The North Yorkshire coast is beautiful – Staithes right down past Whitby, Scarborough, Brid – down to Spurn point. Just north of the river at Staithes it becomes Redcar and Cleveland. Apparently less beautiful, more gritty and industrial. You’d be hard to tell if we hadn’t spelled it out (and been snobby…Ed) but it is even more starved of funds, with Redcar particularly depressing and abandoned. The sea is still the same (cold) and the beaches long and expansive with golden (ish) sand. So, in the “nice” bit between Staithes and Runswick Bay lies Port Mulgrave. Plenty of old, unsympathetically altered miners cottages and not much else. Derelict harbour, destroyed during the war to stop the enemy landing – they’d surely have been lost if they ended up here?

However, in Port Mulgrave lies Number 20, a small, perfectly formed little restaurant run by Sue and Jason Davies. Three starters, three mains and three puds – oh, and maybe a cheese. Simple and reassuringly traditional format with excellent food. Cooking as it should be without being “tweezered to death” as Jay Rayner might have said. The sort of place that you wished was at the end of your road, so you could just pop in for tea (even at £30-40 per main course!).

Don’t miss it!

Restaurant No 20 Port Mulgrave.