LIKE the song goes, ‘New York, New York, so good they named it twice’ – the New Inn at Sowood was so good the first time round, we decided a repeat review would be twice as nice too!

The Forest Hill Road hostelry was one of the first to come under scrutiny when this newspaper embarked on its now very popular Restaurant Review feature on Fridays nearly five years ago.

The chefs may have changed (Richard Nethercoat is now the head man), but the owners remain the same.

Under the watchful eyes of Lee Matthews and his business partner Jeremy Adshead (it will be seven years next month since they added the New Inn to their portfolio), the quality of both the food and the service has not diminished in the slightest.

I enjoy ‘foreign food,’ probably more than the next man, but when push comes to shove, you can’t really beat top quality English fare, and I’ve always found that is guaranteed when I’ve been to the New Inn, whether it be for a ‘full Monty’ breakfast as a prelude to a horse racing trip or for a pleasant evening meal with my family.

My most recent visit was for the latter, where a bay window table afforded us spectacular twinkling twilight views over West Vale and beyond.

Unusually for the Lockwood family all three of us decided on skipping starters and going straight for mains, not that there aren’t any number of tempting openers on the board.

Menus are on chalked blackboards as opposed to printed, although the latter type are available for the upcoming Christmas fare which gets under way on December 1 until December 23.

Breaded brie with summer fruit coulis and the tempura king prawns, tomato and chilli relish are a couple of my favourites.

In the event, we were invited to sample some freshly-baked, warm bread, one a brown, the other a particularly stunning white, which included ham, cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. Absolutely amazing!

The girls decided I was pushing the boat out for the main course and dived straight in for the two most expensive items on the board, dear wife Conise opting for the 10oz fillet steak with pepper sauce (which was very intense), while darling daughter Tienne (she’s always had expensive eating habits) plumped for the steak medallions, on a red onion and Stilton stack.

I was torn between the giant haddock, about the size of a small whale, the belly pork with spiced apple and cherry compote or the duck breast, soy, mixed peppers and orange, but eventually chose what would have been my newsroom colleagues’ vegetarian nightmare, Lamb Henry with rich minted gravy.

The meat, equivalent to what we consume between the three of us for a Sunday joint, was perfectly cooked, just pink enough inside and as tender as – well, something very tender!

We chose vegetable accompaniments, which came in a large dish for all of us, and included carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage and new potatoes, and another large dish full of home-made chips.

Memo to all chip shop owners, who produce mass-produced, anaemic offerings: the New Inn’s chips are sweet, chunky and beautifully browned-off. Simply to die for!

I have to confess, the lamb, beautiful as it was, defeated me by dint of sheer quantity. My wife’s fillet, requested medium, was probably just on the rare side of medium, but with the exception of two forkfuls was also enjoyed.

And as any good chef will tell you, it’s easy enough to sear an under-cooked piece of meat for a few seconds longer, but you cannot reverse the process.

My daughter demolished the medallion and onion stack with determined abandon, and then switched her attention to the desserts board.

The Lockwoods have been known to order one dessert and three spoons, affording us all just a soupcon of the chosen sweet, but on this occasion we had one apiece!

And before we even tasted our respective choices, the very artistry and presentation had to be applauded.

My sticky toffee pudding, served with toffee sauce and custard, contained lashings of dates and was absolutely gorgeous.

My wife’s French lemon tart with ice cream was again a ‘work of art’ on the plate – at least until her dessert fork got to work on it.

My daughter opted for maximum calories and chose the chocolate, orange fudge cake with cream, which, apparently, was very rich and ‘awfully good.’

To wash down what was a fine meal, my wife chose a very palatable house Merlot, and remarked what an excellent selection of wines the New Inn does offer.

Lee usually changes his menu round every three months, and the constant ebb and flow of eager customers is testament to just how good this hostelry is, and why I, and many, many more keep going back, time and time again.

Venue The New Inn, Forest Hill Road, Sowood.

Tel 01422 310937

Children Welcomed

Disabled access Yes

Opening hours (for food) 12-9.30 Mon to Sat. 12-9 Sunday.

Bill: £61.20 (for three people including two rounds of drinks)

Would you go back: Already have!