Oven's co-owner and head chef, Tarek Thoma, cut the culinary mustard at nearby Sedgefield's Dun Cow - regular haunt of the Blairs and the focus of much media attention when they popped in for a spot of lunch with George and Laura Bush.

Now his own restaurant is compact and bijou with covetable antique style cruet sets and wine buckets to weave a little fabricated history into the contemporary setting.

The food is geared towards his market, safe yet demanding: a classic fillet of lamb rubbed hefty shoulders with a cheeky parsnip purée with a texture and form of Mr Whippy ice cream - only far more grown up.

Chunks of swordfish, tuna and king prawns were brought alive with a melting, perfumed saffron risotto speckled with tiny sweet mussels.

Price per head £25