LIONEL Strub moved from the Fig and Fennel delicatessen and restaurant in Bank Street and opened Fennel restaurant at the Cattle Market, Wetherby a few months ago.

It is an airy and modern restaurant, contemporary in design and with modern and local art adorning the walls.

The kitchen is a 'nothing to hide' kitchen, on view to all restaurant diners, who can sit at their tables and watch their food being prepared by Fennel's chefs.

The menu comprises of nine starters and ten main courses, with various daily specials to choose from on the blackboard.

Having ordered drinks it was pleasing to be brought a bowl of mixed olives and slices of lovely fresh bread and butter to eat whilst we perused the menu.

My partner chose one of the specials from the blackboard for his starter, an oak smoked sea trout with apple, walnut and chicory salad and horseradish dressing, priced £5.95. I chose a Whitby crab pate, with avocado and cucumber salad and lemon and thyme dressing (also £5.95) from the restaurant menu.

My partner declared his sea trout "delicious". The crab pate was more of a mousse or sauce texture and quite strong in flavour.

For my main course, I chose Whitby-caught turbot fillet, with king scallop sauce at £15.95, whilst my partner opted for the fillet of Yorkshire beef, with fricassee of woodland mushrooms and a red wine sauce (£16.95).

Both meals were excellent, especially the fillet steak which we were told was local and came from Bedale. The main courses were accompanied by a bowl of seasonal vegetables.

It was difficult to choose a pudding, so we opted for the 'Assiette de Desserts' for two at £8.95. This was quite a large array of beautiful desserts, not for the faint-hearted but definitely one for the pudding fans amongst us! It consisted of a small sample of each Fennel dessert from the main menu, eg fig and almond tatin, vanilla panna cotta and an absolutely moreish marbled black and white chocolate tarte.

Coffee came accompanied by the famous Fennel mini dark chocolate tarte.

Service was friendly and efficient and the restaurant has a very good wine list. We chose a bottle of red wine, Gran Hacienda from Chile, which was very quaffable and fantastic value at £14.45.

This popular restaurant is open for dinner Monday to Saturday 6pm-10pm, Sunday breakfast 10am-12noon and Sunday lunch from 12noon-6pm. Fennel as a cafe is open Monday to Saturday from 9am-4.30pm. Tel: 01937 586 541.

Sarah Burkhardt