THERE were just the three of us – me, Ruth and Audrey Hepburn.

Oh, and the rat pack – that’s Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Junior.

And then there was Marilyn Monroe keeping time over the proceedings.

My wife, Ruth, and I were at the Live Lounge in Lindley. The stars, sadly, were all on the walls.

This is a restaurant that’s off-beat in several charming ways.

First of all you walk straight in off Lidget Street into, well, a lounge. It’s got a bar in there with stained glass windows – now you don’t see many of those.

How did they know we were here? I mean, there was no bell.

Then the young waiter mysteriously appeared from the back. Was he a relative of Mr Benn’s?

We liked him instantly – and he was upfront with us, admitting Valentine’s weekend had been hectic and the two house wines had sold out.

What now? The first test. He replaced them instantly with more expensive wines from the list, but charged the house price rate. Good thinking. Good customer service.

And the wine glasses were so big you could keep goldfish in them.

With brown or cream leathers seats it’s all rather chic. And then I felt myself staring at the chimney breast. It couldn’t be, could it? Could it possibly be bound in leather too? No, it was wallpaper, but certainly fooled from the distance.

Get there before 7pm and you can choose from the table d’hote menu that’s also available at lunchtimes. A narrower choice than the a la carte, but plenty to go at with £12.95 for two courses and £15.95 for three.

We were then invited by the waiter who had mysteriously reappeared to ‘go upstairs.’

An invitation not to be missed as we followed him up to the restaurant. This is a fine dining experience. The walls are bare stone with deep red furnishings and tables classily laid out. There was so much cutlery we could have gone into battle with anything at all.

For starters I chose the black pudding and bacon tian. Sounds obvious, but don’t go for this unless you like black pudding and bacon as it was a thick rounds of black pudding with bacon sandwiched inbetween, covered in a mustard seed sauce. An acquired taste, but if you like these two bedfellows you’ll be in paradise.

Ruth chose the salmon that was certainly far lighter.

One of the restaurant’s signature dishes is beef medallions on a horseradish pomme puree – so I ‘signed on the dotted line’ for this one. Medium and tender with a cute vegetable accompaniment of baby leeks and dainty carrots.

Ruth’s seabass on pomme neuf – special slow-roasted potatoes that look like chips – was nothing short of succulent and came with French beans and lemon butter. She left the skin. I didn’t.

Portion sizes can be critical and these two courses left room for a dessert. Now that’s a very good thing as the pudding of the day turned out to be a chocolate fondant. Dig into this beauty and the chocolate simply oozes out. Messily brilliant.

Go for the a la carte menu and be prepared to pay.

British beef fillet laced with creamy wild mushroom sauce and fondant potato will set you back £22.95 with other mains hovering around the £19 mark.

So there are two side to the Live Lounge.

One is to eat in fine style for around £50 per couple or to have that ultra special occasion.

Whatever way, the surroundings are certainly special, matched by the service.