It's a place with a great sense of its history but it’s certainly keen to move forward with the culinary times.

For when we decided to check out the Malthouse at Rishworth last Saturday it was the night they had launched their new menu.

And you could sense from the pub’s management that there was an eager sense to please, to be sure that what they were offering was a success and would entice you back for more.

It’s a great drive out to that part of Calderdale, especially if you go down from Outlane through Stainland, drop down to Barkisland and then over the next hill and down by the Fleece before turning left at the traffic lights at Ripponden, go past the imposing Rishworth school and the Malthouse is there on the right just set back from the road.

It was built early in the 18th Century by Scammonden clothier John Walker and began as The Kings Arms.

In 1827 a Mr Carver and his family ran the Inn and the history of Rishworth School records that in April 1827 the trustees met at the ‘House of Carver’ to arrange the laying out of the Foundation Stone of the school.

It later became the Royal Hotel and was run for the same family for more than 100 years.

When you park in the top car park and walk towards the back of the pub you get that sense of age, of history. Inside it’s still exposed beams with solid wood tables and what I’d call comfortable chairs. I like a comfortable chair when I’m eating a big meal and this looked like it could well be a biggie.

It was busy too and the front of house manager apologised that there would be a 10 minute delay. What? A whole 10 minutes! In our house you can easily be trying to eat for up to a couple of hours. Ten minutes was nothing but thanks for the warning. That’s good service.

Still, why not get the ball rolling. At the top of the menu we’d already spotted a grazing section which offered such taste ticklers as pork scratchings or dipping bread.

We went for the dipping bread which came with a large bowl of olives and a tiny bowl of olive oil. The bread was warm and crusty and we felt it would benefit from a tiny bowl of balsamic vinegar. No problem. One promptly arrived and in we duly dipped. At £3 it was excellent value – those olives sure were big.

So what was the soup of the day? An old fave like carrot and coriander, leek and potato or vegetable? No, it was white onion and port. No way! Yes way. We just had to have it and it lived up to the billing as something out of the ordinary. My wife Ruth went for the carpaccio of beef – oh-so-red cold beef with parsnips, pickled giralles mushrooms and parmesan crisps. Something certainly different – those must be the world’s tiniest mushrooms but what a kick from the pickling. Other starters were baked mackerel fillets with fennel coleslaw, pickled beetroot and horseradish cream; BLT – crisp belly pork with gem lettuce and confit of tomatoes or how about a crisp duck egg with celeriac, apple and watercress with a chilli and lemon dressing.

Mains were pan seared brown trout fillet with pancetta and wild mushroom risotto, crisp capers and lemon oil while the Lamb Henry was irresistible.

Now Ruth knows a thing or two about risotto and the worst restaurant review we ever did was an Italian where she had to pour some wine in it to give it an inkling of flavour. Not here. The pancetta and capers did that and more with the rice neither too dry nor too moist. It takes some doing to get it just right but they’d nailed it and the fish was wonderfully delicate and succulent.

The Lamb Henry is a big piece of meat, again so tender it just peeled away as soon as a fork came near. It arrived with three lines of mash that could have done with livening up a bit and parsnips that were undercooked. It’s a dish that needed another vegetable, ideally something green, on the plate.

Waiting staff were eager to provide any sauces you needed ... just as it should be.

Other mains – which incidentally all looked large platefuls – were Timothy Taylor’s beer battered fish with chunky chips; pan seared king scallops; spinach, goats cheese and caramelised onion filo parcel; Malthouse steak and ale pie; chicken supreme – tender chicken breast served with new potatoes and a pancetta, creamy mushroom and spring onion sauce.

By now the food toll was beginning to take, well, its toll but just to keep pudding fans happy we managed to share a sticky toffee pudding topped with butterscotch sauces and served with ice-cream. A fine example of a classic dish.

The cheesecake, by the way, looked enormous but we’ll save that delight for another day.