I HAVE 27 favourite places to go in Bath - never fear, I will not list them - and one of them is The Circus.

My legendary Grandpa once told me that the oval shaped beauty of Georgian architecture was designed by architect John Wood the Elder, pretty cool name, in the 1700’s.

And it is lucky he did, as there is a good chance the Circus restaurant may not have existed, and that would be a real pity as this modern, bustling and vivacious place is an absolute stonker of an eatery.

The two-floor, family-run restaurant, currently at number four on The Times’ ‘20 secret restaurants that foodies love’ list, focuses upon locally sourced, seasonal British food and sending their customers home happy. My boon companion and I were no exception.

A word of warning if you do go here, make sure you book well in advance. One such gentleman, a well to-do sort of chap wearing a trilby, announced to the restaurant that he would like to book a table for the end of March. I think his wish was granted but many others who turned up, sanguine about their chances of getting a table, were turned away as it was fully booked.

When I called to book a few days in advance, I had to put down a £20 deposit. Crikey!

Now, to the food. Before we ordered, our smiley and attentive waiter brought us a bread basket the size of a dustbin lid – good start.

In the time that an asthmatic ant, who had a slight limp, laden with heavy shopping, could move 100m, I eventually went for a starter and did that starter just about take me to heaven and back.

I went for potted game of venison, never tried it, pigeon, definitely never tried it, and rabbit, only had the chocolate type, served with damson jelly, celery sticks steeped in sloe gin and goose fat toasts (£7.30). Old boony went for undyed smoked haddock, with leeks and spinach (£7.30).

That may have been the best starter I have ever had. It was exquisite. A whole cavalcade of flavours, all complimenting each other in a beautifully presented dish. Boon gave her dish the seal of approval by saying how light it was, how creamy it was and how it was presented like a dessert.

For a few minutes we did not bother talking to each other, we simply sat and ate. We were brought out of our food reveries in not too long as our mains arrived.

Boon went for ox cheeks, braised in bellringer ale with cinnamon and star anise, served with soy-glazed kale, honey roasted parsnip with celeriac puree (£16.70). This, she said, was incredibly tender, very light for beef and had an excellent sauce.

My pork loin of Berkshire boar, pan fried and served with apple sauce, mustard greens and potato mashed with chives (£18.30) did not quite hit the dizzy heights of my starter, but was still truly scrumptious.

I loved it. It managed to pull off posh and sophisticated without being up-itself. It is a bit pricier than most restaurants I go to but I am not sure I have been to many English restaurants that are of as high quality.

The total bill, which also included a Czech beer (£4.10) and two glasses of house Rose (£9.80), came to £64.30. I was happy to act as the clown for this wonderful circus. ‘Twas a pleasure.