L'Arlequin Restaurant

Decorated in a quirkily authentic French style L'Arlequin is warm and inviting. Cosy is definitely the word to describe it - it's tiny and if you turn around too quickly you are sure to spill your neighbours wine, but not to worry they are sure to take it with good humour.

The owners there are renowned for their hospitality and we were certainly not disappointed. Upon arrival we were seated swiftly and talked through the menu by the George one of the owners, who clearly knew his stuff and didn't mind at all how many questions we asked in our terrible French. Once we had ordered - both a cheese fondue and a pierrade (well why not) George himself brought to our table who proceeded to season and heat the hot rock with practised ease whilst talking us through what he was doing and why.

He taught us how to cook the meat and showed us how to do it properly, and indeed as you can see from the photos he was much more elaborate with his creations than we were with ours. The pierrade came with a side of beautifully cooked dauphinoise potatoes and the fondue with all the bread, salad and spuds you could want. We washed everything down with plenty of wine and rounded the meal off with creme brulee coated in genepi and flambeed at the table.

A wonderful meal in an extremely welcoming atmosphere, the one and only downside being struggling back up their ornate spiral staircase after far, far too much cheese!