AT last, Didcot has a restaurant to be proud of. Having been alerted to the fact that the Splitz Restaurant Bar, in Wantage Road, had been awarded an AA rosette, I decided to check it out.

As regular readers will know, I seldom write up Didcot pubs. This is not because I have an aversion to the town; rather that I simply haven't found one that warrants a second visit.

So when an award-winning restaurant arrives on the scene, I think I'm entitled to get excited.

Apparently, the proprietors, David King and Sue Crowther, from Didcot, opened it because they considered there was no fine dining at affordable prices in the town.

On arriving at the converted shop premises, I was reminded of Raymond Blanc's early days when he opened his first restaurant in a shop in the middle of Summertown, Oxford.

David and Sue describe their decor as being chic to the point of cool, and I guess that pretty much sums it up. Black and white is the theme, dark grey and white tiles cover the floor area, black tablecloths are highlighted with large black and white striped plates, and the white walls are decorated with stylish black and white photographs from Robert Doisneau's era, including his famous Kiss by the Hotel de Ville.

The only flash of bright colour comes from the exotic single red flowers of the waxy anthurium which adorn each table. All very stylish and, yes, in a chic sort of way.

We went for the express lunch, which offered two courses for £12.50, cooked by Chris Finnigan, a talented and enthusiastic young chef who trained with Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons.

My colleague Chris started his meal with three seared scallops perched on a thin slice of baked cauliflower.

I chose a crab, avocado and tomato salad.

Needless to say, we were both delighted to discover two exquisitely decorated plates set before us with starters that tasted as good as they looked.

My main dish choice was crispy belly of pork, served with wilted baby spinach leaves and crushed new potato, mixed with grain mustard. It looked superb, as can be seen from the photograph, but, sadly, the pork lacked the crunch one would expect from a dish described this way.

It was tasty enough, though I don't think the chef need have heightened the colour of the apple purée garnish with green colouring. However, when we spoke to him about this after our meal, he explained that a great number of chefs resorted to colouring with food dyes from time to time.

Chris had the sea bass fillets and was absolutely thrilled with his meal, which, as is his wont when the food is good, he ate with slow deliberation because he wanted to savour every morsel.

We finished our meal, which had been served with great efficiency by the manager, in good time. Indeed, we had time to spare for an espresso before paying the bill.

It was good to discover on checking our bill and the menu, that by selecting our lunch from the express section, the coffee came free - a nice touch and one that made me feel better about paying £3.50 for my mineral water.

Had I opted for beer, I could have had half a pint of the Italian premier beer Peroni Nastro Azzurro at £1.90, which is a light crisp and very refreshing beer at 5.1 per cent ABV.

I smiled on seeing that listed on the menu as only the other day, I was reading something about this beer, which was described in the article as "the new black". I wonder if David and Sue knew that when they added it to their drinks list?

For full list of menu and prices, you can go to www.splitzdidcot.co.uk