THERE are only two establishments we know of in this neck of the woods where customers will happily queue for 20 minutes or more simply for the privilege of a table.

The first is the Magpie café at Whitby, revered for its fish and chips, and severely over-rated in our humble opinion. The second is Bettys café tea room at Harrogate, the original Bettys which has spawned offspring in Northallerton, York and Ilkley.

The wait is usually justified, even if some of the prices are a bit silly.

The formula of stylish surroundings, old-world service and consistent cooking based on high quality ingredients has endured good times and bad. But can Bettys survive the noughties credit crunch?

Based on the evidence of a recent weekend lunch, the formula is still good as we head for more bad times. The queue might not have been out of the door but it was healthy enough and a 15-minute wait let us indulge in a time-honoured Bettys custom of eyeing up the seated customers and trying to guess who might be making a move soon.

Of course, having queued for a table, occupants don’t make any effort to be quick and at these prices they want to savour every last elegant moment. Who would blame them.? We certainly didn’t when we were finally allocated our table in the middle of the Veranda room and took in our surroundings.

One of the best things about Bettys is the customers. There’s always some interesting looking characters, and usually someone who looks vaguely famous but you can’t work out why. On this occasion, an exotic Asian-looking lady was sitting with her very English gentleman partner at an adjacent table. She ordered the very un-exotic haddock and chips (£10.50, with mint pea puree, mind) which arrived looking beautifully crisp and golden.

She broke into what looked like perfectly firm white flaky flesh and promptly sent it back. She sat there po-faced until the replacement arrived which she barely touched. Her husband ate most of it and he’d already got through his own plateful. He was a fat as she was painfully thin.

Such vignettes are part of the Bettys experience and make every visit something of a little drama.

Our food proved to be less dramainducing.

Sylvia chose Yorkshire sausages (£10.25), billed as being made from outdoor-reared pork from a farm at Stillington, near York. They were served with a light gravy and buttered new potatoes, carrots and courgettes. Sylvia’s verdict: meaty and absolutely delicious.

I chose the Yorkshire Harvest lunch (£9.95) from the “autumn specialities’ menu, a sort of posh ploughman’s including roast Yorkshire ham, Richmond Smoked Cheese and locallymade chicken and pork terrine, with pickles and mixed salad leaves. It came with a “Yorkshire Millers” roll and butter.

It was a hearty plateful and none of the components could be faulted.

It was complemented by a lovely, almost chocolately Balmy bottled mild ale (£3.75) from the Cropton Brewery at Pickering.

Soppy as ever, Sylvia couldn’t resist the romantically-shaped fruit heart (£3.95) from the cake trolley, a typically Bettys confection of perfect pastry, fruit and cream.

My Yorkshire curd tart (£3.50) is a Bettys classic, moist and sweetly cheesy but improved greatly by a dollop of fresh cream.

Top quality espresso, cappucino and a glass of Swiss rosé brought a bill of £41.15, extortionate really for a ploughman’s and sausages but we didn’t begrudge t one bit.

We’re not sure if the expression was coined by a Yorkshireman but “you get what you pay for” seemed highly appropriate.

The autumn specialities menu, featuring the above but also smoked chicken and mushroom rosti (£10.25), lamb gratin (£10.95) and smoked salmon pasta (£9.95) is available from all the firm’s café tea rooms. The Harrogate branch remains our favourite – for the eccentric customers and views over The Stray and Montpellier gardens.