Finally I get to go to a proper restaurant (well, sort of), even though the exchange rate has gone down a tad and I have £9.49 - plus the £1.06 I had left over from last time. So I head down to The Academy... I've been here once before to eat when my work took us out here a year ago for some reason. The place hasn't changed much: it's an old but polished bar/restaurant with plenty of tables and chairs, plus a sofa by a roaring log-fire - just the thing for this time of year (although you can't easily eat there). Rather tasteful christmas decorations are hanging from the ceiling - small wicker balls with bright white fairy lights inside, same as last year. Gentle lighting gives the front area a dark and cosy atmosphere, but the over-large bar makes the whole place annoyingly narrow, especially if you go for a beer in the evening as it gets packed with snooty business men who won't acknowledge the presence of anyone who isn't wearing a suit, let alone move out of their way.

For the most part the tables are quite annoyingly small and the chairs very low down: a hateful situation for anyone over six foot. However there is one nice big table just round the corner of the bar with big chunky chairs, and I manage to nab it. Past this there's the door to the back: a contrastingly bright and airy room for eating only that's as big as the front room, if you demolished the bar. Even though it has with much more suitable furniture than most of the bar area, it's far less cosy and more suited to large groups of people.

Anyway, I'm in the warm and cosy bar area on my large and chunky table. The menu is fairly imaginative and contains all sorts - if you want seafood or pastas or roast meats or salads, you'll find something suitable with a thoughtful selection of vegetables and sauces for each. As ever the rib-eye steak is tempting but a bit dull, and rather to large for a lunch. Besides which it's a little more than the £10.55 I have in the kitty to spend. So for £8.85 I pick out the Minted Lamb Fillet with New Potatoes and Roasted Beetroots.

It's only a Wednesday lunchtime, so The Academy isn't overly busy. Our chairman and a few other high-up people in our company are eyeing me suspiciously from the round table in the corner, but luckily enough the service is quick (and very, very friendly) so I won't be exceeding my 1 hour lunch break (although as they were there first, they'd be breaking their hour if they want to be around to check if I break mine).

The food comes as a rather decent portion - large but tender fillets of steaming lamb don't manage to overshadow the pile of unpeeled boiled new potatoes and the numerous chunks of roasted beetroot (fairly well hidden under the lamb in the photo above). I've never had roast beetroot before (which is why I picked the dish) and I'm quite pleased to find they're absolutely gorgeous. I'm not normally a big fan of beetroot: even the smallest piece is packed with indelibly staining juices which gush out at the slightest pressure, and they have a fleeting and not particularly interesting flavour.

Most beetroot you come across is peeled, processed and vacuum-sealed in thick clear plastic. I don't whether The Academy acquires fresher beetroot or if its just the cooking process, but it tastes far better than you'd expect. Luckily roasting beetroot also takes off quite a bit of the juice and seals the outside, keeping the remaining (but still considerable) amounts of liquid inside until it's actually between your molars. Roasting them also seems to give them much more flavour: they're slightly sweeter and much, much richer - but not overpoweringly so. I had a fair portion of them but I could happily have eaten plateful.