Patrizia Simone is the north-east's culinary champion - her homely Victorian cottage restaurant celebrates local, seasonal produce, and it's been making pilgrims happy for 26 years. Pine mushrooms are plucked from nearby forests to pair with polenta; emu, goat and pig are farmed locally. There's much ambition here, and plaudits deserved for offering this kind of linen-dressed hospitality far from the capital's crowds. That it doesn't always match city experiences will not trouble those who don't mind napkins not unfurled into laps, nor wine by the glass not poured at table - warm hospitality compensates. Dishes can feel too fussy - seafood, steamed in a jar with spaghetti, is frustratingly tricky to eat, while fruity 'minestrone' dessert is a busy, confusing mix, despite a lovely custard at its heart. A dish of porchetta, capers and pickled shallots, with moreish lightly battered broccolini, and a fabulous disc of house-made cotechino plays to Simone's strengths. A six-course degustation showcases the talents of Bright's own celebrity chef.