A couple of Sundays ago I walked up the Pennine Way to Malham and on the way, somewhere near Airton, fell into conversation with a local taking his girlfriend for a walk before shearing.

I asked where the best place to eat in Malham was, and his advice was to avoid the Sunday crowds and eat at the Vic, in Kirkby Malham.

The Vic, or The Victoria Inn to give it its full name, provided a hearty lunch of hand-cut roast beef and vegetables with an Irish salad of roast, mashed and boiled potatoes.

Good as the food was, we wondered if a second visit for a review would be as successful. How often do you return to a place and find it's a let down?

The first thing you notice about The Vic is that it makes no attempt at pretentiousness. Two cosy bars and a neat dining room make up the pub.

Despite it being a busy Saturday evening, we were quickly found a table by cheerful staff who were efficient and diligent.

The menu, other than a few oddities such as brie wantons, is simple, with separate pages for salads, vegetarian options, filled Yorkshire puddings, assorted mains and, most interestingly for me, a selection of steaks.

They had everything up to a 24 ounce T-bone, all giving plenty of change from £20.

If I had ordered the T-bone there would have two heart attacks - one for me and the other for my GP if he read this.

We chose fishy bits (£4.25) and asparagus tips (£3.95) for starters and steak and ale pie (£7.95) and fillet steak (£16.50) for our main courses.

Fishy bits were three good chunks of fresh haddock in a light batter and pretty faultless.

Sadly, the asparagus, though well presented, was overcooked to the point of disintegration on the fork.

The pie was a very solid slice with good meat and gravy, and the fillet steak was tender and tasty and well up any steaks leader board.

It's a shame the same cannot be said for the accompaniments of some very average chips, peas that looked straight from a tin and the worst looking mushrooms I've ever seen. I cannot tell you what they tasted like as they went back to the kitchen.

The puddings are a snip at £3.25 and in a moment of regression we decided to share a strawberry sundae, which finished things off nicely.

The total bill, with a couple of glasses of wine and a pint of ale, was fair enough at £43.20 for a meal with more hits than misses.

If you want whistles and bells on your food it's not the place for you, but if you want possibly some of the best steaks around give it a try.

Andrew Clarke