Dining Out: Inghams Fish Restaurant, Belle Vue Street, Filey

On a blustery, overcast but warm Saturday, two Spartan tanks were trundling up and down the beach, offering rides to the public. It was part of the town’s second Steampunk weekend, and dozens of Steampunks were milling around the town centre, dressed in weird and wonderful outfits.

The Belle Vue pub was their musical focus, with the venue reverberating to some booming tunes.

Opposite, though, was a haven of normality and old-fashioned Fileyness – tried-and-trusted fish and chips, from one of the town’s most popular eating spots.

Inghams is a simple, straightforward fish and chip restaurant – nothing fancy – alongside its own takeaway, and it does what it does very well.

We were shown to a table which, on reflection, was a bit too near the cooking range ... there was no air-con and as time went on it became a little hot inside the restaurant.

The menu offers the standard fare, although the poached haddock with choice of three sauces was somewhat different to the norm. There’s a reasonably sized drinks menu, including beers and wines. Bottles of prosecco – small and regular – featured on a specials blackboard.

Of our party of four, one chose small haddock and chips, two went for the

medium version, and scampi was the fourth choice.

While we were waiting, the restaurant’s nautical theme provided plenty to occupy the eye. The front of the menu, adorned with a smiling fisherman – he also stands proudly outside – reveals that the restaurant was established in 1980. The back page shows an old railway poster – Filey for the Family.

The interior is adorned with sea-themed photos, fishing nets, model fish, lifebelt, and the ubiquitous framed maritime knots.

Our fish proved to be succulent, concealed

beneath plenty of crunchy, thick batter. Peas andother sundries were extra, but there was enough on the

plate to satisfy our appetites.

The scampi – plenty of it – was accompanied by chips and salad garnish, and was declared perfectly cooked and tasty, with a nicely crunchy coating.

Main courses despatched, we decided on one dessert – a chocolate ice-cream sundae, complete with strawberries and marshmallows.

A blackboard hosted three more real tempters: four-layer chocolate fudge cake filled with chocolate brownies and white chocolate chunks; strawberry and cream cheesecake; and luxury vanilla cheesecake.

Our sundae did the job for all of us, though – four spoons soon demolished it.

Inghams offers fine seafood at good value, and it’s worth a mention that the staff were impeccable. We’ll be back soon.