Few restaurants attain Bib Gourmand status (Michelin guide’s rating for ‘Good cooking at reasonable prices: ≤ £28’), so the award is not one to be sniffed at. Chapter Two is a stylish, Modern European restaurant where you can get fantastic value for money food. 

My dining partner and I opted for the special lunch menu, which, at £10 for one course and £15 for two courses, a great offering.  I chose the Smoked Ham Hock Terrine for starters, which was served with a Salsa Verde and a Hazelnut and Apple Salad. The terrine was tasty and meaty on it’s own, but the salsa verde (mint, vinegar plus other ingredients I couldn’t identify) and salad really took it to another level. To go with this I chose a glass of French Sauvigon Blanc, which was good. My partner went for the Artichoke Velouté, which was exceptionally light without losing the artichoke flavour.

I stuck with pork for the mains, going for the 24 Hours Slow Roast Pork Belly, with White Cabbage & Lentils, White Onion Purée and Cider Jus. The pork belly was as I expected, succulent & meaty, with a very good cider jus and tasty cabbage & lentils. If I were to be picky, I thought the onion puree could have been stronger, but maybe this would have unbalanced the dish. A Pan-Fried Sea Trout went to the other side of the table, on a bed of salad containing chorizo and fennel with pommes purée and it was excellent.

Being the gluttons we are, we moved onto dessert and selected the Rum Baba with Crème Anglaise (for me) and the Chocolate Mousse with Pear Sorbet and glazed walnuts. The Rum Baba was a lot lighter than I’d expected and not overpowered with alcohol, as the one I had tasted at Rhodes 24, was. The mousse was the star of the desserts, though, especially the glazed walnuts which were sweet and crunchy but still having a hint of bitterness. After asking advice on the dessert wines, I blew the budget with glass of Canadian Ice Wine, which cost more than the three courses put together, although it was suberb and went perfectly with the Rum Baba.

The service was without fault and the food was superlative. If you can get in for lunch (during the week or weekend), you will get pretty much Michelin Star quality food for £25 a head, and that’s having the works. Absolutely worth a visit.