TUCKED away down a quaint pedestrianised street, just around the corner from the Royal Crescent, you will find Bistro Papillon.

Slightly away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre a lot of people may not even know this French restaurant exists. Those who have discovered it must have spread the word around fast, because when we visited on a Saturday night the restaurant was full to capacity and the staff were rushed off their feet.

Despite the fact such a small restaurant was so busy there was no compromising on the quality of the food.

Each course was prepared to perfection and the restaurant, with its Mediterranean colour scheme, was the perfect place to relax and unwind after a hectic week.

The outside of the restaurant is very welcoming, with its bright yellow exterior and the welcome inside from the French staff is just as cheerful.

The restaurant is situated on two floors and we were shown to our table in the cosy basement.

Straight away we could see this was going to be our sort of place as we were spoilt for choice just with the options on the menu, let alone the extensive list of specials which were written on the blackboard.

There are plenty of meat dishes, fish dishes and vegetarian options on offer, all sounding delicious.

Unfortunately when the waitress first came to take our order we were still making our decision and it was quite a while before she got another spare moment to return. By this point we were getting a bit impatient but the quality of the food we received was definitely worth waiting for.

For a starter I went for the green lipped mussels with garlic and red pesto butter and Martin chose the seared fresh tuna salad with spicy lime, caper and black olive salsa.

My mussels were delicious and this was a really different way to serve them, as most restaurants only do the classic Moules Marinere.

Martin's tuna was also great. It was cooked to perfection and wasn't at all tough and chewy, which this type of fish often can be if it isn't cooked right.

We both went for fish options again for our main course.

I chose the pan fried fillets of sea bream with prawn and lobster sauce, which was served with basmati rice and Martin went for the trio of pan-fried fish, which consisted of salmon, red mullet and sea bream and was served with seared peppers, green beans and a sun-dried tomato sauce.

My two fillets were both huge and the sauce was gorgeous with plenty of prawns. There was a little too much for me to manage all of it but I had a good go at it!

Martin's dinner arrived looking very impressive with the three pieces of fish attractively presented on top of the vegetables and it tasted as good as it looked.

Although we were full we had to at least have a go at tackling a dessert because the range of tempting treats on offer had already caught our eye.

I was determined to try the chocolate and caramel mousse with butterscotch sauce and Martin had his eye on the blackcurrant crumble from the specials board but unfortunately they had run out by this point and so he went for the apricot Charlotte instead, also a special.

It may have been his second choice but he thoroughly enjoyed it and it wasn't too heavy. Neither was my chocolate mousse thankfully. So many restaurants use pre-packed desserts or just offer ice-creams and sorbets so it was great to find somewhere which obviously puts as much effort into its desserts as it does into its main courses.

One last observation about this restaurant is that it is not over-priced. For this kind of quality elsewhere you would probably pay double these prices.

Bistro Papillon

2 Margaret's Buildings

Brock Street, Bath

Tel: (01225) 310064

Fact File

Open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch from 12.30-2.15pm and dinner from 6.30-10pm.

Starters from around £4.25, main courses from around £10.20 and desserts from £4.50.

Private parties for up to 24 people can be catered for.

Vegetarian options.

Credit cards accepted.

Smoking throughout the restaurant.