One of my favourite restaurants nearby is The Mole at Toot Baldon. It has a lovely feel about it & there’s always great service. So when some friends came to stay I knew it would be a great opportunity to take them somewhere lovely for dinner.

To an extent we weren’t disappointed. We had a lovely table & a great waitress. The menu was great to a point. Everyone was happy with what they ordered – duck, calamari & the fishcake for starters; haddock & steak for the main. The puddings were also well received  – the only complaint with the banoffee was that the portion was too big! Woe is us!

The only person who had an issue was me. The veggie starter was a little odd. Beetroot, goats cheese & onion rings. I ordered it as I was intrigued but the textures & flavours didn’t quite work for me. The only veggie main was linguine with mushrooms, cherry tomatoes & parmesan cream. I asked if it could be made without the parmesan as parmesan cheese isn’t vegetarian & was delighted that it could be. However, the last time I was there I had a similar pasta & mushroom dish. In this one there was way too much cream and not enough cherry tomatoes. It won’t stop me going back there because I have had some excellent meals there in the past and I really like the feel of the place. However, I won’t be going back until there is something a bit more appetising than pasta & mushrooms, which I can make at home.