The Rib Room Steakhouse and Grill Hardwick Hall Hotel Sedgefield, County Durham.

THIS week we shall be mainly talking about steak – as in rib-eyes cooked medium rare.

What else can one do when a party of four chooses the above for their meal with the only variation being Sylvia, who opted for a variation – rib-eye cooked medium?

So vegetarians turn the page now – this is going to be all about meat, pretty much nothing more, nothing less.

The party could be accused of lacking imagination but we were in a steakhouse, a rib room to be precise, where hunks of the finest beef are the main thing.

To be fair, they will do you a bit of fish, some chicken and even an asparagus lasagne for the non-believers, but that’s like going to an Indian restaurant and ordering steak and chips.

We were at Hardwick Hall, near Sedgefield, part of the Ramside empire, which includes Bowburn Hall, Ramside Hall at Carrville, near Durham, and a successful outside catering business.

We’ve been a bit rude about the carvery at Ramside in the recent past, mainly for the gravy-stained décor, but Hardwick’s Rib Room is in a different league. Downstairs, it’s all nooks and crannies, low lighting, exposed brickwork and an atmosphere redolent of bovine carnage – there’s even a meat locker where diners can inspect the carcases of the animals they are about to eat. It’s a wonder some extreme animal rights crew have not mounted a raid here, holding chef hostage while demanding the immediate release of all farm animals in County Durham.

But perhaps they realise the beasts that give their all so the likes of you and me can stock up on cholesterol lead a far better life than most animals destined for the general meat trade, the sort that end up in your average burger or steak pie. These in particular are treated like minor royalty on farms close to the hotel, mainly but not exclusively the farm run by Jonathan Craggs at the wonderfully named Glower-oer-Him. His herd of pedigree Herefords, reared almost exclusively on grass and slaughtered by George Bolam, also in Sedgefield, means that we are not talking about food miles here, it’s more like food yards.

Okay, so it’s all sustainably produced, but what does it taste like? ‘Absolutely superb’ was the considered verdict of Gordon, Jean, Sylvia and yours truly, who were taking advantage of the Rib Room’s Monday night £25 for two steaks, all the trimmings and a bottle of house wine offer.

We didn’t have starters or puds, but because the trimmings amounted to some mushrooms, vine tomatoes and sautéed onions and a choice of bearnaise, diane, peppercorn and garlic butter sauces, we did supplement the main event with some side dishes of mashed and chipped potatoes, a green salad and some sautéed spinach. And very good they were too.

But back to the steaks. Firstly, they were fatty but that is good. Just as there’s no pain, no gain, if there’s no fat, there’s no flavour – and the flavour of well-hung, sharply sautéed and well-rested meat, just burst out of these beauties. They were also tender as can be, thanks to the grass diet which makes for particularly open-grained meat.

Was it all brilliant? Pretty much so, apart from the irritating wooden boards they served the steaks on. I know this is the fashion these days. Along with Kilner jars and mini wire baskets for serving chips, lumps of slate are increasingly popular as serving dishes. I’m counting the days before I’m presented with a prawn cocktail on a large bathroom tile.

What’s wrong with a plate, those cleverly-designed devices with rims designed to stop meat juices dribbling off and onto the trousers of your best suit?

But we like the maitre d’, Leonardo, who seemed to treat us like long-lost friends and said we could come and enjoy the Wednesday night surf ’n’ turf deal on any night of the week, provided we gave him a ring first. Nice touch, we thought. Just hope it’s okay with his boss.

The bill was £75 for the four of us – that is the two steak deals with the wine plus all the side dishes at £2.50 a pop, a diet coke, some mineral water, a liqueur coffee and a latte. A fine price for some sublime steak served in comfortable surroundings by friendly people.

Hardwick Hall Hotel Sedgefield, County Durham TS21 2EH Telephone: 01740-620253 Website: www.hardwickhallhotel.co.uk Vegetarians: if you must Disabled access

Ratings (out of ten): Food quality 10 Service 8 Surroundings 8 Value 9