WE’RE in the middle of a cost-ofliving crisis, the politicians (well some) are telling us. Wages still lag behind inflation so we’ve less to spend.

But despite all the doom and gloom and while we await the arrival of the recovery in this part of the UK we have to take our pleasures where we can find them. This is the era of the affordable little luxury because we can’t afford the big luxury.

Which perhaps explains why Bettys Cafe Tea Room in Northallerton has continued to do well through five years of on-off recession.

On the face of it, paying the thick end of £10 for a pot of tea for two is plain daft – and in Yorkshire too where we know the price of a tea bag. But on high days and holidays when we feel like a bit of a treat it is an absolute bargain.

Of course, a trip to a Bettys cafe is so much more than some leaves swilling around in hot water. There’s all that understated elegance. In Harrogate it verges on the opulent but then those Harrogate folk have always been suckers for style over substance. The Northallerton tearoom is less OTT but it is still the most civilised environment to eat a meal in town.

The fresh flowers on every table, the waitresses’ blackand- white outfits (the laundry bill for those broiderie anglaise blouses must be colossal), the dinky cutlery and crockery all have to be paid for. And then there’s all that quiet Swiss efficiency (Bettys’ founder Frederick Belmont came to the UK from Switzerland early in the 20th century), the sense that beyond those gently swinging doors into the kitchen there is a small army of immaculately tuned-out chefs and assistants preparing cakes, fancies, eclairs, tortes etc.

The service is generally a cut above your average cafe or tea room.

We arrived early on a Saturday morning to escape the queues which are the norm on a weekend and were shown promptly to a table in the palm room which overlooks a neat courtyard to the rear.

Our coats were taken. This may be a sign of terminal middle age but I just love it when that happens. Even the most expensive places these day expect you to hang a coat on the back of your chair where your back squashes the neckline, and the rest gets trapped under a chair leg or trampled by passing customers. Ours were whisked away while we took our seats and chose our breakfast.

Darlington and Stockton Times:
The interior of Bettys Northallerton, in Northallerton

This was fairly easy, the (full) English (£11.25) for Sylvia and an omelette with smoked salmon (£9.50) for me. I was tempted, in addition, to have the Bettys Brioche French Toast (brioche dipped in egg and milk and fried, with either smoked bacon or fruit and honey – £6.95) but quickly realised this represented gluttony entirely out of place with the surroundings and thought better of it.

Other breakfast options included kedgeree, various rostis (potato, Gruyere cheese and cream), poached eggs (Benedict, Florentine and Royale) drop pancakes, pastries, croissants, fruit and yoghurt and muesli.

With our pot of breakfast tea (£7 – served, of course, in a proper metal teapot with separate hot water, tea strainer and milk jug) we sat back and watched the tables around us fill up.

Gratifyingly for your reviewer, many had their paper with them and the D&S Times’ outnumbered every other title two to one. And it gave me the opportunity to ponder the wisdom of leading that week’s Yorkshire edition with the story about the South Kilvington villager who somewhat sensationally said having North Yorkshire’s police headquarters on their doorstep would be like living in Brixton. Good story, right decision we concluded.

Our breakfast choices were good decisions too. Sylvia’s full English featured some mild, dry-cured bacon lightly grilled, a lean and herby pork sausage, grilled tomatoes, a small mountain of chestnut mushrooms, some softly scrambled and creamy egg with a pile of toast cut into thick fingers.

My omelette was flat-pan, almost tortilla in style and light, fluffy and well seasoned.

The lightly smoked salmon was piled in the middle with some mixed leaves and a slice of lemon.

It was surprisingly filling and I was very glad I hadn’t succumbed to the brioche temptation.

We lingered over the tea.

Darlington and Stockton Times:
Bettys English breakfast and the omelette with smoked salmon which are just two breakfast choices

There was no sense that we should leave before we felt ready, despite the fact that the queue was beginning to grow in the ante-room between the cafe and the shop.

The bill was £27.75 which, of course, is rather pricey for tea and breakfast but for the reasons outlined above we thought it excellent value. We all need a little treat sometimes.

Ratings:

Food Quality: 9/10

Service: 10/10

Surroundings: 8/10

Value: 8/10