The National Railway Museum, Leeman Road, York

THERE can't be many eating places in York as atmospheric as the Brief Encounter restaurant.

Surrounded by sparkling locomotives and dining carriages from the golden age of steam, the restaurant is a must destination on any tour of the National Railway Museum.

We'd intended to have lunch there on our last visit in the New Year, but it was closed because the kitchens were being refurbished.

This visit almost hit the buffers too when we saw the limited selection of hot main courses on offer that day.

They were spicy beef meatballs, slow-braised lamb in red wine with Indian spices and creamy pasta bake with garlic mushrooms. Fine, if you ate red meat, but not if you weren't a big fan, like me.

I suppose I could have had chosen from the cold trolley; baked salmon with black pepper, lime and dill (£6.25) or sweet and sour glazed chicken with spring onion (£6.95), but I really wanted a hot meal.

We could have come back another day: the specials change daily, but conscious of a rumbling stomach, and our two-year-old son Elliot's need to let off steam in the museum's soft play area, I decided to bite the bullet and have the beef. My wife, Jayne, picked the pasta.

There was quite a good selection for youngsters on the Hungry Monkey menu. They could have a smaller portion of the main courses (£4), or have pizza, sausages and beans and jacket potatoes. There was also a Thomas The Tank Engine box - sandwich, crisps, biscuit and drink - for £3.70.

Our own hungry monkey only had eyes on the garlic bread (£1.20). We had brought along a tin of pasta shapes for him which we heated in the restaurant's microwave.

Although the restaurant - run by catering firm Milburns - is self service, the main courses are dished up for you.

Seeing that Jayne had her hands full with a pushchair and Elliot, and I was getting the starters and drinks, an assistant very kindly offered to take our tray for us, putting covers on our meals to keep them warm.

She also offered to dish up my soup, but I said I would be fine. Well, how difficult could it be...

My ham-fisted attempt to spoon the tomato soup into my bowl caused so much mess that I gave up and chose the cream of broccoli, leak and potato (£2.40) instead.

Apologising for the chaos, I then sheepishly took a bread roll and followed the assistant down the restaurant, picking up a bottle of Becks lager (£2.50) on the way.

While I grabbed a baked vanilla and lime cheesecake (£2.20) and a children's chocolate mousse (£1.25), our helpful assistant rushed on ahead with our main courses, picked up our cutlery and found us a table.

Because it is self serve, we had to pay before we sat down. The bill came to just over £24, and thankfully they took Switch, otherwise it would have been a mad dash to the cashpoint machine.

Despite all the chaos we, and our food, managed to arrive in one piece. But the calm didn't last long.

Seconds after sitting down, Elliot decided he liked the look of my bottle of lager, and poured its contents over half of his garlic bread!

He then turned his nose up at the alcohol-sodden dough, although I thought it was quite nice.

My thick and creamy homemade soup was flavoursome and plentiful. The roll was okay, but 50p for that and a packet of butter seemed a bit on the steep side.

My three beefy balls, which were the size of tennis balls, were delicious - and very filling. Although not quite in the Vindaloo category, they did have a bit of a kick to them.

They came with a large portion of fluffy cous cous, together with new potatoes, carrots and broccoli and cauliflower. All cooked to perfection.

Jayne was equally impressed with her dish. The pasta quills were covered in a delicious cheese, leek and garlic mushroom sauce. They too came with a medley of vegetables.

Elliot devoured his chocolate mousse, although he didn't quite know what to make of the marshmallows.

The cheesecake wedge was monstrous, so Jayne and I decided to share it. The base was nice and crunchy and the topping sublime. A definite hit.

The good thing about going self service was that we managed to get starters, main courses and desserts all in one go; no waiting for food to be cooked, no waiting for food to arrive and no waiting for the bill.

We were in and out in about an hour, which gave us plenty of time to explore the museum. Just the ticket.

Food: tasty

Service: first-class

Value: not bad

Ambience: grand

Disabled facilities: Yes

The National Railway Museum, Leeman Road, York. Telephone 01904 621261

Simon and family visited on March 10, 2004.

Restaurant reviewers aim to be fair and accurate.

Any comments on this review should be addressed to Chris Titley, Features Content Editor, Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN or e-mail features@ycp.co.uk

Updated: 09:57 Saturday, March 27, 2004