60 Below, The Minster Hotel, 60 Bootham, York

SO what's the restaurant called now? I asked the girl at the other end of the telephone as I booked a table at the Minster Hotel's re-named dining room.

"60 Below," she said.

"Sounds chilly. Will we need to wrap up?"

She laughed. "No. You'll see why it's called that when you come."

And we did. The Minster Hotel is at 60 Bootham - and the restaurant, obviously enough, is directly below it, in the basement.

Although the hotel has been under new ownership since last November and the 'new' chef has been in place for six months or so, the restaurant itself has only recently opened to non guests. So the visit of a Chinese friend seemed the ideal opportunity to check it out.

It's quite a steep climb down narrow steps to reach 60 Below; and while there is a slightly easier route involving fewer steps, it means the restaurant is effectively off-limits for anyone in a wheelchair (though the hotel does have other dining areas).

The intimate, candlelit dining area betrays its origins as a cellar - brick arch, stone-flagged floor etc. There was an inviting smell of rich food in the air, a hum of conversation, and a hint of discreet jazz trickling out of a speaker.

There were three of us - myself, my wife Lili and our friend Prof Chuanping Liu - and we'd been assigned a generous table for four which took up most of one wall.

Prof Liu and I ordered a half bottle of pleasingly dry chablis to share and Lili an apple juice, and then we settled down to study the menu.

It betrayed the fact that this is in some ways a restaurant still in transition. It was still headed The Ebor - presumably the former name of the hotel's dining area - and there was a typo so that it read Brassiere Menu rather than Brasserie. (A simple mistake involving a new member of staff, we learned later). None of that affected the quality and range of food that was on offer, however.

Judging by our menu, 60 Below seems to specialise in the kind of British-with-a-French-twist food we English love so much - steaks, venison, pork, fish and bird dishes in rich sauces. The generous range of starters included everything from cream of broccoli and stilton soup to prawn, apple, celery and walnut salad and pan-fried fresh squid.

Lili opted to pass on the starters. I chose the broccoli soup (£3.95) while Prof Liu decided to try the prawn salad (£4.95). For our main courses I went for the grilled pork loin steak with sage mash and cream of apricot and cider sauce (£12.95); Lili the oven-roasted breast of guinea fowl wrapped in bacon with a red wine and shallots sauce; and Prof Liu the pan-fried venison medallions with a red wine, mushroom and juniper berry sauce (£13.95).

Before the starters arrived, our waiter produced three hot rolls fresh from the oven, and pats of real butter. The bread was deliciously warm and moist and had a wonderful herby flavour.

My soup, when it arrived, was equally good: thick and flavoursome. Only the croutons disappointed: nicely flavoured, but a little soggy.

Prof Liu was also pleased with his starter. The salad was nicely presented on a white plate, topped off by a heap of fresh prawns, which he devoured with gusto.

Hungry from a day walking in the Dales, we were glad we didn't have too long to wait for our main dishes.

My pork steak was a good inch or more thick, tender and tasty, with just enough fat so as not to be dry and lashings of sauce. It was accompanied by a generous bed of mash, and there were also two kinds of potatoes in the accompanying side dish of vegetables, so I was in danger of potato overkill - but that's never a problem when you're hungry. One of the potato accompaniments came in a dauphinoise sauce which clashed with the sauce that accompanied my pork. But I could, if I hadn't been so greedy, have chosen to stick with the excellent new potatoes boiled in their skins.

Lili's guinea fowl was also good, dark and tasty, while Prof Liu's venison was excellent - if a bit rich and gamey for my palate.

We polished off the lot, and I asked to see the dessert menu, deciding, after much pondering, to go for the summer fruits pudding with vanilla ice cream (£4.25) and a coffee (£2). Lili and Prof Liu both passed.

Although we had all three clearly finished, it took some time for our plates to be cleared after the main course - and then I had a long wait before my dessert arrived. I was still waiting when the bar waitress came over and gave me my bill - apologising profusely when she realised I hadn't finished.

The dessert, when it did come, was worth the wait, however; moist, light and bursting with the flavour of fresh berries.

We enjoyed our meal at 60 Below. The bill, including optional 10 per cent service charge, came to just short of £75 for the three of us: reasonable value.

General manager Mark Webb says there are still a few things to be finalised including newly branded menus and wine lists, new signs and stylish canopies outside the hotel.

There are still a few minor teething troubles, but once the transformation is complete, 60 Below promises to be an intimate and interesting addition to York's eating out scene.

60 Below, The Minster Hotel, 60 Bootham, York. Tel 01904 621267.

Steve visited on June 26, 2004.

Updated: 15:56 Friday, July 02, 2004