A GOLCAR restaurant has received the highest acclaim from one of the nation's toughest food critics.

The Weaver's Shed, on Knowl Road, has been rated as one of the UK's Top 200 places to eat in Egon Ronay's comeback 2005 RAC guide.

The restaurant, owned by Stephen and Tracy Jackson, was inspected anonymously by a team of mystery diners during the past five months.

The guide, out today after an eight-year break, praised the quality of food on offer at the restaurant.

It says: "Inventiveness and enthusiasm characterise the Jacksons' restaurant once resounding to the clatter of weaving looms.

"A short menu is promising and proved by ingredients which are seemingly mismatched but come off very well.

"The breast of Goosnargh duck is tender plumpness personified."

And the restaurant was given the thumbs-up by Mr Ronay himself.

He said: "Weaver's Shed is an excellent restaurant and richly deserves its position in the top 200.

"As always our inspection concentrated on the quality of food and we were very impressed with our meal there."

A typical three-course meal, without drinks, is about £32 per person.

Owner Stephen, 35, who has run the restaurant for 12 years with his wife Tracy, was thrilled with the glowing review.

He said: "It is always good to hear especially when it was an anonymous visit.

"You are meant to give good service throughout and we endeavour to do that but it is nice to know we do the same thing for everybody.

"All restaurants of a certain calibre rely on guides so to get a mention in a guide like this is worth more than a lot of advertising because our customers read them."

He admitted he was completely unaware the restaurant had been reviewed for the guide.

"It was probably best we didn't know," he said. "Egon Ronay has a reputation for being such an awful stickler for quality.

"When you're cooking for another chef, you're always on your toes."

But he attributed the restaurant's success to an array of freshly grown ingredients.

He said: "Our style is modern British with its wellies in Yorkshire mud.

"Our family has its own farm near Halifax so having our own stuff allows us to grow varieties we want to the size we want.

"Everything is as fresh and organic as it can be."

The farm, including an orchard, vegetable plot, herb garden, two greenhouses and a polytunnel, also breeds chickens and ducks for eggs - not meat.

He added: "I also like cooking with a lot of wild plants which I marry up with major ingredients."

How the menu lines up:

STARTERS

TERRINE OF RATATOUILLE

`Bloody Mary' sorbet; golden tomato and thyme dressing.

SEARED DUCK FOIE GRAS

Red potato "matafan"; roast black fig; toasted almonds; a glass of ratafia.

HOME-CURED SALMON

Served hot and cold; cauliflower cream; oyster caramel; seasonal leaves.

SEARED HAND-DIVED KING SCALLOPS

Veloute of caramelised squash with truffle; watercress; a touch of maple syrup.

CREAMY CARROT AND HERB RISOTTO

Finished with toasted spice butter; a touch of rau-ram.

MAINS

ROAST MONKFISH

Butter-roast salad potatoes; kohl-rabi; fish cream sauce; a trace of shellfish oil scented with Madagascan vanilla.

CHARGRILLED FILLET OF LIMOUSIN BEEF

A wedge of potato cake; cavolo nero cabbage with mustard butter; roast veal jus; a touch of wild mushroom `powder'

ROAST SUPREME OF GOOSNARGH CORN-FED DUCK

Rissole potatoes with tomato; braised red cabbage; roast duck jus finished with foie gras and mugwort; a touch of molasses.

CHARGRILLED CALF'S LIVER

Mash; crisp home-cured ham; chargrilled Kitchen Garden squash and courgettes; veal reduction scented with Vin Santo; parsley oil.

CROUSTADE TART OF WILD AND FIELD MUSHROOMS

Stroganoff cream; sautéed potatoes with wild thyme; butter-poached leeks.

DESSERTS

A SELECTION OF BRITISH AND CONTINENTAL ARTISAN CHEESES

With biscuits or `Old Peculier' ale cake.

WARM ECCLES CAKE

Served with Ashes Farm Wensleydale cheese.

`BEURRE NOISETTE' LOLLIPOP

White chocolate fondant; milk chocolate ice-cream; cocoa bean nibs; cocoa syrup.

TERRINE OF BITTER CHOCOLATE

With a wedge of Mrs. Kirkham's Farmhouse Lancashire cheese.

A TASTING OF APPLES FROM OUR ORCHARD

Toffee-apple souffle; apple crumble ice-cream; apple crisps; apple fizz; a glass of cider-rum `grog'.