Chris Lloyd almost misses his chance to experience the Hall Garth Hotel’s WineGlass restaurant

WE were late. It was my fault. I’d accidentally cycled too far on my bike without realising which way the breeze was blowing.

The tailwind massaged my ego into thinking I was going far better than I was and when I eventually turned around I was faced by a wall of wind and a restaurant reservation that, with every turn of the pedals, was looking less obtainable.

But at least I now understand why turbine companies want to plant giant turbines on every hillock to the north of Darlington.

So we arrived a little late at the Hall Garth Hotel, in Coatham Mundeville – just south, in fact, of where a developer wants to build England’s largest windfarm – and my legs were so lead-heavy I could barely lift them out of the car park.

And I was ravenous.

But the WineGlass restaurant filled me to overflowing, and nearly blew me away.

Revamped, it opened in May with the aim of feeding local people, as well as captive guests.

Wine is important to the WineGlass. Wine bottles and artfully tumbled wine glasses fill every shelf and ledge, and there are more than 40 different wines on the menu – my wife, Petra, chose a pleasant rosé which was described as “strawberries on toast”.

Probably more important is a decent maitre d’. Aeroplanes are so simple these days that a child could land one, but you’d always prefer an experienced pilot at the helm. Similarly, carrying a plate of food is so simple that a 16- year-old on the minimum wage could do it, but you’d always prefer to be navigated through the menu by someone who knows their stuff.

Hall Garth has Unsal, who is well known in the Darlington area as warm and knowledgeable.

It was great the way he encouraged the neighbouring couple to try a bottle of English white wine (good business, too, at £4 more than their original selection). They liked it so much that they spilt it on the tablecloth, breaking a wineglass, so Unsal had to move them to another table.

We both enjoyed our starters, which cost about £5.

Petra went for the home-made chicken liver pate with onion marmalade, while I had the pressed ham hock, smoked chicken and guinea fowl terrine with redcurrant and port sauce.

It was indeed very well-pressed, extremely firm, very meaty and nice and smokey. It was swimming in fruity sauce and served with crunchy toast, so that ticked all the texture and taste combination boxes.

For the main courses, which range from £11 to £18.50, Petra daringly chose a fillet of salmon with warm Nicoise salad while I, boringly but hungrily, went for the sirloin steak.

Let’s get the quibble out of the way first: the salmon was probably a mite overdone and the steak was probably a touch too red to be the medium I had ordered.

And I was outraged at the sight of my peppercorn sauce arriving in a small cream jug – I like my food, like the starter, swimming in liquid.

However, I was wrong. The sauce was wonderfully fiery and needed to be applied sparingly to the juicy steak that had been agreeably chargrilled. A plump tomato, a large field mushroom and a pile of chunky chips meant I had a very full plate to plough through with no shortage of moisture.

Petra, meanwhile, tackled her salmon which sat on a salad of tomatoes, anchovies, green beans, olives, hardboiled eggs and sauteed potatoes. It was a very large bowl, and the variety of tastes delighted her. She enthused about the dressing only for Unsal to explain there was no dressing, just a little butter that the fish was cooked in and all the natural juices of the ingredients.

For dessert, Petra usually likes the cheeseboard, and the menu was extremely informative about the cheeses made at Mordon, near Sedgefield , which are appearing in many good local restaurants. However, the fish had filled her too much for cheese, so she chose the crème brulée, and windy Mordon had been the scene of my cycling difficulties so I ordered a banoffee cream torte.

All the desserts are £5.50 and you certainly get your money’s worth. Perhaps even too much. The brulee itself was fine, although topped with such a hard layer of caramelised sugar that, rather than a spoon, it needed one of those hammers displayed behind glass in a railway carriage for use in an emergency. It came with two “homemade choc chip cookie fingers” – large slices of cake, which daunted rather than delighted.

The banoffee was nearly as large, surrounded by a good caramel sauce. It had a chocolate shoehorn in the top of it and was completed by a chewy banana star that sheer gluttony forced me to finish.

The bill was £74, including wine and coffee, which was fair for the quality, and quantity, of food, although my poor leaden legs creaked even more taking me back to the car.

The WineGlass, Hall Garth Hotel, Coatham Mundeville, Darlington hallgarthdarlington.co.uk 01325-300400

Food:  4/5

Service:  4/5

Ambience: 4/5

Value: 4/5