The Blue Bicycle

Celebrated for its fish and seafood and its intimate ambience, it was also the place to be seen - preferably in one of the coveted window seats, watching the world pass by on Fossgate.

Fast forward ten years and much has changed. For starters, The Blue Bicycle faces much more competition, not just throughout York but, more crucially, on its doorstep.

Loch Fyne and Harvilles in Fossgate both specialise in seafood, with Harvilles also serving the best steak in York. But the real benchmark is J Baker's, at the top of Fossgate, where head chef Jeff Baker shows why he held a Michelin-star for ten years with food that is not only delicious, but often full of surprise - and at reasonable prices.

Just before Christmas, The Blue Bicycle put up some curtains, in a rather offensive nicotine colour, completely blocking the view on to the street. It coincided with the arrival of animal rights campaigners who were protesting against the restaurant's use of foie gras.

My dining companion, Jennifer, had been to the restaurant for dinner just before Christmas and reported the food to be "faultless". I had been in late summer for lunch and was also impressed, so our expectations were high.

Jennifer wasn't hungry enough to do justice to a full three-course meal, so decided to order two starters.

If I hadn't felt obliged to work my way through the menu for reviewing purposes, I might have joined her because the starters' selection is tempting.

Among the choices are leek, potato and almond tart with pimento and rocket salad (£6.75); smoked haddock cakes with spinach and black truffle hollandaise (£7) and seared scallops with butternut squash purée and Boudin Noir (£9.75).

The dish provoking the protest is the ham hock and fois gras terrine with spiced fig chutney and toasted brioche (£8.75).

Jennifer chose the twice-baked crab soufflé with Bloody Mary (£7.25) and the Indian spiced king prawns and mint chutney (£9.50), and I picked the scallops special, which came with a tomato and pea shoot salad (£9.50).

Fish dominated the main course menu and I liked the sound of the Moroccan fish curry with apricot and mint cous cous (£17.75), but was won over instead by the sea bass fillets with sweet potato, tapenade and courgette fritter (£18.50).

Some warm bread arrived with a dish of roasted garlic - which is a bit of a Blue Bike hallmark. It was just as delicious as the first time I tried it ten years ago, but it did make me wonder if it wasn't time for the restaurant to try something new.

I thought the same about the décor. The rag-rolled terracotta-coloured painted walls and stripped pine doors were all the rage in the heyday of Changing Rooms and you can't help but think they could do with a make-over.

And I was disappointed to see that the sample menu listed on the website and dating from last October was still being served in January. However, there were four dishes on the specials' board - two starters and two mains .

Our meal began well, Jennifer declaring her extra-light soufflé superb. My scallops were beautifully cooked and went brilliantly with the sharp, yet juicy, sun-blushed tomatoes and the sweet pea shoots. We gave full marks for the presentation too, which was in the nouvelle cuisine vein.

But things fell away slightly with our next dishes. Jennifer felt her king prawns were not quite fresh enough, having a rather sluggish texture. They were spicy and nicely flavoured with coriander, but she felt they needed some lime.

My main dish was a whopper of an affair, with the two fillets of seabass sandwiched between an orange sea of sweet potato pulp, a mountain of black tapenade and topped by a whole courgette coated in batter and pointing straight at me in the most provocative manner.

While each individual element was fine in itself, I'm not convinced it all came together. A case, perhaps, when less would have been more.

For pudding, we agreed to share the chocolate and chilli steamed sponge pudding with lime marmalade ice-cream (£6.25), along with a coffee and tea.

As I cut into the pudding it crumbled into a pile of cakey rubble. On complaining, the waitress returned it to the kitchen and offered us a drink on the house. I accepted and was pleased to see we hadn't been charged for the dessert. But I would have been more pleased if it had been decent in the first place.

Our bill, which included two glasses of wine, a gin and tonic and a bottle of sparkling water came to £65, which included a ten per cent service charge.

We left disappointed, particularly when we know the Blue Bicycle can do so much better.

Now that's something worth protesting about.

The Blue Bicycle, 34 Fossgate, York.

Tel: 01904 673990

• Maxine visited on Tuesday, January 8, 2008