Valentinos 9 Church View Lanchester (from Durham Times)

IT always struck me as surprising that a village of Lanchester's standing did not boast its own restaurant.

The village is well catered for with good pub nosh, the impressive King's Head (Durham Times Eating Out, November 23, 2007, review available online) standing out as a particular favourite, but was missing a dedicated restaurant for most of its long history.

That oversight was put right with the opening of Valentino's late in 2005 and it has since established quite a reputation for the quality of its Italian food.

A little over two years later, I paid my first visit - encouraged by a number of friends who couldn't praise it highly enough.

From the outside, Valentino's is an unassuming eaterie, tucked away in a parade of shops facing the old village green. The smoked glass and Tuscan terracotta colour scheme of its exterior appears to be the restaurant's only concession to the image of the traditional Italian.

Inside, the emphasis is on the modern and the American. The lighting is very 21st century, the walls adorned with images of Elvis, the air filled with a soundtrack of superior 1950s rock 'n roll.

It is a single room restaurant, small and square, with room for about 20 tables and a gleaming corner bar. There was only one other table occupied when we arrived early on Sunday evening - by the time we left, it was half full.

Valentino's has something of the diner about it and, under the watchful gaze of James Dean, we chose from an oversized, laminated menu.

There is a broader choice than many Italian restaurants - half a dozen varieties of risotto alone, a wide range of fish, chicken and steak dishes as well as the usual pizza and pasta suspects.

We went for our own usual suspect as a shared starter - a pizzastyle garlic bread with cheese (£2.95), which arrived promptly.

It was fine, if unremarkable - although that should not be taken as a criticism because it is hard to see the circumstances in which a garlic bread with cheese can be remarkable.

The main course were, however, a different matter. I opted for the polli dolcelatte (£11.25) - a succulent and sizeable chicken breast, smothered in a fabulously thick and creamy sauce, which was laden with blue cheese, cream and white wine.

It was served with asparagus spears, which were lightly and perfectly done, and chips, which were chunky and nicely browned.

Having initially recoiled at the hefty price tag, I was left more than satisfied after what was probably the best Italian meal I have ever had.

My companion went for the tagliatelli carbonara (£6.95 normally but £4.45 at happy hour prices).

Again, it was superbly done, a mouth-watering combination of bacon and mushrooms in a cream and parmesan sauce, served on al dente tagliatelli. Carbonara is a more difficult dish than it seems, just a touch too much cream and it emerges as a heavy mush, but this was expertly done, the bacon crisp and the sauce light enough not to mask the pasta, although my companion felt that a touch of traditional egg would not have gone amiss.

Service was absolutely excellent throughout, helpful, courteous and attentive - so it would probably be churlish to mention that dessert arrived a minute or two before the cutlery.

The brief delay, however, gave us time to admire the presentation of dessert - a fabulous Baileys and toffee meringue (£3.95) for me, which was subtly itself, meltin- the-mouth meringue, drizzled in toffee, with the ever-so-slight hint of a boozy kick.

My companion went for a traditional tiramisu (also £3.95), which she proclaimed to be equally fabulous and as light as a feather.

A couple of glasses of perfectly palatable house white (£2.90) and a bottle of mineral water (£1.60) brought the final bill to a perfectly reasonable £33.95.

It may have taken some time for Lanchester to get its restaurant, but on this evidence it was worth the wait.

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