of the fish.

Not on the menu are kippers, which Fortunes have been producing in the town since 1872, and they do not serve oysters. Nor is there anything about where the fish is from, other than Mediterranean or Norwegian prawns, and the New Zealand mussels and the catch-all phrase "locally caught". Traceability should not be difficult here. When North Sea fish is landed in Whitby and auctioned at the quayside market, each box being sold is tagged with the name of the vessel which caught it.

I started with (fresh) crab with mixed seed bread and butter and a salad garnish. At 6.90 it provided plenty of sweet and tasty crab. There were generous slices of lemon and a splash of colour from the sliced strawberry sitting on top, though not adding anything to my enjoyment. The sandwich menu offers a crab sandwich for 6.60. A main course of fish casserole was generous with fish, including cod, haddock, prawns and salmon.

The recipe used onion, cheese, leek in a cream sauce, and mashed potatoes and the consistency was more like a fish pie than a casserole. The seasoning was extremely mild. It was served with "garden peas". Are there any other types of pea than garden? These had the taste of a cheap meal at a transport caf. Something more imaginative is needed. At 10.85 I would expect a fresh green vegetable and this is what Trenchers management could be looking at, rather than showing us the chef can slice a strawberry.

We tried the "regular cod" and at 13.20 it was a luxury I would not repeat. The chips were more okay than sizzling fresh from the pan. The fish could arguably have managed a little more cooking.

Tomato sauce and tartare sauce are served in bowls, which is smarter than the sachets which the mayonnaise came in. There was also a finger-washing bowl for a first course of three prawns in the shell (7 with a small salad).

The general picture is of a confident, modern, cleanly-displayed caf restaurant, quite the antithesis of the cottagey charm of the famous Magpie Cafe nearby. Service was good until the closing stages, when our table seemed to have been forgotten and I had to wave

for rescue.

You will have your own opinion about the prices. Mine is that they are too high. A glass of milk is 1.90. Soup is 4.70. I expected to see information about how and where the fish was caught, about sustainability, the fragile marine environment. There isn't even anything about the history of the business.

Trenchers Restaurant, New Quay Road, Whitby YO21 1DH. Tel: 01947 603212 and www.trenchers restaurant.co.uk

Licensed seafood restaurant with some meat and vegetarian dishes, children's menu, salads and sandwiches. Open every day from late morning until mid- evening. Disabled access and lift to the first floor toilets. Short-stay free street parking and pay and display parking nearby. Reckon on 25 for three courses with tea, bread and butter.

YP MAG 22/5/10