Cornucopia Bistro, 6 High Street, Windsor

As previously mentioned on these pages, Windsor is full of restaurants of the chain variety, and of the touristy-and-therefore-dubious-quality variety. Yes, there is an excellent seafood restaurant and there's the reliable but far too often-visited Bel and the Dragon, but I was keen to find somewhere new. A chance recommendation from a stranger on a train led to the discovery of Cornucopia Bistro - a fairly new addition to (the far end of - and therefore slightly less touristy part of) Windsor High Street.

Initial impressions were good. However things weren't looking so good when our group of seven was led to a cramped table next to a blazing hot radiator. I suggested we ask if we could sit elsewhere, and we were swiftly relocated to a far roomier table at the back of the restaurant, (as Leandri succinctly put it: 'have you got a bigger table? We've all had to sit really close to each other all day...)'

Space issues sorted, it was time to order wine and peruse the menu. The menu was pleasingly only confined to one page, but it took an age to decide between the 6 equally sumptuous sounding starters. Between us, we ordered them all.

The goats cheese with pear, red onion and rosemary looked quite beautiful.

When the smoked salmon with courgette and lemon blinis arrived, I definitely began to doubt whether my choice of mushrooms had been the right one.

But it transpired that there was nothing to fear! My starter of wild mushrooms in garlic and brandy cream (served on toast), was a heavenly concoction. Juicy mushrooms, intense garlic and a silky cream sauce. It could not have been any better.

Each starter was a good size, full of flavour and cooked perfectly (the other starters were a parma ham, fig and rocket salad, and a crab, avocado and spring onion salad). The mains therefore had a tough act to follow. Mostly steak / meat based (the vegetarian special of the day which no one had opted for, was stuffed aubergine with rattatioue, there was also the 'Cornucopia Chilli,' which won the accolade of being as good as Sharon's home made variety (and innovatively included chorizo).

My lamb shank (pictured) was slow roasted in a red currant and red wine sauce. The meat came off the bone beautifully and the flavours were rich and deep.

Soon it was time for dessert, and once again it was almost impossible to decide between the equally amazing sounding options (the fruit salad was no longer available, but that was no great loss!)

The concept of 'Eton Mess' intrigued our Dutch colleagues, but they were impressed when it arrived in a tall glass. The bread and butter pudding looked mouth watering - once again I wondered whether I'd made the right decision, but yet again, I was not disappointed by my white chocolate and lemon pannacotta. It was creamy but quite light - it tasted a little like a zesty lemon cheesecake, softened by the hint of white chocolate. Quite delightful!

Overall

Atmosphere: A fair number of other diners for a tuesday evening, but luckily giving us a larger table at the back allowed us to be a noisy group without (hopefully) too much disturbance to everyone else.

Service: Endlessly friendly despite our noisy group.

Food quality: Very good with truly excellent starters and desserts.

Overall: Delicious food - would certainly recommend to anyone visiting Windsor. 8/10