A NCHORED on the edge of Windermere, The Lakeside Hotel is in a tranquil spot, away from the normal hordes of tourists – and offers everything you could wish for in a venue.

From the doorman who offered to take our coats to the golden trolleys to transport luggage and big sparking mirrors in the hall, everything said ‘opulence’.

And that included the view across the lake from the lovely conservatory where we were seated for our dining experience. The menu offered everything from spaghetti to duck's leg.

We started with some bread, olives and wasabi nuts brought to us by a friendly waitress with our glasses of wine as we waited for our main dishes to be brought. I went for the 'fabulous fish and chips'. Although this is quite a traditional safe dish, it did offer up some surprises.

The food came out on a plate with stylish chip paper and the chips themselves were in a cone. In a separate bowl there was a huge serving of mushy peas next to two large pieces of fish – so all in all it was too much for me (though I gave it a good go).

My friend had the fish platter, which included smoked salmon, trout and mackerel, goats’ cheese, potato onion salad and roll mop herring, which she said was delicious. It came out on a large slate slab and was very fresh and salty.

For our dessert we struggled to decide between two equally attractive puddings so we decided to share them. The first was a vanilla pannacotta, which was served with a thin slice of glazed pear, a pouched pear and pear bomb. This was perfect after a big main – very light with lots of interesting flavours.

For my second dessert I had a chocolate mousse served with polenta biscuits. This went really well with my pannacotta. It was fluffy and very creamy with a strong chocolate taste.

Overall it was a lovely meal in an absolutely superb location.

* The cost for two people, eating two main courses and two desserts was £47 excluding drinks.