FOOD: Poaka Beck restaurant, Dalton

In November I abandoned my husband for a fortnight to go on holiday with my best friend, leaving him home alone and fending for himself on the food front.

Thoughts of him wasting away, subsisting on rabbit nuggets or digging in to the dogs' dinners were almost - but not quite - enough to make me feel guilty while I caroused round the Caribbean.

I needn't have worried, for while the cat was away, the mouse was well and truly playing. And eating like a king, it turned out.

One evening during my absence friends of ours who have a house in Dalton took Gordon to Chequers for dinner, to sample the delights of the hotel's Poaka Beck restaurant. They all loved it and, upon my return, Gordon declared that the two of us absolutely must pay a visit.

So on Wednesday this week, that's precisely what we did. And, golly, it certainly lived up to Gordon's high praise.

I hadn't been to Chequers before, so didn't quite know what to expect. I was very pleasantly surprised. It's smart yet cosy, with a friendly bar area which, when we arrived, was doing a roaring trade with midweek diners.

We were shown upstairs to the Poaka Beck restaurant and it is here that one really gets a feel for the history of the building - a former school.

It has been renovated very sympathetically to its past, but not in a twee way.

I liked a chalkboard on one of the walls containing school rules from circa 1900; and I loved the story of the building which has been printed on other walls around the room. This is a restaurant which respects the building in which it is set.

Mood lighting and well-spaced tables add to the atmosphere.

We ordered moules mariniere at £5.95 for Gordon's starter and I chose one of the soups of the day, spiced parsnip, at £3.95. They came without too long a wait and both were excellent.

The mussels were in a deep bowl with a lid which doubled up as a bowl for the shells. Plump and juicy mussels in a creamy, herby and delicious sauce, all mopped up with a generous hunk of warm, fresh bread. Shellfish heaven for Gordon.

My soup was thick, rich and delicious. It too came with a hunk of bread and my only quibble was that there wasn't enough butter - and the butter there was had melted to oil inside the wrapping because it was served on a hot plate.

For mains I chose curry of the week, which this week is chicken. It was £10.95. This came served in a deep bowl: a very generous portion of curry, packed with lean chicken and in a good sauce with fresh spinach.

I would have liked it a little hotter for my palate but fully understand the chef's sensible decision not to go mad with the chilli.

Rice, mango chutney and a lovely, crispy, fresh from the fryer poppadom completed this perfectly good curry.

Gordon's rib eye steak (£17.95) was the real star of the show. The friendly waitress had been more than happy to run back down to the kitchen to deal with our query as to what the Paris butter sauce involved (lots of herbs, it turned out), and the dish that appeared was superb.

A very tender, rare steak which was one of the best Gordon had eaten recently - and this is a man who knows his steaks. A confit tomato, mushroom and lovely crispy onion bits all added to it.

But it was the chips which had him in real raptures. I nicked one and can confirm that they were absolutely superb. "Best ever," Gordon declared; and the waitress agreed. The Chequers chips are a real hit with all the customers, not surprisingly.

For pudding Gordon chose a honey tart with brown bread ice-cream, neither of which he had tried before. It was delicious. The tart was rich and moist and the ice cream was just fab. I dug in, for research purposes, and could have polished off the lot. The bread gave it a lovely texture. I adored it. We both did.

With wine, the bill came to just over £60. Good value for such excellent food. Service throughout was superb. The staff were friendly, chatty and charming - and genuinely pleased with the richly deserved tip we left.

We had had a delightful experience from the start to finish. Lovely food in lovely surroundings.

The Poaka Beck at Chequers is well worth checking out.

LOUISE ALLONBY

Food 5

Service 5

Value 4.5

Atmosphere 4.5

Pros

Sense of history

Superb staff

Top notch food

Cons

No Chardonnay by the glass

Not enough butter with the soup