The Star at Sancton, Market Weighton: Food reviewer Dave Lee says this Yorkshire pub deserves a visit from Michelin inspectors

So return I do, to find the Star pretty much as I left it – big, confident, welcoming and friendly. There are some new bedrooms being completed out back (or is the front? Anyone who’s visited will know this dilemma) but the interior, the service, the food and the whole experience is just as first-class as it’s ever been.

Still puzzlingly award-free, Ben and Lindsey Cox continue to pump out top notch grub to their loyal customer base without fuss or frenzy or, inexplicably, a visit from the man from Michelin.

Actually, ‘award-free’ isn’t exactly true. The Star has won some plaudits – mainly from regional catering and tourism bodies – but never the national recognition this level of food deserves.

So, all I can do is heap on more praise on the place and hope someone out there spots that the little village of Sancton has something very special at its centre.

Once sat, the first thing I notice is the elbow room. Me and the pal I’ve invited along for a feed aren’t small lads so the table size at Sancton is noted and appreciated. Some places don’t even leave you enough table-top to safely deposit your phone on, here we can spread out and luxuriate.

It was all we could do to stop ourselves playing a quick game of shove ha’penny, such was the available space.

For the unadventurous, the menu features a mix of solid classics (fish and chips, pie etc.) delivered with absolute precision, just as you’d want and expect from such pub keystones. Elsewhere, though, among the more intriguing dishes, is where our appetites dwell.

The sticky ox cheek starter is presented with braised onion, chestnut mushroom puree, pickled girolles and, most marvellously, marrowbone crumb and a sauce made with Henderson’s relish. It’s a grand old mound of grub but it’s the marrowbone and Hendo’s touches that really elevate the dish into exceptional territory.

Unusually, I went veggie for my first dish with smoked potato hash, which was served in a Jenga piece style underneath a pile of delicious confit leek, wholegrain mustard, leek oil, brown butter hollandaise and Lincolnshire poacher crisps, which the Coxes could bag up and sell to Waitrose as the poshest snack on earth.

That so much taste could be derived from – essentially – some leeks and tatty is amazing. If all veggie food was this extraordinary, I’d be tempted to eschew meat permanently or at least until the main of roast lamb rump arrived.

Then I’d be back down the butchers demanding something’s flesh in a heartbeat. The lamb is, of course, perfectly cooked, and then served with an array of cleverly balanced additions.

There is a slab of potato cooked in lamb fat, there is a cube of crunchy, flavourful lamb belly fritter, there is simple sprouting broccoli, and then there are various blobs and cubes consisting of caper ketchup and broccoli stalk pickled in lamb jus. It’s hard to work out if the dish is delicious because it’s clever or clever without threatening its deliciousness.

Another veggie dish devoured with glee was beetroot and Roscoff onion Wellington. Offered up with cavolo nero, baby roast pots and beetroot ketchup and crisps, and it’s another triumph for our friend the humble vegetable. A light dish – despite the presence of pastry and potato – and one of the best uses of beetroot I’ve ever encountered.

On this occasion – though I don’t doubt this may change on other visit – the stars of the show were puddings. As a long-time devotee and expert on sticky toffee pudding, I’m going to amaze myself by declaring the Star’s STP is probably the best I’ve ever had.

Featuring a very gingery ginger snap biscuit, salted toffee sauce, vanilla ice cream and deep, sweet, delightful muscovado and date jam, it was the stickiest, toffeeist pudding possible. If there were an STP trophy, I’d be nominating this one for the title.

Incredibly, though, it’s not even the best dessert on the Star’s menu. That title must go to the rhubarb and custard pannacotta, which is not only the best use of pannacotta I’ve ever encountered but also the best use of rhubarb and – possibly – the best ever use of a dessert bowl.

Atop a beautifully light pannacotta (which would make a superb pud in itself) are perfectly poached chunks of rhubarb, soft but still crunchy and with ultra-enhanced rhubarb flavour. Then - adding a whole other spongy texture - there are cubes of polenta cake topped with custard crumb and then smaller cubes of crystallised ginger tucked away in various delicious crevices.

Each element of the dish is superb by itself but when you get two or more at once on your spoon, they bounce off and complement each other spectacularly well. The best dessert I’ve had in yonks. Many yonks, in fact.

With all the world’s been through over the last few years and all the changes we’ve seen, it’s easy to forget the holdfasts. The places and people who are always there, always innovating and always delivering. I wholeheartedly encourage you not to forget the Star at Sancton.

Ben and Lindsey have transformed this pub over the past 20 years from rundown village boozer to epicurean wonderland.

They’re still there, they’re still surviving and, one day – hopefully soon – they’ll finally receive the national recognition they thoroughly deserve. I hope that day comes soon and I hope they revel in it when it arrives.

Welcome 5/5

Food 5/5

Atmosphere 5/5

Prices 5/5

The Star at Sancton, King Street, Sancton, Market Weighton, YO43 4QP, www.thestaratsancton.co.uk.