Hamiltons, Wolverhampton

You can judge a lot about a place by the quality of its cocktails. If the drinks offered up are sugary sweet, mixed poorly or in the wrong glass, you know you're in for a rough ride.

Creating the perfect cocktail is a lot like creating the perfect dish, it takes training, patience, a keen eye and, above all else, a desire to give the customer something special.

You can imagine then my delight when, after a sweltering march down a sun-soaked Tettenhall Road, I arrived at Hamiltons and was presented with a glistening, effervescent mojito, packed full of fresh, sweet mint and clinking ice cubes.

I nearly opted for the strawberry Bellini but I'm so glad I plumped for the mojito. As I sat in the cute little bar, looking over the menu, each refreshing sip washed away the stuffy heat and stresses of the day.

Hamiltons has been up and running for 18 months at A Park View Hotel opposite Wolverhampton's West Park. Husband and wife team Satveer Dulay and Manjit Singh are in charge and their dreams are big: they eventually want to be the first Michelin-starred restaurant in the city.

And, while they've admittedly got a way to go, they're certainly on the right track. The food here is fresh, tantalisingly tasty and presented with flair.

The restaurant itself is at the side of the hotel, compact, cosy and in a conservatory-style building.

When we arrived we were greeted by Eva, she who created the aforementioned cocktail and who also presented my other half with a well-deserved pint of Peroni.

We settled into one of the sofas in the bar and began the selection process, after the delightful Eva came by the tell us the specials were lamb and couscous and a seafood curry. More on that later.

The a la carte menu is simple but special.

Starters include Rosary goat's cheese cake with zefirino-stuffed peppers, lentil shoots, beetroot puree and beetroot jelly for £7.50 and south coast crab, serrano ham, pickled red mullet and chilled sauce vierge for £7.

The mains include bacon-wrapped pan-roast breast of chicken with garlic pomme puree, black pudding and chorizo sauté, peas and a Madiera reduction for £13.50 and fillet of Herefordshire beef, marrow bone, wild mushrooms, vanilla carrot puree, potato terrine and smoked cheese sabayon for £25.50.

We made our choices and headed to the dining area.

OK, so the view when you sit down isn't great (it's pretty much just the car park at the back of the hotel) but the food at Hamiltons is so pretty, and the atmosphere so relaxed and welcoming, you soon get over that.

We ordered a bottle of Sentito pinot grigio (£14.50), glasses of water and bread rolls before our starters arrived.

I had been tempted by the goat's cheese but eventually opted for chicken liver parfait with smoked bacon, scotch quails egg, bacon popcorn, sweetcorn puree and red onion and mustard marmalade for £6.50. It was the bacon popcorn that did it. It was too tempting to pass by.

The parfait was earthy and rich and presented in a perfect scoop topped with crispy bacon pieces. The sweet tang of the marmalade and puree really cut through its richness. The popcorn was fun and flavoursome and, unfortunately for the boyfriend, too good to share.

He went for the deep-fried sweet garlic, which came with bursting little tomatoes and plump pieces of mozzarella. Perfectly light and fresh for a sunny evening.

For my main course, I went for that special curry. Yes, the £18 price tag pushed the boat out somewhat, but it was packed full of monkfish, king prawns, clams and scallops.

The tandoori monkfish was bursting with flavour and the rest was drizzled with a warming curry, coriander and apple sauce that undid all the cooling work of the mojito but was a real delight. The dish was topped with samphire and I ordered a side of couscous to soak up the sauce. Yummy.

The other side of table had gone for the grilled 10oz ribeye steak with triple cooked chips, roast cherry tomatoes, confit mushrooms and watercress for £18.95.

The steak satisfied his "well done" request and the chips were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

Being from the north, he doesn't do mushrooms so that was left to one side. However, in the interests of journalism, I tried a bit and can report back with a firm thumbs up.

While we were making short shrift our of mains, Eva stopped by to make sure everything was OK.

The service at Hamiltons is one of the main things it's got going for it. We wanted for nothing but never once felt like we were being watched over or pressurised to eat up, order this or that and move on.

Eva knew what she was on about but was never overbearing or pushy. It's this informative but informal approach that gives the restaurant its happy vibe. Me and the boy have a strictly-enforced policy to never turn down desserts so, despite our full stomachs, pudding came next.

Options included dark chocolate torte, lemon tart and cheese and biscuits but I went for the summer fruit pudding with fresh berries and white chocolate tuile and he opted for the warm chocolate brownie with dark chocolate sauce and Belgian chocolate ice cream.

As you can probably tell from the sound of it, his was the star of the show.

Dripping in thick chocolate sauce, the moist-in-the-middle brownie was wickedly delicious and rich.

My summer fruit pudding was gorgeous too but, when compared to the chocolate circus going on on the other side of the table, it was hard to stay focused . Still, at least I got a hint of choccie with my tuile.

After we'd wiped the plates clean, Eva was back to tempt us with coffees.

"A shot of espresso, ice cream and we can give it a bit of a kick too," she grinned. I'm easily led astray so was definitely up for it but, what with this being a school night, I was wisely talked out of a late-night caffeine hit.

Instead, we relaxed with the last of the wine and took in our surroundings.

When we first arrived, we had the place to ourselves. It gave us the chance to have a good old nose and spot all the tell-tale signs of a good restaurant: fully-stocked bar loaded with every poison and type of glass you could wish for, the smell of freshly-baked bread drifting out of the kitchen and the kind of no-nonsense décor that says 'no gimmicks here, we're confident in our food'.

As the dining room began to fill up, it was clear word was starting to get out about Hamiltons.

A young woman staying in the hotel for a training course happily dined alone in the corner, while a young couple chatted away in their gladrags. Meanwhile, an-important looking businessman played host to guests from Japan, telling them he'd brought them here to experience the best of British food and a posh couple chatted away at the back, ordering non-stop drinks and talking about trips to Russia.

As we paid the bill, we chatted to Satveer about how things were going.

"The hotel is fully booked so we're moving on to really pushing the restaurant," she explained. "It's definitely starting to build momentum and we're working a lot with our partners in the city, such as the council, the brewery, Carillion and the Wolves."

It's clearly working. Wolves' chairman Steve Morgan has already dined at Hamiltons. Don't let that put you off though Baggies fans. Or Wolves ones for that matter.

But you don't need to be a gazillionaire to eat here. To recap, we ordered a cocktail, beer, three top-quality courses each and a bottle of wine and the entire bill came to £78.

Mentioning no names, there are other restaurants nearby where you can expect worse food, shoddier service and an extra 40 quid on top.

So we said our goodbyes, full and contented, but not before our heads were turned by the Fish Friday offer, where you get a three course meal for two and a bottle of wine for just £40. Book your table now because this is already proving to be real hit with the seafood-loving population of the Black Country and beyond.

I'll probably see you down there.

Mine's a mojito.

ADDRESS

Hamiltons, Park View Hotel, Wolverhampton, WV1 4PP

By Elizabeth Joyce