Stephen Lewis enjoys a satisfying lunch at a traditional country inn

THERE are some places you go for a meal out that are all a buzz. The food's only part of the attraction: just being there in your glad rags, watching the faces at other tables and posing for them in turn, is all part of what makes it an occasion.

There are plenty of such new posing palaces opening in York: young, vibrant, happening places with more designer labels sitting at the tables than you'd find at a convention of upwardly-mobile wannabe public relations executives.

There are other places you go that are just the opposite: places so relaxed and unpretentious they make you feel more like stretching out in front of a warm log fire and falling asleep.

The George at Easingwold is definitely in the latter category: and ideal for a lazy, if not sleepy, Sunday lunch.

When I rang up to inquire if they did Sunday lunches, I was told I really ought to book. But on arrival at this most traditional of English market town inns, I couldn't honestly see why.

The bar - a pleasantly traditional country pub affair with plenty of dark, polished wood and some great beers on offer - was busy but by no means bursting. And through in the dining room only a couple of tables were in use.

Turn up for a Sunday lunch at The George and you can either go for a better-than-average bar meal - chosen from a menu or from specials such as swordfish steak or roast loin of pork - or opt for a slightly more formal meal in the two-star hotel's dining room.

We chose the latter, and after being left for rather too long to ponder the menu in an ante-room, took it upon ourselves to walk through and find a table in the dining room.

We sat at a table in the window with pleasant views out over the market square. The dining room was carpeted, and there was a quiet buzz of conversation from the other guests. Outside, Easingwold looked as though it was deep in slumber.

The table d'hote menu offered a three-course lunch for £16, which seemed like great value. For starters I ordered deep-fried camembert with cranberry sauce and Lily a 'fan of melon with fruit and apricot coulis'. For the main course, Lily went for the roast loin of pork with savoury stuffing while I opted for traditional Yorkshire sausages with black pudding, mash and onion gravy.

We sipped our drinks - a pint of Black Sheep for me, an orange juice for Lily - and before long our starters arrived. My camembert was crisp outside, melted and creamy inside: and the blandness of the cream cheese was nicely perked up by the tart cranberry sauce. A good beginning.

Lily's fruit selection was appealingly arranged and nicely fresh. "It's fine," she told me.

The starters had, as starters should, left us ready for our main courses. We both were hungry, not having eaten all day, and ready to tuck into a good meal. So the slowness of the service that we then experienced soon began to become frustrating, then annoying.

There were two waiters, a young woman and a young man, and both were perfectly friendly when they were there. But as we got hungrier and hungrier, they seemed nowhere to be seen.

Eventually, just as our stomachs were beginning to think our throats had been cut, our meals arrived. And when at last they did come they were - just about - worth the wait.

My plate was heaped with a huge mound of real, flavoursome, freshly-cooked mashed potato, topped off with three thick, meaty sausages and a huge slice of black pudding, the whole drowned in thick brown onion gravy.

It wasn't gourmet food and I hadn't expected it to be. But the sausages were real sausages, not the bread-filled apologies that all too often pass for this most satisfying of English dishes. The black pudding was light, hot and steaming, the mash wonderful, as proper mash can be.

Lily's pork was a hit, too. Her plate was heaped with several good, thick slices of tasty, tender pork and a generous helping of savoury stuffing.

The dish of vegetables that accompanied our meal was generous, too: roasted and boiled potatoes, swede, green beans, carrots and mange-tout: all freshly cooked and all managing to retain their flavour.

Our hunger was rapidly assuaged, and by the time we pushed our plates away, we were both full. Lily passed on dessert but I, determined to get my money's worth, ordered poached plums in red wine. It was the best part of the meal: two succulent, steaming plums, their skins bursting, topped off with fresh cream.

Well satisfied, I asked for the bill. We'd expected to pay £32. Mysteriously, the bill - including drinks and one coffee - came to just over £29. Great value in anybody's book.

The George Hotel, Market Place, Easingwold. Telephone: 01347 821698.

Fact File

Food: Satisfying

Service: Slow

Value: Excellent

Ambience: Sleepy comfort

Disabled Access: There are steps to the gents loo