Mike Laycock enjoyed some posh nosh when he visited the Spice Box at Boston Spa

I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want, I said to the Eating Out editor (or words to that effect). To try eating out somewhere a bit posh. OK, he said: how about the Spice Box at Boston Spa?

It sounded posh enough, although I suspected the prices might be a bit scary. However, I rang up to book a table - and the meal nearly ended before it had even started. Could I have a table for two on Friday night, I asked? "Sorry," came the reply. "We're fully booked Friday and Saturday evenings until the New Year." And it was still November! This was clearly some popular place.

But then she found there was just one slot available for two in the bookings diary... at 9.30pm.

Having admired the floodlit Georgian houses of Boston Spa as we drove along the main street, we arrived early with plenty of time to study the menu over a drink at the bar. We rejected the set menu (a three-course meal for £14.95) in favour of individual dishes, several of which had immediately caught my eye.

My wife selected crab soup for £4.40, made, according to the menu, with fresh Whitby crab, brandy, fish stock, cream and dill, and served with an enormous bread roll which seemed filled with herbs. The soup, we both agreed, was quite delicious.

I chose pigeon breast, marinated in gin and roasted "pinkly" in goose fat, flamed and then fanned over a cous cous of chorizo herbs and deep-fried leeks. Price: £4.75. Again, plenty of flavour, and presented very attractively - compactly and neatly in the centre of a huge plate, looking rather like the food page in an upmarket Sunday supplement.

I asked the waitress if the Spice Box was new: I couldn't remember seeing it on numerous journeys through Boston Spa. No, she said, it's been open for about 25 years. So much for journalists' supposed observational powers! The name appeared to come from the rows of little boxes on the walls, which once contained spices and herbs when the premises were an apothecary's shop.

I was having a bird evening, and picked guinea fowl for my main course for £11.75. It came flash-fried with strips of veal, with a sauce of garlic, mint and yoghurt. Very tasty.

My wife had chosen duck breast, pan-fried quickly and then sliced over a cous cous, topped with sweet potatoes and crisps for £12.50. It again looked good but tasted on the bland side.

For pudding, I chose tiny profiteroles and fresh strawberries, neatly arranged around a pot of hot chocolate roulade for dipping purposes, for £3.70. My wife asked for cheese and biscuits for £3.85, and this wasn't your common or garden cheddar or brie. The Wensleydale cheese was the real thing from the Hawes Creamery, while another cheese came from Tipperary.

The bill came to £49.30: not cheap, but the food had been rather ...posh. Our waiter was French, and I confidently decided that at least one of the chefs must be from the land of gastronomic excellence as well. No, we were told: from Lancashire and Yorkshire...

The Spice Box, 152, High Street, Boston Spa. Tel 01937 842558.

FACT FILE

FOOD: *****

SERVICE:***

VALUE:**

AMBIENCE: ****

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