WITH winter fast approaching, the nights drawing in and the weather surely about to take a turn for the worse, it's not always easy to find the energy and inclination to head out for something to eat. But sometimes, especially on a weekend, you have to make an effort – if only to avoid two hours of X-Factor and watching the Toon lose on Match of the Day. Sarah had recently seen lots of internet chatter about the Woodman Inn, at Burneston, near Bedale, so we decided to brave the dark and give it a try.

Ahead of booking, I checked out the pub's website which revealed that the Woodman had been taken over this year by a family, with the youngest member, 18-year-old CJ appointed as head chef. A brave move, but CJ has a track record, coming second in the National Junior Chef Competition a few years ago.

The website states that he then went on to "work in highly regarded restaurants under top chefs". Fair play to CJ, he's clearly got a more get-up-and-go than the teenagers I know and has packed a lot in over the past few years.

Looking in the Echo's archives, I discovered that the former Darlington College student had prepared a menu of saddle of rabbit stuffed with black pudding, with a trio of carrots and English asparagus, followed by elderflower panacotta with poached ginger, and rhubarb sorbet, for the competition judges. That would do nicely.

We were a surprised to find that we appeared to be the only diners when we called in on Saturday night, but the staff were very friendly and the dining room looked a picture. I don't think I've ever seen cutlery and wine glasses gleaming so brightly. The menu was small, but there was plenty on that I fancied, even if the dishes didn't sound quite as tempting as the stuffed rabbit.

I started with wood pigeon with sage gnocchi, broad beans and a parmesan cream. The meat was served slightly pink and tasted gamy and good, although I'm not convinced the gnocchi wasn't mashed potato.

Sarah's sautéed halloumi should have come with radish, romantic tomatoes – whatever they are – and green salad. We didn't find any radish and there was very little that was romantic about the bog standard wedges of tomato, but while the actual halloumi was quite nice, the least appealing aspect of the dish was the numerous big chunks of raw onion found among the lettuce leaves. Romance would definitely be off the menu if she had eaten them all.

For the main course, I chose braised beef cheek, smoked mash, pancetta, mushrooms and silver skin onions. Again, the beef was tender and tasty, but I couldn't find any pancetta and the silver skin onions looked remarkably similar to the big chunks of standard onion found in Sarah's starter.

A steak lover through and through, she had chosen the sirloin with confit tomato, roast field mushrooms, onion rings, with salad, red wine jus and hand cut chips. The steak was a decent piece of meat, the chips were excellent and the jus was not bad, but the confit tomato was just a grilled tomato, and the onion rings – usually a highlight of any steak meal – were batter-less and scrawny. Naked onions after the romantic tomatoes, Sarah suggested. Through the rings had been threaded a piece of lettuce, but for 50p short of almost £20, it wasn't good enough.

To finish, I went for a white chocolate and Baileys cheesecake which was very good. Sarah's thought her lemon posset a highlight.

Heading for home, it was suggested that we had caught the Woodman kitchen on a bad night, but that's difficult to reconcile with the empty dining room. It's much easier to excuse issues when a small kitchen is sinking fast under a barrage of orders than it is when you're the only customers. All the meals had good features, suggesting that the young chef is talented, but sometimes there is no substitute for experience. And there is no excuse for dishes to differ so dramatically from their description on the menu.

The bill, including a pint and a half of decent Deuchars IPA and a couple of bottles of Smirnoff Ice, came to just under £67. The prices were on a par with other pubs in the area with restaurants, even if the food wasn't.

FOOD FACTS

The Woodman Inn, Burneston, Bedale, North Yorkshire, DL8 2HX
Tel: 01677-426123
Web: thewoodmaninnburneston.co.uk

Food: 3/5
Service: 5/5
Ambience: 3/5
Value: 3/5