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. With an enthusiastic ownership at the helm, major steps have 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 seasonally changing a la carte menu at terrific value, backed up by a lunch and pre-theatre menu of two or three courses, both setting a standard for value that is as good as it is welcome.

In the evening expect to find an array of tempting starters including rabbit, pork and apricot rillettes with whisky-marinated sultanas and toasted caraway bread or maybe the Brixham crab and prawn wontons flavoured with ginger, lemongrass and coriander with chef's own chilli jam.

Main courses could offer 21-day aged 10 oz rib-eye steak sautéed charlotte potato and shallots, red wine sauce and oven-dried herbed tomatoes or poached fillet of salmon in a saffron and tomato bouillabaise with baby prawns, river Exe mussels and fresh herbs. Additionally there are seasonal side dishes of tempting vegetable accompaniments.

The puddings are all made in-house and come beautifully presented such as the favourite 'Hole Mess', a unique twist on an Eton Mess to tempt even the most waist-line conscious of diners. A lighter but more refreshing option could be the green apple and vanilla bavarois with apple crisps and star anise syrup.

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; it offers a selection of sample menus, a booking form and a gallery that shows off the splendid historical dining room and the presentation of the food.