MY dear late mother, whose traditional approach to food matters has been mentioned before in this space, had very firm views about pork, the cooking of.

Being of the generation that believed it was only truly safe to eat it when there was an "r" in the month, she always tended to make doubly sure that whatever nasty stuff tends to inhabit raw pigmeat was killed off by thorough cooking.

As a meat thermometer was not to hand in the 1950s Warne kitchen, the only way to be certain was to cook it until it took on the consistency of damp MDF (medium density fibreboard for those of you not familiar with the Changing Rooms TV genre). Only the addition of copious amounts of gravy made it edible.

We've moved on a bit since then, of course. There is a view, by no means widely accepted, that pork is best served moist with the juices only having just turned from pink to rosy. And certain celebrity chefs, Gary Rhodes for one, even suggest that some cuts should be served still pink inside.

What has all this got to do with the School House Caf in Stokesley, you might well ask?

Well, it became the topic of the night when the young waitress asked me how I wanted my pan-fried medallions of pork (with a fine-diced ratatouille tomato coulis and balsamic vinegar reduction £10.50) serving.

I said "medium", thinking this a refreshing approach to this minor culinary controversy. Two minutes later the manageress was at our table apologising for the fact the question had been asked. "All our pork is thoroughly cooked, we can't serve it any other way," she said with a note of anxiety which suggested that perhaps she suspected I was the local environmental health officer doing a spot check. "I am very sorry, but the pork has to be cooked through," she added, very deliberately, in the style of a health and safety advisory note.

I protested weakly but there was no point, "thoroughly cooked" it would be and so it turned out. Pork fillet is so lean that keeping it moist and "thoroughly cooked" is difficult to achieve and the medallions, although far from being of the MDF variety, were rather on the dry side.

Which was a shame because we liked just about everything else about the School House Caf.

Firstly, it is in a great position in the middle of College Square with views across the road to the parish church and the Manor House,

Secondly, it has been tastefully done out in muted tones, perhaps a little sparsely but this is a caf not a restaurant and overall the lack of formality works well.

Thirdly, almost everything else that emerged from the kitchen was excellent. Most noteworthy was a gargantuan crme br-lee which gained top marks for not having being mucked about with. It was simply a perfectly smooth and unadulterated egg, cream and sugar base with the hardest of caramelised tops. And only £3.95 for what seemed like a large cereal bowl-ful.

My starter was also a triumph of simplicity, a hearty and robust wild mushroom and leek risotto topped with olive oil and Parmesan shavings (£4.95, or £9.25 as a main course).

Sylvia had a chargrilled 10oz sirloin steak with a warm onion tomato and mushroom salad (£14.95). It was flawless and flavoursome piece of beef although perhaps (a bit perverse this in view of how the pork turned out) a little on the pink side for a medium steak as ordered.

Vegetables were generally fine and included very good new potatoes roasted with a honey and hoi soya sauce dressing.

Other main courses which we might have tried included Cajun-spiced red mullet on dressed leaves with a mango and passion fruit salsa (£10.25) and penne pasta tossed with Savoy cabbage, pine kernels and roasted garlic finished with white wine and buffalo mozzarella (£7.95).

Sylvia finished her meal with a handsome selection of English and Continental cheeses (£5.25) and a couple of coffees brought the bill, excluding wine to less than £50.

Service was brisk and, the pork incident aside, very friendly.

The Thursday evening we were there was fairly busy and we suspect that come some decent weather the terrace area outside will be very popular for al fresco dining in the heart of this pretty town.