I've never yet eaten my lunch in a tunnel but eating out at La Flambe is possibly the closest I'll ever come.

We dropped into the busy pub and restaurant, which is slowly taking over the old Vintage Inn, for Sunday lunch and although the dining room was full to bursting, the side room, converted from an above ground cellar, had plenty of room.

It is certainly an atmospheric place to eat. The low, semi-circular ceiling of the narrow room, reflects the light from candles on the tables and reverberates with the conversation up and down the room.

The staff looked extremely harassed but were nevertheless friendly and welcoming, not batting an eyelid when two-year-old Kate seized a small vase of flowers from the centre of the table and proceeded to pour the contents over herself.

There is an extensive menu, dominated by French cuisine but also featuring Spanish, Italian and English dishes. We chose from the lunchtime menu, which goes for £13.95 a head.

For starter I chose Salade Perigourdine, consisting of crispy bacon boiled egg and leaves in a lime dressing. Helen chose a hearty French onion soup, which came with generous bowls of croutons and grated cheese. I pinched some of the croutons to give my salad a bit of egg, bacon and fried bread action and they combined beautifully with the tangy lime dressing.

Helen's soup was hearty, tasty and the kind of warming dish that makes you want to curl up on the sofa.

For main course I played safe and chose the roast beef, while Helen ordered salmon in a buerre blanc (butter, fish stock and white wine) sauce.

The salmon was beautifully presented and cooked; the beef, a sirloin cut, came in the form of two tender slabs, pink in the middle and smothered in a rich gravy . The only disappointment for me was the smallish Yorkshire pudding mind you I would have complained if it had overlapped my plate all the way round.

Just as impressive as the beef and salmon was the array of vegetables that accompanied them. There were roast and creamy dauphinoise potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflour and celeriac, all perfectly cooked.

There is no children's menu but our waiter offered a child's portion of anything on the menu or said the kitchen would cook Kate some pasta or a breast of chicken.

We ordered chicken and it arrived, cooked to perfection, in gravy.

For dessert I went Italian and ordered a satisfyingly rich tiramisu while Helen had an enormous slab of chocolate and coffee gateau and Kate smeared vanilla ice cream everywhere but in her mouth.

Our meal, and drinks, came to a reasonable £33.

It was a lovely, relaxed lunch, interrupted only by the waiting staff thundering past now and then en route to another table and the woman behind us relating in excruciating detail a holiday in Oslo to her friends.

That echoing low ceiling means no conversation stays private so don't go there to discuss anything sensitive.

La Flambe at The Vintage Inn.

Seagry Road Sutton Benger (01249) 720247 Ample parking Vegetarian options Children's portions Daily specials Sunday and Saturday lunch menu Disabled access Credit cards accepted