A SIDE street in a quiet country location. A steady flow of cars. They park, wait, get what they need and drive off. Lou Reed probably plays on the car radio, singing about waiting for the man.

This is the modern way of dining out, and the Beeswing in the village of East Cowton, which is somewhere tucked away in the country lanes between Darlington, Northallerton and Richmond, have got it down to a fine art.

They have a limited menu of classics – sausage, pizza, parmo, masala – and on top do a daily themed special: Tuesday is burger night with a range of burgers, Wednesday is a range of curries, Thursday is ribs, Friday is fish, Saturday is parmo and Sunday is a traditional lunch.

You order and pay over the phone – unlike Lou Reed who turned up at Lexington with 26 dollars in his hand – and are given the letter of a collection bay. At your allotted time, you turn up and park up beside the cone with your letter on.

Then you wait.

Darlington and Stockton Times:

Suddenly, the back door of the car opened. “There you are sir,” said a voice, and almost before I could turn round, my meal was placed on the back seat and the door slammed shut, the deliverer disappearing in a blur of plastic gloves.

That’s it.

I’d scored.

I dashed back through the country lanes with my illicit cargo, trying to avoid all the randy countryside creatures who seemed desperate to commit suicide beneath my wheels – of course there were pheasants, one of which had been killed in the 15 minutes since I had last passed that way, but there was a pack of peacocks on a corner, a low-flying blackbird on a kamikaze mission and a pair of collared doves that were so loved up in their billing and cooing that they didn’t notice a Qashqai with its horn blaring.

Fortunately, the Beeswing’s stack of comestibles didn’t shift on the back seat and because it was covered in tinfoil, there was no spillage and not too much heat loss. There is no substitute for that thrilling moment when a waiter sets down before you an artfully presented plate of food, but the Beeswing’s presentation of a neat stack of cardboard boxes wrapped in smooth tinfoil folded at the corners as a nurse folds the sheets on a patient’s a bed was good.

We’d ordered on parmo night, partly because this is one of my favourite delicacies. We’d ordered a Hawaiian (£8) and a special special with a black pudding and bacon topping (£10), as well as a 12 inch pizza (£8).

Darlington and Stockton Times:

My wife, Petra, had the pizza, with a tuna and prawn topping, and it was fine. Indeed, in these days when nearly everything comes out of your own oven from a supermarket, just getting something from somewhere else was a joy.

Our son, Theo, and I each had a parmo. Theo’s Hawaiian came with a pineapple ring on top, which added a sweet fruitiness to the meal which he liked, but it also had a layer of pulled pork which I thought confused the parmo taste.

Similarly, I didn’t think that the small pieces of black pudding and bacon on my special warranted an extra £2 or were really necessary.

Because, at its heart, this was a truly excellent and classic parmo: a thick wedge of white chicken covered in breadcrumbs. Despite being thrown around the country lanes of North Yorkshire, the chicken was still moist and succulent, and the breadcrumbs still had a crunch to them.

Then there was a layer of bechamel sauce and a melted cheese topping, and it was accompanied by a little pot of garlic mayonnaise – gorgeously cream and garlicy – to complete the parmo experience.

The parmo came in its cardboard box with an interesting mixed salad and a really good dollop of coleslaw, which was also creamy but had an extra crunch and a tang of onion through it. In recent years, everything from bread to beer, from marmalade to ice cream, has had its flavour enhanced by being created by skilled artisans, yet the humble coleslaw has been overlooked and is dolloped about wily-nily. This coleslaw, though, had been put together with a little care.

The box also included a handful of chips. Both Theo and I thought the handful could have been more generous, but, in truth, that was just us being piggy. The parmo was such a substantial and calorific offering that we really could not have managed any more carbohydrates.

The Beeswing’s offering is proving popular in north North Yorkshire where many pubs are still dark – on Monday, when the pub’s kitchen was having a day off, a mobile pizza oven came along and pre-orders meant it was fully booked two days in advance.

The pub jumped early into the void created by the virus, and has developed a precise operation which is enabling people to get their fix of special food.

The Beeswing Inn, East Cowton, between Darlington and Northallerton, DL7 0BD

Phone: 01325-378349

Search Facebook for “The Beeswing Inn 2013”

Food served 4pm to 8pm, for collection and must be ordered in advance