It's a part of Halifax where past meets present and the entrepreneurial vision of Sir Ernest Hall transformed the redundant sheds and offices of Crossley Carpets into a five-star cultural asset that is admired the world over.

Within this is one of Halifax's most popular restaurants, the Design House, which offers a contemporary dining experience without being pretentious.

Curved walls play easy on the eye. The various splashes of colour on white walls vie for your attention. This is without question a pleasing place to sit down and enjoy a plate of food with friends.

The staff are always affable and welcoming and you get a real feeling that everyone enjoys working there.

Some time ago we paid the princely sum of £20 for a VIP card, which carries with it various entitlements.

It was Saturday night when we visited for a family birthday celebration.

The card meant we could dine for £14.65, as opposed to the regular £19.50 charge for three courses. It also offers a half-price, two-course set-menu lunch.

The evening list offers five starters, five mains and five desserts, which is ample and affordable.

I kicked off with the peppered mackerel parfait, which was OK, if not a little dry. It was not the best start and one of my companions agreed that he too had found the dish lacking.

By contrast my wife Vicky, was in her element with chicken saté which, according to her, was succulent and extremely tasty.

I stuck with fish for my main and was presented with a perfect portion of red mullet served up exquisitely on a fragrant bed of lemon fennel and finished off with an artistic swish of red pepper and olive tapenade.

Red mullet is a lovely fish that requires care when cooking and what was served to me was faultless and tasty.

With a little help, we had chosen well from the wine-list. The cuvee de pinot grigot (£16.95) matched the food and went down so well we decided, perhaps extravagantly, on a second bottle.

The cheeseboard had been doing the rounds between tables and was too tempting to pass up.

Cheese has become a bit of a treat these days. Maybe the dietary advice served up by the health lobby has finally got me.

I got a nice selection, but there was not much. It was gone so quickly, the chutney that came with it remained untouched.

Meanwhile Vicky was tucking into sticky toffee pudding and did not even offer me a taste!

With the wine, coffee, pre-drinks and one to follow the meal in the comfortable bar area, the bill split between the eight in the party (the others had a VIP card too) came to around £22 each. Not bad at all for a night out.

Full details of the VIP offers and how to take them up are available when booking a table.

Ratings
Name: Design House
Address: Dean Clough, Halifax, HX3 5AX
Phone: 01422 383242

Food 4/5
Atmosphere 4/5
Service 5/5
Value 5/5