Dine on the Rowe, Beverley, East Yorkshire

That most elusive of meals out: a really genuinely good roast dinner. I can't recall eating one where I didn't pick over something on the plate and think how much better I could have done it myself.

It's not that I'm that great a cook, just that pubs and restaurants always seem to cock up at least one component, be it lumpen, dry Yorkshire puddings, dessicated meat or soggy veg.

I thought that Dine on the Rowe might have been the one to confound expectations, and in some ways it was. The roast platter was a sizeable feast for four, much of which was very good. Lamb and beef were the highlights, both accurately cooked, blush pink inside and with lovely marmitey pan bottom crusty bits on the edges. So far so good alongside proper, well-made gravy, a decent Yorkshire pudding and a dish of very cheesy gratinated broccoli.

The potatoes weren't so good. The roasts looked and tasted like the 'chuck 'em in the deep fat fryer for an even crisp coating' variety, which I don't think really works. You just end up with an extra chunky chip with a mealy middle. The second bowl of potatoes appeared to be boiled and partly roasted herbed new potatoes all mushed up before they were really ready. They didn't get eaten.

The third of the meats was belly pork, which I think had also seen the inside of the fryer. It was cut into thin strips, the result being lovely crackling but dry, overcooked meat. The rest of the vegetables were fine.

I enjoyed the meal, particularly the meat, but other things were disappointing given the wait of almost an hour and the higher end price tag (£13.50 per person for the shared roast). We were looked after very well while waiting though, and service was good throughout.

It's a nice restaurant, comprising a few small rooms in what looks like a converted house in the centre of town. I'd like to return to try the regular menus as there's definitely some skill in the kitchen, but I wouldn't bother with the roast again. If you don't know Beverley I'd recommend a visit there too, it's a lovely market town with lots to see and do (and has the added bonus of being very handy for Hull!).

6/10

12-14 Butcher Row
Beverley
East Yorkshire
HU17 0AB

http://www.dineontherowe.com

Sullivan's, Hornsea, East Yorkshire

I love Hornsea. I'm not really sure why but I always have. If you've never been it's hardly the most exciting or attractive of seaside resorts. The small town centre, pleasant enough, dwindles away as you approach the coast until you reach a sort of no mans land by the sea. There you'll find a straggly assortment of buildings interspersed by car parks. A few amusement arcades, public toilets, chip shops, a leisure centre.

Photo by Tom Corser www.tomcorser.com. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 England & Wales (UK) Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/deed.en_GB

Finally, a lot of promenade and wall, concrete stopping the whole lot from crumbling into the North Sea, then the beach. Pebbly, flat, straight, bleak. This is the Holderness coast, thirty-odd miles of windswept clay steadily disappearing, year on year. Concrete protecting the towns, the villages less lucky.

It's rarely too busy round here, the attractions too meagre. The beach unending, spacious. That's part of the appeal, no hordes as descend on Scarborough or Whitby. There are people around, but a few minutes walk and it's just you, the sea and the sky.

So we wander up and down the front, and stop for an age to listen to the waves and gaze at tankers far out in the bay. Bliss. Then we try, but fail, 20p a go, to grab a toy from the machine out front of the arcades. Until it's time for chips. One of the chip shops is Sullivan's, I've no idea if it's the best in town but it's where I always go, so Sullivan's it is.

Fish, chips and peas, too much salt and too much vinegar, washed down with fizzy pop. Sat on a bench on the prom, gazing out towards Holland.

The fish and chips were good, though not as good as last time. That's what I thought as I ate them. Flakey, fresh fish, good batter but the chips a little underdone and the peas too thick. But maybe memory doesn't serve me well, the food was probably the same. Perhaps it's the place that I'm remembering favourably. The breeze, the sea, the space and the sky.

8/10

Sullivan's
34-38 New Road
Hornsea
East Yorkshire
HU18 1PW

http://www.yorkshire.com/places/yorkshire-coast/hornsea