VENUES come and go and when there is a change of name I struggle to remember what it used to be.

But no matter. Blue Fly it is now and that's what I saw advertised recently, in the Evening Press of course!

Despite it being a cool October day, tables were set up outside. We chose the relative warmth of the inner sanctuary.

The tables are placed very close together so intimate conversation is difficult. It also made my discreet note taking tricky. Greeted pleasantly (can such a small place sustain a staff of four?) we scanned the menu.

Certainly soup (£2.50) for one of us was called for and it was my turn.

Leek and potato is a favourite. It came decorated with cream in a deep bowl.

I suspect the soup had been put into a cold bowl because it was only lukewarm around the edge, but acceptably hot in the centre.

Together with bread and a generous portion of butter this was a good start.

Ann chose the exotic sounding chicken liver parfait with wild berry jelly (£4) with salad garnish. Giving little thought to the fact it may arrive with onion she took quite some time to discard slivers of the one vegetable she doesn't like.

I was invited to try more than just a taste of the parfait and good it was too.

We noted that all the sandwiches would be served in ciabatta bread. Salads included cottage cheese with strawberries and walnuts (£4.50) and tuna with green olives and croutons (£4).

Home-made cakes looked appetising but heftily priced - organic apple and banana (£3.50), chocolate fudge (£3) or carrot and orange cake (£3). We shared a slab of the latter which Ann felt was a bit dry. Just as well she had a hot chocolate (£2).

Although small inside there was a steady turnover of customers and the outside tables were also well patronised. We particularly noticed that staff were quick to clear tables so new customers were not faced with someone else's debris.

Updated: 10:02 Saturday, November 02, 2002