THE Milton Hotel at Llanwern is part restaurant, part local pub - it is often a good mix when it comes to traditional pub grub and we were not disappointed.

A Monday night is not always the fairest night for a review, especially to judge a place on its atmosphere and popularity.

We were the only diners in there, and except for a handful of regulars the place was empty.

We were met however with a friendly greeting and were not left feeling out of place, which can sometimes happen in village pubs.

We started with breaded mushrooms and garlic mayonnaise, which was followed by main courses of scampi and steak, both of which came with generous portions of chips, mushrooms and onion rings.

When I say generous, I should stress that the meals were served on plates the size of a trucker's steering wheel.

The food was excellent and great value coming to just £23 including a few drinks. For good traditional pub food the Milton comes highly recommended.

The only down side was the fact that the Milton unusually does not take credit or debit cards - it is cash and cheques only. We managed to scrape together just enough cash to avoid a meeting with the marigolds and the washing up, but it was a close run thing, so be prepared. Gareth Phillips