Venue Fifty Nine, King’s Head Hotel, Abergavenny

8:34am Friday 7th March 2008

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You'll find a welcoming atmosphere at Abergavenny's newest eatery.

The warmly lit interior is coupled with pleasant, straightforward cooking that has made the place a hit with locals and visitors alike.

From the starter menu, I enjoyed an above-average goat's cheese and caramelised red onion tartlet with roasted cherry tomatoes. Each ingredient impacted on the tastebuds; the sweet, slow-cooked vegetables delicately contrasting with the rustic saltiness of the cheese.

My friend, a lifelong lover of seafood, chose mussels in white wine sauce with the somewhat frivolous twist of chopped chorizo and shallots. Imaginative perhaps, but given the work involved in having to extract mussels from their shells and then pile more stuff onto the fork, it didn't really work.

Vegetarians have a good selection of mains to choose from, including aubergine curry and vegetable lasagne.

As for the meat, my grilled sirloin steak with red wine and mushroom sauce for the main course went down nicely with a glass of house red. My friend's Moroccan lamb shank was more disappointing, though, as the garlic mash was dry and the spices seemed more Indian-inspired than North African.

Halfway through the meal our eyes fell on a specials board advertising a marvellous-sounding dish: barramundi with mango, coriander and lime salsa. A mouth-watering combination that my friend immediately regretted not having - a shame nobody told us about the specials.

The waitresses did plug the desserts, however, although unadventurous offerings like apple pie and chocolate fudge cake didn't grab us and we gave them a miss.

Venue Fifty Nine proved to be good value, our bill coming to £47.50 including drinks.