MY FRIEND the food snob and her husband looked at me askance when I suggested we eat at Lava Lounge.

Let's face it, it's not the first place that springs to mind when you're looking for somewhere good to eat, being primarily a bar rather than a restaurant.

But I'd been there for lunch a few months back and had been impressed by the quality of the food. The menu, as I remembered it, was extensive and I'm always going to be well-disposed towards a place that has leopard-print carpet and zebra-striped chairs.

So, with my fingers crossed that the previous visit hadn't been a fluke, we headed for Fleet Street.

Lava Lounge is divided into two areas, or three if you count the upstairs terrace that is open in good weather for barbecues. We stayed in the eating area at the front, which has the funky carpet and the comfy animal print chairs, and is divided from the rest of the ground floor by the bar. The rest of the decor has a hip, kitsch feel too, with large Warhol-style pictures of icons like Michael Caine in Get Carter mode, Henry Cooper and, um, Kermit!

Although we were the only diners it was about 8.30pm on a Tuesday the lounge feel about the place, friendly staff and customers wandering through ensured it didn't have that awful empty restaurant feel.

And, although the music wasn't entirely to her husband, the Music Snob's, taste, FS and I enjoyed the background 1970s/80s sounds.

And then there was the food. We later discovered that Lava Lounge's operations manager Kai Taylor is a Michelin-trained chef, which certainly showed.

We shared starters of the Thai combo (£5.50) and two duck combos (£11.50). The Thai fishcakes, seafood parcels, ginger and lime prawns and duck spring rolls went down a treat. Then it was onto the colourfully-named mains. I had Pick A Pot Of Peppadew, (£5.75), a spicy mix of chorizo sausage, olives and sweet peppadew peppers in a hot chilli sauce served with toasted bread.

Mr Snob had the Hoola In A British Swimsuit (£8.50), which was almost as much of a mouthful as its name. The homemade chicken, pineapple, chilli and basil burger was topped with a potato rosti and stilton on a bun with herb potatoes and coleslaw.

But pick of the night was the Glazed and Grilled, a bargain at £6.95. Not only did it feature a catfish fillet with lime, spring onion and hoi sin sauce but also two shells with three scallops in each topped with cheese. Mrs Snob was delighted, and I heaved a huge sigh of relief. For the three of us, with a bottle of wine (£7) and two pints of Stella (£5.50), the total bill came to £50.70. Pleasant surprises all round, then.

Lava Lounge

25 Fleet Street, Swindon

01793 641777

Opening times:

Bar: Sunday noon to 2am; rest of the week 10am to Monday midnight, Tuesday 2am, Wednesday 12.30am, Thursday 2am, Friday 3am, Saturday 3am.

Food: Monday to Thursday noon to 9pm, Friday noon to 8pm, Saturday and Sunday noon to 7pm.

Clientele: Daytime is mainly business folk, then couples and parties for dinner and an older crowd, 25 to 35 and upwards, later in the evening when it's over-21only.