SOMEBODY obviously put a lot of thought into designing the interior of The Chopping Block, the latest incarnation of the upstairs restaurant at The Walmgate Alehouse (formerly Melton’s Too). To call it rustic wouldn’t do it justice. Artfully rustic with a dash of urban hip, perhaps?

The walls are bare brick, in the way beloved of designers who convert old warehouses into plush modern flats. Blown-up prints of black and white photos showing the interior of this 17th century building in the days long before it became a trendy restaurant hang on the walls, while lengths of rope dangle from the ceiling. In the stairwell leading to an even higher floor, someone has ‘casually’ painted the words ‘the Loft’, with an arrow pointing the way up to further seating above.

Somehow, it all works. The lighting is dim, supplemented by tiny candles on each table; and the atmosphere wonderfully relaxed. We settled at our small table pushed up against that brick wall with a contented sigh.

This restaurant – and the pub below – have been through several rebrandings down the years. So we were keen to check out the latest.

The Chopping Block makes no secret about where its heart lies. “Our kitchen will be serving quality local produce from York-based suppliers,” a note on its website reads, adding that vegetarian options are always available (good news for a veggie like me).

There are various menus – lunch, brunch and a couple of ‘party’ menus, plus a set menu, a main menu and a ‘game’ menu. This being a Saturday evening, we concentrated on the latter three.

The set menu (£15.50 for two courses or £17.95 for three) includes the likes of soup of the day with artisan bread (from Food for Thought in Haxby) and Fritto Misto (Italian-style mixed fried fish) for starters, plus vegetable tagine, rump steak stroganoff or Yorkshire burger with chips for mains. Puddings include a cheese board, sticky toffee pudding or mixed berry tart.

Eventually, I opted to go a la carte from the main menu, plumping for the falafel (£6.50) as a starter and the pea pancakes with curried cauliflower (£14) as my main.

Lili chose the seafood gratin with scallops and king prawns (£8.90) from the main menu for her starter, and then went for the wild duck breast and confit duck leg croquette (£20) from the game menu.

As the descriptions suggest, this is cooking with ambition. So how did it measure up?

Pretty well, on the whole. My falafels were light and crumbly. They came with a piquant red pepper ketchup, a lovely tangy accompaniment which set off the dryness of the falafel nicely. Best of all however, was the bed of couscous-based taboulah on which my falafels arrived. I don’t normally much like couscous, but this was perfectly cooked, and generously flavoured with chopped coriander, one of my favourite herbs.

Lili was equally pleased with her seafood starter. Her prawns and scallops were well cooked but still tender, and very tasty, she said. “They’re very good,” she pronounced: high praise indeed from someone who is very particular about her food.

We both agreed that our starters were sufficiently filling to be almost a main meal. That, as it turned out, was probably a good thing, as my main course was less generous in size. My pea pancake – essentially a pancake dough mixed with what I guess must have been ground or mashed or puréed pea before being fried – was a little disappointing. The pancake had a nicely crisp, almost-but-not-quite burned finish (which is how it should be) and a good, earthy flavour of pea. But it was too salty. The curried cauliflower worked well – nicely crunchy and with a flavour enhanced by the curry. But as a main course it left me unsatisfied.

Lili’s duck was better: a generous portion of slow-cooked duck breast and leg that Lili again described as well cooked, tender and tasty. There was too much for her to finish all of it, and it was a mark in The Chopping Block’s favour that our friendly waitress was more than happy to pack up Lili’s leftovers

for us to take home.

Lili finished her meal with three scoops of Yorvale ice cream, which she enjoyed. Having been disappointed with my main, meanwhile, I was delighted with my pud. I chose the mixed berries with lemon cream and shortcrust (£4.95): a sort of deconstructed cheesecake which was better than any cheesecake I’ve ever had. The lemon cream in particular wonderfully tart and tastebud-tingling. A great pudding.

Our bill, including a pint of Farmer bitter for me and a cup of hot water for Lili, came to a whisker over £60. Not cheap, but not overly expensive, either, given the quality of much of the food and the very pleasant surroundings.