Hole in The Wall, The

The city of Bath has always held an attraction that elevates it above others, something the Romans found out pretty quickly, exhausted after fighting their way through Europe or traversing the Bay of Biscay - either way they were ready for some R 'n' R, a relaxing dip in the beneficial waters and some decent food.

So it is encouraging to find that in those broad terms little has changed, and The Hole in the Wall goes all the way towards restoring the inner man. Recently (09/06) the subject of a tasteful refurbishment and with enthusiastic new ownership at the helm, a further major step has been taken in expanding the excellent reputation of this respected restaurant.

An important part of these changes has been the appointment of Gerry Dowd as executive chef, a man who has worked alongside some of the most revered names in the culinary roll of honour, not least the Roux brothers at The Waterside Inn, Bray.

Born of this experience has emerged a menu that pays due homage to British cuisine, using West Country produce and not hesitating to invoke a European twist when it suits.

Nothing is left to chance, with everything made on site. Behind all this excellence is a desire to expand the restaurant's mission to become not only a place for the special occasion, but just as importantly a friendly local place where the immediate community will feel at home, and valued.

Their method of doing this is to offer a constantly changing set menu at lunchtime, backed up by an evening menu offering an a la carte normally but at certain times a fixed price menu of two or three courses, both setting a standard for value that is as good as it is welcome.

With dishes of this sort of quality to be charged a mere £9.95 for a two course lunch from a constantly changing menu, and an evening menu of two or three courses for £9.95 or £13.95 - only on a Monday or Tuesday evening, and pre 7pm on other nights - really does take some beating.

In the evening expect to encounter around four choices, ranging from chilled cucumber, garlic and yoghurt soup, Denhay ham on a salad of butter beans marinated in lemon and garlic, or a puff pastry tart topped with grilled Haloumi and peppers with an olive tapenade.

Main courses could offer pan-fried fillet of properly aged Gloucester beef on a red onion marmalade, pea and broad bean risotto with a mixed leaf salad, or pan-fried fillet of salmon rendered even more enticing by the addition of a spicy aubergine curry with natural yoghurt and coriander dressing. Included with each dish is a selection of vegetables that have interest rather than duty in mind.

The cheese plate draws well on those renowned West Country cheeses, the selection of ice cream and sorbets are, of course, all homemade, and for traditionalists there is glazed lemon tart with a refreshing raspberry coulis. Coffee is included.

A wine list of great promise is serviced by Heritage Wine, a company who for the last 25 years have worked with small and select growers throughout the world to ensure wines that are unique. As may be imagined the results are inspiring.

The elegance of their Website, reference to which we thoroughly recommend, matches the quality of the restaurant.