The Cellar Lounge is a wine bar and if I may say so, a rather upmarket off licence, in a quirky crescent shaped building on the corner at the top of Hill Road in Clevedon. It was a beautiful evening when we decided to go there and after we parked the car, we took a stroll and looked out over the sea cast with the shadows of the setting sun; it was a very peaceful scene and strange to think the hubbub of the city is only a few miles away. We liked the interior of the Cellar Lounge very much, full of dark woods and capacious buttoned leather chairs with plenty of interesting bric-à-brac to take the eye. The focal point is a lovely curved set of pharmacy drawers with the Latin names of long gone medical mixtures still evocatively painted on them.

The owners obviously take a pride in their wine list and actively travel Europe searching out new and interesting varieties so we had no hesitation in trusting their house rosé and ordered a litre jug. I was slightly worried that served in a jug it wouldn’t be properly chilled but I was wrong; the dark green heavy pottery jug kept it cool to the last glass. We settled in a squashy leather chair apiece and looked through the menu; the main focus is on tapas with some simple dishes such as spinach and ricotta pasta or chilli con carne if you feel the need of something more substantial.

The tapas dishes are very reasonable at between £2.99 and £3.75 each and we ran down the list, choosing three each to share : small brochettes of chicken cooked with fresh lemon, mini Spanish pork sausages with hot paprika, tiger prawns, meat balls with sweet chilli sauce and Spanish omelette and last all of some bread with aioli. They came very attractively served on two long white plates with separate sections, with a plate and serviette each and a nice silver one prong fork especially for spearing tapas I think! I sometimes find tapas disappointing but all the dishes were excellent, especially the meat balls and the lemon chicken and I’m afraid to say, we succumbed to ordering two more portions of those before the end of the meal!

The bar has a charming atmosphere and is obviously well frequented by the local people of Clevedon; sitting alongside us a party of lively young girls having a glass of wine before leaving for a meal, contrasted with a middle-aged lady quietly alone reading a book whilst enjoying her supper with a peppermint tea. Not many places succeed in being all things to all men but this one certainly has the right ingredients - they even welcome dogs as long as they are well behaved!

Jacquie Vowles