This month we introduce one of Lincolnshire’s best kept secrets. Ealand Gate near Crowle, Scunthorpe, represents very high quality dining in a beautiful agricultural setting at megre prices... with a menu full of true ‘soul food’, we enjoy a meal courtesy of the talented Jonathan Took

For Lincolnshire diners, good food means fresh ingredients, dishes prepared freshly to order, plenty of choice and quality, quality, quality.

That’s something that this month’s restaurateurs Jonathan and Saphire Took know only too well.

Their eatery, The Ealand Gate Restaurant, has been open since 15th October 2007, and just shy of its two year anniversary, we paid the restaurant a visit to find out why its diners praised its food so highly despite the somewhat misleading reasonable prices.

Somewhat of a well-kept secret, the restaurant is all but hidden away on the borders of Lincolnshire and West Yorkshire, on Junction Two of the M180 between Scunthorpe and Doncaster.

That may seem to put the restaurant rather off the beaten track for some diners, but with the convenience of the motorway and at just three quarters of an hour from Lincoln and Grimsby, it’s not too far away considering the quality of food on offer.

The restaurant is a converted and newly extended barn on Jonathan’s family’s farm. Having worked in bars and restaurants for twelve years, Jonathan found his stride as a chef 'on the job' and is entirely self-taught, to the disbelief of many of his customers.

His talent in the kitchen was also augmented by his time spent on the family farm and his love of shooting… and today, the chef grows vegetables and herbs used in the restaurant, shoots & dresses his own game, makes the restaurant’s bread, butter, ice creams & sorbets and desserts all from scratch.

That’s not bad considering the restaurant itself offers 50 covers and the promise that your table won’t be turned during the course of your evening.

This is just as well. For, with the comfortable surroundings of a converted barn to enjoy as well as over a century of wines to choose from and a wine list created by Lincoln’s Steep Hill Wines, you’re unlikely to want to move after a three course à la carte meal with amuse bouches, coffee and hand-made after dinner truffles.