JANET HEWISON checks out the fare at a smart York hotel

AS one of York's 'posher' eating out venues, the Grange Hotel, with its award-winning Ivy restaurant and downstairs Brasserie, is the sort of place York residents like me walk past every day without ever venturing in.

Housed in a converted Regency town house in Clifton, it has built up an enviable reputation for quality - but also for price.

It was a recommendation made by a contact I was chatting to at work that prompted me to take a closer look.

He said he and his wife often visited the Ivy on a Sunday, when the restaurant offers set price lunches of £9.95 for two courses and £12.95 for three.

But he also recommended the Brasserie for a good meal out at a reasonable price - the restaurant that was created from the old cellars when the hotel was developed in the late 1980s.

For my dining partner Mike this would be a return to a place he remembered from its pre-posh days, when he was a tenant of the Bootham Grange flats and when the cellar was a place for band rehearsals.

So that was where we went on a quiet Monday evening, making our way down the flight of steps at the front of The Grange to the Brasserie's separate entrance.

We were welcomed and shown to a table straight away.

The cellars have long since been transformed since their Bootham Grange days, their brick-vaulted ceilings lending the restaurant the informal atmosphere the designers were after, but the informality intended was somehow not helped by slightly too-bright lighting on our visit.

A basket of bread winged its way over shortly after we arrived and, drinks ordered, (a bottle of pleasant house white at £11) we settled down to examine the menu, to the soundtrack of an easy-listening selection.

The starters menu offered nine choices, three of which could be upgraded to a main course and there were three more specials to choose from chalked up on the blackboard.

I went for the warm tart of smoked haddock and prawns, glazed with cheese, and served with a salad of spinach leaves and cherry tomatoes, priced at £5.

This was definitely my favourite part of the whole meal and absolutely delicious.

The flavour of the smoked haddock was just right so that it mingled with the taste of the prawns and melted cheese without being overbearing. The pastry was crisp and light and the salad was the kind where you wanted to eat every scrap.

Mike, a vegetarian, had a more limited choice, with two options on the starters menu plus a third, which was a starter version of one of the main course dishes. This last choice, wild mushroom and garlic risotto with parmesan and truffle oil, at £4.25, was the one he went for. It was equally tasty with a strong, rich flavour to it.

For the main course, I chose pot roast rump of lamb boulangere with herb roasted tomatoes (£9) from a list of nine main course dishes and three specials.

Mike plumped for the filo parcel of seasonal vegetables with a red pepper and olive sauce (£8).

The menu also carried a list of side dishes. We ordered French fries on the recommendation of the waitress (£1) and roasted vegetables (£1.75) to share.

The delicate French fries lived up to their recommendation and were very swiftly consumed and the vegetables were good too, although there weren't very many of them for the price.

My lamb was sitting on a bed of potatoes and a rich gravy infused with the flavour of several sprigs of rosemary. It was very tender and made for a very satisfying main course. The accompanying tomatoes were covered with a sort of green, sugary topping which I wasn't quite sure about, but they complemented the flavour of the lamb well.

Mike said his filo parcel was equally good.

For dessert, we picked from the specials board, each priced at £4.50.

My lime and mango cheesecake with a mango sauce was a refreshing end to the meal - not too heavy or sweet - although I couldn't detect any lime flavour among the tangy mango.

Mike went for the chocolate fondant with chocolate sauce, which was served warm.

Throughout the meal, we were tended to by three different staff who were all very efficient.

The bill came to £49 which we felt represented generally good value.

Definitely worth a look if you've not tried it before.

Fact file:

Food: fair to delicious

Service: friendly

Value: good

Ambience: informal

No disabled access

The Grange Hotel and Restaurants, 1, Clifton, York YO30 6AA. Telephone 01904 644744.

Updated: 08:53 Saturday, March 30, 2002