THE last time Ican remember going to the Devon Doorway was for my cousin's 21st. He turns 50 this year, so you can see we're talking a while!
Actually, husband swears blind that we also went there for a quick tea after returning to a 'cupboard's bare' house from holiday a couple of years ago.
I don't remember. But I can safely say that - thanks to some rather fine food and a particularly pleasant waitress - I probably won't forget my visit there this week.
From the outside, everything still looks the same - an eye-catching black and white painted building that sits beside Gayton roundabout off the Chester High Road: it has been a local landmark for decades.
Inside however the Tudor coaching house impression gives way to a gob-smacking nod at modernism. Think blonde wood, squishy sofas and lots of glass and you'd be heading in the right direction.
It's cool, ultra cool even and that's obviously something that appeals, because on atraditionally quiet midweek night it was also pretty busy with both diners and drinkers.
We skipped drinks in the bar and were shown immediately to atable at the back of the restaurant.
Here there was more blonde wood: the floors, the chunkily elegant tables and chairs and in one or two carved plaques on otherwise bare walls. Thanks to some nicely subdued lighting the designers have managed to achieve something Ialways thought was impossible - cosy minimalism.
Now you can't have all this style without paying for it: menu prices, when compared to other pub-restaurants locally, seem to me to be on the high side. But the quality of the food and its presentation, I think, justifies the premium.
During our meal, we spotted one of the bosses from a pub restaurant afew miles down the road. Checking out the opposition, perhaps?
