AFTER one of those days when you feel you're meeting yourself coming back - as the saying goes - the last thing you want to do is start cooking. 

Tuesday was one such day, so at 6 o'clock I headed to Hartley's in Dalton for an early supper, to enable me to get through to Ulverston for my last appointment of the day: the Tuesday night quiz at the Old Friends pub in Ulverston. 

It's some years since I last visited this charming little place in Market Street. It's in a lovely double-fronted shop, complete with striped awnings, flowers and bistro tables and chairs outside. 

You could almost be in Mont Martre in Paris. Well, perhaps not. This is Dalton, after all. The French bistro theme continues inside, with distinctly Gallic-looking wall lamps, an eclectic collection of knick-knacks on the shelves and a continental colour palette on the walls. 

The only jarring note to my eye was the chairs, which just don't look quite right in their setting. The menu is extensive and at first glance my heart sank a little. It's often the case that the more things on the menu, the more stuff is pre-prepared. Not at Hartley's, however. 

We decided to share a starter of chicken livers on toast, which arrived shortly after our drinks. The livers were juicy and tender and in a delicious sauce. Nothing pre-prepared about this: it was fresh and delicious. As a starter shared by two it was perfect - it could easily have done as a main course for one, as well. The young man who served us was delightful: really friendly and genuinely wanting to make sure the customers had the best possible experience. 

The hospitality economy is huge - and important - and yet so often one goes to restaurants where the staff almost give the impression that they're doing you a huge favour by deigning to serve you.

 So it's always refreshing to be served by someone who actually gets what this industry is about. Gordon chose a mussel and prawn salad for his main course, for £13.50, while I had a lasagne from the early menu, at £8.75. Gordon's was a huge bowl of shellfish, with a lovely rustic salad served at the side. The mussels were a little on the small side for Gordon's taste but were nevertheless cooked well and with a good texture. 

He loved his salad, which was bursting with luscious olives. He mopped it all up with plenty of bread. My lasagne was good. Piping hot (a bit too much so) and with plenty of meat. 

The sauce was well-seasoned but I would have liked there to have been more pasta involved, as there simply wasn't enough. An extra layer would have gone down a treat. A little bowl of salad on the side was tasty, although I wasn't overkeen on the dressing, which wasn't tangy enough for me. The star of the show was the garlic bread. 

Now, I'm almost always disappointed with garlic bread. It promises so much but is often just dry and a bit boring. 

But Hartley's garlic bread is absolutely fantastic! 

This was soft and lovely bread absolutely oozing with creamy, good quality garlic butter. I could have eaten an entire loaf of it - it was the best garlic bread I've ever had. 

Gordon had a French apple tart for pudding, for £4.50, which came with a jug of creme anglaise - and was dispatched within a matter of minutes. Another hit. 

The place was buzzing with customers throughout our visit; and we felt we had been lucky to get a table at such short notice. 

There's a lovely feel to the place, the service and food is excellent and it's a pleasure to see a business which is so clearly thriving - and deservedly so. 

Hartley's brings a real feel of the Continent to Furness. We managed to shatter the illusion of being in France entirely the moment we stepped out of the door - and headed across the road to the Co-op to buy some on-offer toilet rolls and some Whiskas for le chat. Ooh la la!