Chambers At The Honest Lawyer Croxdale (from Durham Times)

NOT so long ago, if you'd ventured inside the doors of the Honest Lawyer, you'd have had a very different experience to now.

For this doughty feature of the Durham landscape has undergone quite the transformation - from standard pub eatery to a venue chasing a night out with a bit more panache.

Out went the old menu and in came a new chef with a new canvas - ingredients locally sourced and bursting with freshness, and dishes a little more inspired than the typical bangers and mash or gammon and pineapple.

Sadly, my first impressions were not so good. The restaurant is fairly Spartan in appearance - plain walls except where occasional riots of floral wallpaper break out, and tables set out almost row by row. The appearance of Chambers, as the Lawyer's restaurant is known, is a little off-putting, almost cold, but that is soon eased by the warmth of the staff.

Quickly spirited to our waiting table, drinks requests promptly taken, and enough time graciously given to allow decisions to be made over the menu - all the boxes ticked for a welcome.

The starters certainly have some interesting oddities - the likes of the blue swimming crab risotto with mascarpone or the wild mushroom and chervil terrine catching the eye. In the end, I couldn't resist the uncommon sight of rabbit - a sautéed loin with yellow pepper confit and fresh salsa, while my fellow diner, Sean, tucked into water melon and kiwi with a fruit sorbet, which met with approval, although there can be little to do wrong with fruit.

I honestly had no idea what to expect from a rabbit starter - but it came attractively presented and was a treat to eat. The rabbit doesn't feature on the main course menu, but I'd be an enthusiast for it making the short leap across, especially as the starter was perfectly cooked. The salsa was a nice accompaniment, but I suspect the chef could do more startling things with it in the main section.

The choice for the main course is a little more peculiar. For each variety of meat or fish, you'll find one option and one option alone for how it will be cooked. You want the sea bass? It comes this way.

They sound tantalising, but it could limit your options, particularly if you are vegetarian.

Still, the options that there are sounded tempting enough to me, and I sidestepped the venison, with its intriguing mention of a chocolate and redcurrant jus, and went for the poached supreme of chicken, with baby leeks and a yellow oyster mushroom and merlot jus. Sean plumped for the 10oz grilled sirloin steak, complete with real chips, huge plate-shaped field mushrooms and baby plum tomatoes.

The chicken's sauce, placed separately on the plate rather than smothering the meat, was a delicate affair, accenting but never overwhelming the taste.

The chicken itself was pleasant but not outstanding. Still, it made for a pleasant meal, so I'm not about to quibble too much.

Sean, however, found his steak a little dry and the meal as a whole a tad bland, although he had plenty of praise for the real chips that so swiftly disappeared, and much the same could be said of the onion rings.

Unusually for the pair of us, we both felt there was still room afterwards and tried out the dessert - an English pear poached in port and cinnamon with summer fruits for Sean, and a peach and passion fruit crumble with a vanilla mousse and granny smith syrup for me.

Again, Sean was unconvinced by the overfirm pear and the solid sticks of cinnamon, but the crumble was a nice way to polish things off.

The price tag on proceedings sees the main meals come in for between £12 and £19, and our total bill with a couple of drinks each come in at £63.45 - not unreasonable.

There's plenty of potential for this restaurant to carve its own niche in the eating landscape, and the chef is admirably ploughing his own path rather than offering a copycat menu, but there's room yet for it to reach that path's destination.

And while the service is faultless, I still wonder if the décor's first impressions don't need a little extra charm.

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