AN unfortunate beginning with the soup threatened to spoil our night out at this busy eating spot.

What was supposed to be leek and potato soup actually turned out to be mushroom when it arrived on our table.

Fortunately for us, and the restaurant, my partner enjoys this variety just as much as the one promised, so she made no fuss and got on with tucking in.

I tucked into a tasty chicken liver pate for my starter while our two friends both had the potato wedges served with a spicy cheese dip.

The pate was very smooth and served with toasted French bread - a more filling and enjoyable alternative to the usual thin triangles of toast most places serve.

The Farmhouse Brasserie was bustling with diners on the Saturday night that we chose to give it a try.

We had booked our table in advance, which is always advisable at a popular family dining and party venue like this, and probably essential at weekends.

We arrived about 20 minutes early expecting to have a drink in the small reception bar area, but we were informed that our table was already available as soon as we walked in.

The menu here has a reasonable range of choices on it, including four dishes prepared specially for vegetarians and a children's menu with a wide range of appealing treats for youngsters under the age of 12. An appealing dimension of the menu is a choice of "free" starters and "free" desserts that are included in the price of the main course.

If you do choose from these, as we did in most cases, it makes the whole meal very good value.

Moving on to the main courses I chose one of my favourite dishes - beef stroganoff served with boiled rice (£9.25).

THIS was very tasty and quite filling (though not as nice as the home-made version that is one of my partner's specialities!)

My partner selected bacon wrapped chicken (£9.95), which as the name suggests was a chicken breast wrapped in bacon and served with a red wine sauce with onions and mushrooms.

One of our friends also selected this, while the other opted for the Lamb Henry (£9.50).

Billed on the menu as "our best selling dish", it is braised shoulder of lamb served with a redcurrant gravy. The gravy can be served across the meat or in a separate dish for those unsure whether it will suit their taste.

Everyone around the table reported that their meat was very tasty and tender.

All three dishes were served with a choice of chips, jacket or new potatoes and vegetables.

For dessert three of us found things we wanted on the "free" list and one of our friends opted for the mint chocolate ice cream surprise (£3.50).

When we first asked the waitress what was the dessert of the day she replied: "A lemon, mousse, cake meringue type thing", which left us all guessing and a little perplexed.

A different waitress came to our table a few moments later and then informed us it was the Death By White Chocolate gateau or the ice cream.

My partner and I both selected the Death By White Chocolate - vanilla sponge with white chocolate mousse and raspberry ripple coated with white chocolate chips.

WE asked for it with cream but it arrived with ice cream on the plate.

This time we did ask the waiter to change and he scurried off, apparently not too happy, before coming back with what we had asked for.

It was OK but certainly nothing special. Our other friend chose chocolate ice cream which was served in three generous scoops and thoroughly enjoyed.

Our meals were washed down with four pints of lager, two halves and a pint of bitter together with two liqueur coffees (French and Calypso) at £2.50 each.

We had looked at the wine list before opting for the beers. It had the interesting dimension of two organic wines, made from organically grown Greek grapes.

We felt a total bill of £58.90 including drinks for four of us was quite good value for money.

Most of the restaurant is on one level an accessible to wheelchair users. For those eating out to celebrate a special occasion, balloons are tied to decorate the table and chairs and staff generally seemed happy to make a fuss of those in the party spirit. Mark Longbottom

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.