Moorcock Inn, Norland

Life as a food reviewer can be tough. It looks like the best job on the planet (and it’s not mining coal, let’s be honest) but most of the time Jill and I eat in really average places so you don’t have to. Lots of the pubs and restaurants we visit don’t make it onto these pages because they’re, well, meh. From time to time we stumble on something exceptional, and it makes our hearts sing – recently Jill loved Partisan in York, and I had a tip-off about an old boozer perched high on the moors above Sowerby Bridge. People, let me tell you. It’s extraordinary, ground-breaking, thrilling – in all the years I’ve been eating for a living, I’ve NEVER had anything like it. Head for the Moorcock – it’s so worth getting lost trying to find. Book your dinner table soon, it’s only a matter of time before you can’t get in for love or money – but you can just turn up for the bar menu, which is chalked up on a board above the fire, and is just as extraordinary. Squirrel ragu with chocolate sauce, anyone?