1. Hest Bank Inn
Three miles up the coast from Morecambe, this quaint canal-side local has, in recent years, been given a new lease of life by experienced local chefs Robert Marshall-Slater and Robert Glenn. The building is a work in progress - half the pub has been given a modish chalkboards 'n' chunky tables makeover, the rest looks like your typical dated boozer - but the food is all there. Most of the traditional pub staples are present and correct: burger, fish 'n' chips, gammon steak, Lancashire hot pot etc. There is, however, a firm emphasis on regional ingredients and, clearly, plenty of proper cooking going on in the kitchen. The menu includes a core of evening mains at around £9/£10, as well as cheaper all-day 'light bites' such as upmarket sandwiches, jacket potatoes and (a knowing, ironic nod to the 1970s, this) basket meals. The Lock Keeper's platter, which includes the pub's own superb boiled ham, a wedge of supremely creamy Lancashire cheese and one of Morecambe's famous Potts' spiced fruit pork pies, is a good sharing option. Several ales available, although my pint of Lancaster Blonde (£2.60) was only so-so.
• Light bites/ basket meals from £5.25, platters £9.95. 2 Hest Bank Lane, Hest Bank, +44 (0)1524 824339
2. The Palatine
Bought and transformed in late 2008 - by a small pub group which also owns Lancaster Brewery - the Palatine is now a cosy, convivial modern bar. It's formulaic: chocolate brown furnishings, spirit bottles glinting on the well-stocked back bar, artful clusters of twigs and fairy lights, classic rock and soul on the PA, but it works. If you want to enjoy the views over Morecambe Bay, grab a window seat in the wood-panelled lounge, upstairs. Naturally, there is a good selection of continental beers and real ales (from £2.55), but, even more impressive, is the diligent way a staff member carefully mixes a mean Virgin Mary. The affordable food menu majors on cold meat, pate and cheese boards, served with crackers, breads and chutneys, and stone-baked pizzas made using a handmade house dough which makes an exemplarily base: crisp, thin, with a decent char. The toppings are adequate, but my tester needed another ladle of tomato pulp on its (rather dry) base. It's no classic, but, at £5.50 - for a very large 'medium' pizza - it's fair enough. The boards, which feature Dewlay and Sandham's cheeses, among other Lancashire delicacies, are probably the surer bet.
• Medium pizza from £5.50, boards from £6. 1 The Crescent, Morecambe, +44 (0)1524 410503; thepalatine.co.uk
3. Cafe Artisan
This quirky, slightly hippyish hang-out on Morecambe seafront is a million miles from both the bustle and noise of the local amusement arcades, and the clean, sleek lines of most modern deli-cafes. Instead, expect bric-a-brac, curious vintage crockery and soothing classical music. There are signs instructing you to turn your mobile off, so bring the paper and relax, as you wait - they're Slow Food adherents, here - for your cooked-to-order food. The menu, which runs from creditable, tasty soups to the appetising likes of a large handmade steak 'n' kidney pudding with potatoes and vegetables, covers most bases. There are decent vegetarian options and great, gooey old-fashioned cakes, too. An under-powered latte was a let down (teas/coffees from £1.40)
• Soups/ paninis from £3.55, meals around £7. 296 Marine Road Central, Morecambe, +44 (0)1524 417954
4. Rotunda Cafe
Given the media coverage which the restoration of the Midland Hotel received, it is, perhaps, a little predictable to include it in this Top 10. However, it would be perverse to ignore it in favour of other places that aren't as good. If you're travelling on a budget, you won't be staying here (rooms from £126), but the management seem very relaxed about people wandering in, to have a nose around, and the beach-side Rotunda cafe is a very pleasant spot for first-rate coffee (from £3.50, served with excellent Wooden Spoon organic biscuits) and a slice of seriously indulgent cake (£2.95). If you want something more substantial, the Rotunda also serves mix 'n' match local tapas (eg Cumbrian air-dried ham; Slack's Cumberland sausage; Morecambe Bay shrimps; Butler's mature Trotter Hill Lancashire cheese). Efficient, affable service, too.
• Tapas £1.95-£3.95, sandwiches from £6.95. Marine Road West, Morecambe, +44 (0)1524 424000; elh.co.uk
5. The Cartford Inn
As this series has repeatedly stressed, eating well on a budget is less about pigging-out in cheap places, than having the wit and self-control to dip in 'n' out of genuinely good eateries. The Cartford Inn is a prime example. Located a few miles inland from Blackpool, in Little Eccleston, at a pretty spot abutting the River Wyre, it is one of those immaculate modern gastropubs where the country kitchen furniture and open fires are of a piece with the designer wallpapers and trendy striped carpets. Naturally, the menu stresses local produce (seafood from Fleetwood; marsh lamb from nearby Pilling), and while you could spend a fair few quid, there are affordable lunchtimes sandwiches on offer and several mains hovering at around £9. Casual is very much the watchword here, so they're more than happy for you to come in and share one of the excellent platters. The fish version - highlights: very fresh crevettes with a glossy, garlicky mayo and some beautiful, sensitively smoked mackerel - is recommended. Bright and lively well-kept beers, too. If it's on, try the Hawkeshead Brewery's Lakeland Gold (pints from £2.90).
• Sandwiches from £4.95, platters/mains from £8.95. Cartford Lane, Little Eccleston, +44 (0)1995 670166; thecartfordinn.co.uk
6. Kwizeen
The name may make you wince, but in all other respects, Kwizeen is a touch of class, in a town which badly needs the variety. Over the last decade, chef Marco Calle-Calatayud and his brother-in-law, restaurant manager, Tony Beswick, have fought a rearguard action for good food in Blackpool, focusing on quality suppliers found within a 30-mile radius of the restaurant, and turning out quietly idiosyncratic food which, while not exactly cutting-edge, is interesting, big on flavour and pretty sharply executed. Evening mains start around £13, but if you're on a budget, the set-lunch is a real boon. The starter, slices of pork roulade atop an intense slick of tomato sauce - the pork is proper pig from Pugh's Piglets in Garstang; the sauce has been given a bit of va-va-voom by the addition of brown sugar - is still a little fridge cold, but it's followed by a clever little Lancashire hot pot pie. It's topped with black pudding and mined with good, resonant nuggets of Bowland lamb, and served with accurately cooked vegetables and a punchy, lip-smacking red wine sauce. At £7, for the two courses, it is a serious bargain. The restaurant itself is a neat cream room, vocal jazz the soundtrack. It is all very civilised.
• Set lunch, two courses, £7, three courses, £10. 47-49 King Street, Blackpool, +44 (0)1253 290045; kwizeenrestaurant.co.uk
7. The Cottage
There is a lot of competition, locally, for the title of best chippy, but, when questioned, the locals come up with a familiar litany of names: Seniors (thinkseniors.com); Thornton Fisheries (thorntonfisheries.co.uk); Whelan's (whelansfishandchips.co.uk); The Cottage. It's not exactly convenient, the Cottage, tucked away as it is, a good mile or so from the centre, in suburban Blackpool, but the fish 'n' chips make the walk worthwhile. In a chippy which dates to 1920, there is both a respect for tradition, and a healthy interest in new technology. Everything is cooked-to-order as it should be (no fish stood around in hot boxes going flaccid, here), but it's all fried in state-of-the-art Florigo digital ranges. The haddock emerges in a crisp, clean carapace of almost tempura-light batter, the fish properly steamed within, the chips (made from local Maris Pipers) boasting all the crispness and firmness of the just fried. Mushy peas are often a musty mystery, but the Cottage's home-steeped peas are superbly fresh. The only let down is a thin tartare sauce, overloaded with gherkins. The best on this coast? We couldn't possibly say, but the Cottage is certainly a serious contender.
• Fish 'n' chips, takeaway, from £3.95. 31 Newhouse Road, Marton, Blackpool, +44 (0)1253 764081; cottagefishandchips.co.uk
8. Hastings
The chef at this tastefully glitzy bar-restaurant, Warrick Dodds, was once head chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant-with-rooms, Northcote, near Blackburn. It is much to his credit, that his ethos and his standards shine through, not just at evening service, in the restaurant, but at 3.30pm on Wednesday afternoon, in the bar. Hastings' 'light bites' menu (12-5.30pm) features smaller versions of some of Dodds' restaurant dishes and stand-alone salads and sandwiches. Their potted Lytham shrimps, seasoned with tarragon, mace, lemon and cayenne, and served on a toasted crumpet with a little samphire, salad, herb oil and a surprisingly sharp mayonnaise, is, by far, the stand-out dish of this trip. It is a bright, pin-sharp plate of food, packed with marine flavour, which, even at £5.50 for a starter-sized portion, is still good value. Hastings is a lovely place, too. While most visitors gravitate to Lytham's Clifton Square, this converted Victorian villa on a leafy nearby street retains an air of calm serenity. Order a pint of Hastings' own lemony, well-hopped real ale (£2.75), settle in and enjoy.
• Light bites from £3.50, sandwiches/ salads from £4.95. 26 Hastings Place, Lytham, +44 (0)1253 732400; hastingslytham.com
9. Todderstaffes of Lytham
The cafe section at the back of this deli-cafe looks a bit rum - like a Greek taverna or Italian trattoria largely preserved from the 1980s - but they do a solid line in homemade soups, a popular daily roast meat sandwich, Patchwork pates with toast, and more substantial meals, such as a Theakston's-flavoured rarebit, their own smoked haddock and salmon fish cakes, or homemade beef and pork lasagne. The individual quiche of goat's cheese, olives, roasted peppers and balsamic onions was a little small, for £4.95, with salad, but the ingredients were clearly decent, the flavours were all there, and the staff were pleasant.
• Cafe menu, sandwiches from £4.25, meals from £5.95. 13 Park Street, Lytham St Annes, +44 (0)1253 735325
10. Artisan @ Booths
So far, in this series, the search for "budget eats" has taken us to some unusual places: mosque kitchens, municipal libraries, mobile pizza wagons, but this - a supermarket cafe - is a first. If you don't know the name Booths, they are, certainly in food quality terms, the northern Waitrose. The coffee lounge, with its wraparound views of the, erm, car park, may not be the most picturesque spot in Lytham-St Anne's, but this (proper cutlery, thick linen napkins, designer teaware) is certainly the swankiest supermarket cafe I have ever seen. Moreover, a sample roast beef sandwich is of notable quality, spiked with an interesting horseradish and beetroot relish and served with a very bright-eyed salad. Elsewhere, the menu runs from soups and cakes to full meals, like beef, mushroom and Thwaites' Lancaster Bomber ale pie, or a salad of Real Lancashire Black Pudding Co black pudding, Woodall's pancetta and Kenyon's farm soft-poached free-range egg.
• Snacks from £1.95, sandwiches/ meals from £4.50-£10. Haven Road, Lytham St Annes, +44 (0)1253 794472; booths-supermarkets.co.uk
• First TransPennine Express travel from Manchester to Blackpool from £6 one way (tpexpress.co.uk). Virgin trains travel from London Euston to Blackpool from £13.50 one way (virgintrains.co.uk/).
• Next week: Tony troughs his way up the north-east coast
