After Eight Restaurant

I have to admit that until now I had never looked upon Rochdale as a centre of excellence when it came to gourmet eating. Nothing snobbish, mind you, just horses for courses with a faint undertone of tripe and onions. So having said that it is real joy to come across After Eight, located in a handsome house on the outskirts of Rochdale, a regular entrant in the Good Food Guide and a source of pleasure to an ever increasing coterie of regulars.

What makes it so special? Geoff and Ann Taylor, who have run the place for some 15 years (Geoff does the cooking) seem to have the knack of combining a friendly and welcoming approach to their customers with razor sharp skills at the stoves. Starting with good local ingredients the food has an integrity about it which shows through in dishes like the chartreuse of asparagus and spring onion, or such simple dishes as Morecambe Bay shrimps in filo pastry, a commonplace enough item yet transformed from the usual to the exceptional. And this perhaps is their real gift, to take unexceptional quality and deftly mould it into something in a class of its own.

The chocolate and raspberry gateaux is in the same league but cheese buffs will be over the moon at their array of old and new Lancashire cheeses, such as Garstang Blue and Lancashire Black Beauty. Sorry, but white stilton with candied fruit is strictly for the birds, but let's be tolerant.

The wine list is a good collection with most areas represented, reasonable prices and house wine at £11.50. The a la carte menu offers five choices at each course and is keenly priced with mains from £12-£16. But if that's a problem go for the price fixee dinner on Tuesday-Friday for between £18-£24.