Farmers Arms, Baycliff

FOOD with a side order of deja vu was on the menu this week.

Nearly two and a half years after I last visited, I returned to the Farmers Arms in Baycliff, having heard the pub had recently launched a new menu.

My husband and I arrived just before 6pm and were shown to the same table at which we had sat back in June 2015.

There may well be some new dishes on the menu, but the pub itself is unchanged, which is a big plus, as far as I'm concerned.

It's a cosy little place, with dried hops festooning the bar, sofas grouped round a fire and a small but adequate main dining room, adorned with comical photos of cattle. Teatime locals were gathered at the bar, and the Farmers exuded that quintessential pub atmosphere.

The menu is a mixture of classic British pub grub (the Farmers has long been renowned for its fish and chips) and tastes from around the world. Local produce rules - good on them - and the newly-added elements of the menu means there is something to suit all tastes. Burger lovers will be kept happy by an entire page full of quirkily-named burgers, including an Italian Stallion and a Chris de Burgh-er, with which I was intrigued - but not enough to order it.

After much deliberation we decided to share a bowl of garlic and chilli prawns at £7.50; and when they arrived, sizzling in a bowl and with a huge hunk of warm focaccia, I realised that we had ordered the very same starter last time we visited.

No wonder, though, because it's a belter of a first course. Huge, plump prawns swimming in a garlic and chilli sauce, with all that lovely focaccia to mop up the juices. It's not a dish for the faint-hearted and you really do have to like your chilli and garlic powerful. Luckily, we both do. And, also luckily, we weren't planning on meeting anyone later that evening - otherwise we would have been able to fell them at 20ft with our garlic breath.

For mains, I had to avert my eyes resolutely from the fish and chips and the burgers - my two go-to dishes when I'm in a pub. All of them are serious amounts of food (although smaller portions are available, sensibly) but I was in the mood for something reasonably light. A small portion of Whitby scampi appealed, at £8; while Gordon decided on an Indonesian chicken rendang - a medium-strong curry of the Far East.

Both were excellent. I know scampi isn't exactly a dish which tests the skills of most chefs, but it needs to be good quality and well-cooked. This was both. It came in a paper-lined bowl with a wedge of grilled lemon, and was accompanied by some fab homemade tartare sauce, a little bowl of garden peas, a fresh green salad and a separate navy and white enamel (yawn) bowl of crinkle-cut chips, which were so nice, I forgave them all the different receptacles the meal came on, which came to the grand total of four bowls and one plate! Bet the Farmers' washer-upper is kept on his/her toes.

Gordon's curry was a very large portion, packed with huge chunks of tender chicken, in a sauce which was just spicy enough. Excellent rice and green beans, along with some small poppadoms and a huge handful of watercress - a lovely dish and good value at £12.

After all that, we decided to forgo the puds and extricate ourselves from our seats (no mean feat - they're pretty close together) and finish our drinks at the bar, where we had spied some people we know. With two rounds of drinks, our bill came to just over £40, which was good value for such high quality food. I really like the Farmers. It's small and friendly, serving very, very good pub grub. A deja vu dinner it may have been - but there are some experiences well worth repeating.

LOUISE ALLONBY

Ratings (out of five)

Food: 4.5

Service: 4

Atmosphere: 4

Value: 4

Pros

Cosy village pub, burger bonanza, ample car park

Cons

Small dining room, often necessary to book in advance