Earl's Restaurant

Set in an attractive 16th century building in the middle of the attractive Bedfordshire town of Ampthill, Earl's is an excellent example of a restaurant where the customer really does come first, giving it a neighbourhood flavour; it is also very child friendly, with dishes created especially for them.

It helps that the overall ambience is 'bistro', easy-going and friendly, but still efficient. A menu that is wide enough to satisfy most, and lean enough to be convincing, is an encouraging start, with five first courses ranging from a smoked haddock with Welsh rarebit, served on a tomato and red onion salad, chef's homemade soup served with French bread, or pan fried escalope of tuna set on a Niçoise salad with a mustard dressing. But the simplest things in life are often the best and the duck salad with celeriac, apple and hazelnut dressing would get my vote any time.

Drawn from long experience the list of main courses explores the broad options with considerable dexterity, starting with braised shank of Scottish lamb set on garlic and herb mash with a confit of seasonal vegetables with a rosemary sauce, fillet of Scottish salmon with a crayfish tail risotto and a shellfish sauce and pan fried venison from the Balmoral Estate, served with spring cabbage and carrots, dauphinoise potatoes and a game jus.

Their summer menu lists fillet of lemon sole with new potatoes, broad beans and peas, grilled goats cheese portabella mushroom, and a delightful fresh egg pasta with crayfish, salmon, mussels, chilli and tomato. Starters of  fresh white crab meat gateau with chilli and coriander keep company with escargot - snails cooked in garlic, parsley and butter, and their salmon and cod fishcakes can be taken as a starter or main dish.

Puddings are straightforward, with no flights of fancy. Particularly recommended are the rhubarb cheesecake together with a rhubarb compote and blood orange sorbet, and the chocolate bread and butter pudding with vanilla ice cream. No classic menu is complete without a decent crème brûlée, and lemon mousse with a touch of gin Anglaise is a welcome summer dessert.

Thursday night is fish night, when up to a dozen dishes drawn from the sea make a popular appearance. Expect to find oysters, served simply and unsullied, or perhaps the gateau of prawns, cured salmon and avocado topped with sour cream, and a cucumber salad. On Wednesdays they offer a two or three course evening menu from the a la carte, very good value and the sort of regular event to which the loyal clientele at Earl's look forward.

A wine list of considerable interest starts off with house wine at £13.50, or £3.95 by the glass, but what I found particularly compelling was a single page labelled 'gourmet wines' that included a bin end list. Always a gamble, in my experience they rarely fail to yield a happy occurrence and this is no exception.

Find out more about Earl's from their extremely informative Website.