The Manor House, Maltby, Teesside

Jul 25 2010 by Eddy Eats, Sunday Sun

Character: 4
Quality: 5
Service: 4
Value: 4
Rating: 17/20

A SUCCESSFUL Sunday scran all hinges on your surroundings I reckon.

Go too down market and it can be quite an unpleasant experience – scoffing your tatties in among the legless locals.

But go too posh and the essence of a good old-fashioned Sunday dinner is also lost – you don’t dare ask for more gravy, never mind an extra Yorkshire pud.

Luckily, this week we struck gold. Set in Maltby, a quaint village on the outskirts of Middlesbrough, The Manor House is that perfect balance.

Despite being recently refurbished the bar bistro still has that country pub thing down pat – it’s homely without being twee. Mrs Eats certainly appreciated the “quirky interior design touches” – whatever that means ... she watches far too many of them home improvement programmes for my liking.

She’ll be on about redecorating Château Eats before too much longer. Pah! Fat chance. The last bit of DIY I did was when she pestered me within an inch of my life for Artexing and look what happened to that trend. She knows better than to ever ask me to remove it!

I’d only grudgingly agreed to be designated driver of the Eats Mobile this Sunday as Mrs Eats reckons it’s a rare occurrence. I ordered a half of John Smiths (£1.45) and a large glass of dry white (£4.85) for Mrs Eats. It looked like a goldfish bowl of booze. Needless to say, her eyes lit up at the sight of it.

We chose a nice private table next to the window and browsed the Sunday menu. Now, as you know, I’m not a really a big fan of fancy foods but the starters were definitely of the posh variety.