Chris Lloyd sails over to The Manor House at Maltby, near Stockton, to try out the restaurant fare

LIKE the iceberg and Titanic, it seemed like fate when I heard that the Manor House in Maltby had been relaunched. The Echo Memories section of the paper has recently been featuring a steamship called Maltby which was named after the village in which the Manor House stands. In fact, the SS Maltby was the first ship that the Ropners shipping line built when it opened its yard in Stockton in 1888.

So my wife, Petra, and I sailed over to Maltby, near Yarm, where the Manor House has been in rough waters in recent times – it was known as the Yorkshire Dragoon and had a tempestuous reputation. But now Sir John Fitzgerald – a group of eight food pubs mainly in the Newcastle area – has taken command of the bridge.

Our meal was good – very good in places – but would have been greatly improved if there had been a firm hand on the tiller.

We arrived, were pleasantly greeted and shown to our table in the restaurant area of what feels like a big pub. Our drinks were brought to us as we looked at the menu, which consists of imaginative pub food.

We sat there analysing it for 20 to 25 minutes, wondering what the soup and pasta of the day was while the waitresses gossiped behind the bar.

Then the penny dropped: you order at the bar. No one had told us this, and nowhere did it say so on the menu.

So I wandered to the bar, and as I placed our order, I was asked for my credit card which was swiped and I signed a chitty that said: "I confirm that this is my card." I have never been asked to do this before, and it meant I had to go and turn off the Mondeo which I'd left running in the car park so we could make a swift getaway without paying. It felt like I'd been rumbled.

The arrival of the starter calmed me down. The appetisers are priced at about £5, but we had chosen one of the three £15 sharing boards. There was a Butcher's Block with terrine, pork pie, black pudding and Scotch egg, or an antipasto board of meats and cheese.

We went for a Taste of Sea. I thought £15 was expensive for a starter, even between two, but it proved good value. There were some lovely fishy goujons, some scampi, some smoked mackerel and a whole shoal of tasty Devilled Whitebaits. There was plenty of Tartar and Marie Rose sauces to accompany it all, and lots of crispy toast.

The only slightly unsuccessful part was the Chilli Prawn Pot as there was not the slightest hint of chilli in the tomato salsa.

Main courses were largely of the classic pub variety of steaks and fish and chips, but again there was plenty of imagination. Petra chose a Pea and Asparagus Tart, in which she could taste both the peas and the asparagus, and which came with a fresh salad.

I was tempted by the Seared Calves Liver with champ potatoes (mash) and crispy cured bacon in a Golden Raisin and Sherry Sauce.

It was, like all the dishes at the Manor House, beautifully presented. Even the sandwiches coming out of the kitchen looked like works of art.

And it was good. The liver was nicely cooked with none of the pungency that made it so unappealing at school. A sprinkling of raisins added unexpected bursts of sweetness and the truly terrific sherry sauce was rich without being overpowering.

The only slightly unsuccessful part was the crispy cured bacon which was certainly not crispy and didn't have a deep cured taste. This was a shame because the texture and the saltiness would have really put the topping on a good dish.

Our plates were cleared away, and we waited hopefully for some indication that desert might be in the offing. No one said anything, so eventually we hailed a passing waiter who gave us the menu he had in his hand.

After our order had been taken at the table, I went for a strategic stroll – eating the whole shoal of whitebait had left little room for pud. On the way back, I noticed outside the restaurant a discrete blackboard telling me what the soup and pasta of the day were. But it was too late.

My chocolate fudge sundae was a perfectly acceptable mix of ice cream, sauce and brownie bits, while Petra's chocolate brownie was a vibrant collection of tastes, topped as it was with a good raspberry sorbet and a sharp coulis.

Our plates were cleared, but nobody wondered if we wanted coffee, so we approached the till and paid our dues: £55, including drinks, for two.

The food was definitely worth it, but an evening meal out is like a voyage, from starters all the way to afters. If there had been a firmer hand on the tiller – someone to hand out the captain's instructions or to point out the specials board as we passed – this meal would have been plain sailing.

FOOD FACTS

The Manor House
High Lane, Maltby, near Stockton
01642-764153
themanorhouseteesside.co.uk

Food quality: 4/5
Ambience: 3/5
Service: 2/5
Value for money: 3/5