Quality breakfast at Central Coffee House in Northallerton

This quite possibly pointless exercise has been prompted by the feeling that the county town must surely be the tea and cake capital of Yorkshire, perhaps even the North of England.

On occasions I have tried to count them but have always come up with a different number. It's what happens when you count in zillions.

Of course, it depends on whether the data collection area (I’m a bit of a nerd about this sort of thing – Sylvia says it’s a typical boy thing) includes the whole town and Romanby or if the boundary is more tightly drawn to the town centre or just the High Street.

I mean Barkers doesn’t just have one café but three (four if you include the one in the Home store – but that’s not in the High Street). I hope you are following me here.

Over the years, I think we have been in all of them except for one – the Central Coffee House – at the northern end of the High Street a hundred yards from the town hall roundabout.

Given its position, it could hardly described as difficult – like The Terrace down the ginnel (or vennel, snicket, yard, alley depending on your regional dialect preference) near the town hall – but it does rather hide in plain sight.

Our visit was prompted by a single comment on social media – “the best cup of coffee in town” – so we fetched up there for breakfast, and a cup of coffee, on a wet Saturday morning.

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It’s small with just a handful of tables inside, three outside which were not going to see much use that miserable morning, and what looked a tiny serving area and kitchen. Condensation forming on the big window fronting the High Street was the unwelcome taste of the winter ahead.

There’s a lovely, cosy, neighbourhood feel to the place, with regulars calling to collect their takeaway drinks orders, many of them on first-name terms with the staff. It clearly has a loyal following.

Rather unusually for these days the proprietor’s name is above the door. Emma Scaife is the boss. I like that sort of accountability.

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The menu is quite adventurous. By that I mean if you walked in and asked for a plain ham sandwich I am sure it could be produced but it’s not on the menu. Instead, there is a range of ciabattas, toasted paninis and somewhat exotic (well, exotic by Northallerton café standards, at any rate) salads – halloumi, sun-dried tomato and avocado with rocket, olive oil and balsamic vinegar for example. They also do afternoon teas.

The breakfast items are slightly more in the way of traditional café standards. So, there is the full English, bacon sandwiches and eggs Benedict along with a breakfast burrito (bacon, sausage, chilli jam and cheddar cheese) and bacon, smashed avocado, poached egg and chilli on toast.

We picked the last of those (£9 )and the full English – or a Yorkshire breakfast as described on the menu (£10.50) – with a pot of tea and a latte.

They were great. And perhaps the greatest thing of all was the butter which came with the toast served with the full English.

Now readers of this column over the years may recall my rants about the horrible, individually-wrapped little oblongs of butter beloved by many places for obvious reasons of convenience and reduced wastage.

True, this was an individually-wrapped packet. But it was a decent-sized pat and it was unsalted. We’ll gloss over the fact that Netherend Farm from whence it came is in Gloucestershire – so something of an imposter as part of a “Yorkshire” breakfast.

But it showed the Central Café really cares about what it serves and that just set the standard for everything else on our plates. Avocado with just right degree of ripeness and not too many chilli flakess, good meaty sausages cooked in split halves to ensure they were cooked through, a perfectly poached egg with properly set white and runny yolk, super-sweet cherry tomatoes, a crispy hash brown.

Strangely enough, given what had prompted our visit, the only slightly off-note was the coffee. Sylvia thought her latte was on the strong side. But a few days later I called in for a takeaway cappuccino and I thought it was spot-on.

So I would conclude that should you generally prefer a stronger coffee, the Central Coffee House probably does serve the best in town. But you’ll have to try all the others to see if I’m right which could take you a long time. So perhaps just take my word for it. I guess that’s kind of the point of this column.

The Central Coffee House

229 High Street, Northallerton DL7 8LU

Tel: 01609 774712

Open: Tuesday-Thursday 8am-3pm, Friday and Saturday 8am-3.30pm. Closed Sunday and Monday

Ratings (out of ten): Food quality 8 Service 7 Surroundings 7 Value 9