WATCHING the contestants on MasterChef The Professionals making pasta dishes this week, I felt an urge for an Italian meal, an urge I satisfied with a quick lunch visit to Francescas in Barrow.

I had it in my mind that I'd last visited around 18 months or so ago, but upon checking my list of food reviews, I discovered it was, in fact, nearly three and a half years. Worrying where the time goes, isn't it?

Last time, I criticised the boring salads and ticked them off for the missing apostrophe in Francescas - but raved about a fantastic creme brûlée pudding, which had been a complete bargain at just £2.95. So how had it changed - if at all - in the intervening time since my visit in August 2014?

Not much, is the answer. My husband and I arrived on a cold but sunny early lunchtime this week, to find the place quiet (understandably for a pre-Christmas rush, midweek working day), and were given a table by a window overlooking the Duke Street traffic.

It was a bit nippy, although considerably warmer than the Baltic conditions on the street. The friendly waiter brought us a large plate of garlic bread (still, as on our last visit, light on the garlic), and a large platter of antipasto, which we shared as a starter.

Classic antipasto ingredients, including salami, Parma ham, olives, mushrooms, artichoke, melon and seafood. Most of it was good, although the prawns were rubbery and the sundried tomato was so tough it was impossible to cut - or, indeed, chew - through.

The Italian meats were the star of the show. Good value on the whole for £5.45.

For mains, I chose cannelloni - pasta tubes filled with beef in a bechamel sauce and spinach - while Gordon opted for chicken rosmarino with fresh vegetables.

The mains came promptly, which was great by us, as we were in a rush. My cannelloni, which was £5.95, was a generous helping, packed with good quality meat and with a rich and creamy sauce.

It was piping hot and fresh as a daisy. Not the most exciting dish to look at, perhaps, but it certainly punched above its weight in terms of taste.

Gordon's chicken dish was excellent. Two large chicken fillets in a good creamy sauce, packed with rosemary (as the name suggested) but not overwhelmingly so. It came with new potatoes and some lovely al dente vegetables. I nicked most of the carrots, I must confess, while Gordon was banging on about electrons and particles and quantum theory - yes, our conversations are sometimes that boring.

Not that my going "you what?" every few minutes actually classes as a "conversation".

I let him drone on while I did a bit of people-watching. It was mainly couples enjoying a quiet lunch - as with many Italian restaurants, Francescas in the daytime lacks the manic, Mammi Mia! madness you tend to get in the evenings.

On balance, I think I prefer the buzz and cacophony of an evening sitting in an Italian - not least because it's harder to hear what the person sitting opposite you is going on about.

With August 2014's fantastic creme brûlée in mind, we asked for the same again to round off our meal.

Creme brûlée doesn't actually appear on the menu any more - but one was brought nevertheless, which earned Francescas a big fat tick for customer service.

It was every bit as good as its predecessor. Perfect custard underneath a cracking - in every sense - caramelised sugar topping. And still priced at just £2.95. Fantastico!

We'd downed three courses in under an hour and rolled out of Francescas feeling well-fed. With all that fuel on board, we were nicely insulated against the biting wind of Duke Street.

I like Francescas a lot. The staff are very friendly, the food is on the whole excellent and it's great value. The cost of living may be going up around the rest of the country - but the cost of eating at Francescas doesn't seem to be.

By LOUISE ALLONBY

Francescas, Barrow

Food 4

Service 4

Value 4

Atmosphere 3

Pros

Big tables

Early bird deals

Brilliant value puds

Cons

Garlic bread a bit bland

Lunchtime lacking in atmosphere