A RAINY day in Blaenavon may not be ideal for Sunday lunch. But with an advertised price tag of £8.75 for five courses, my aged but spritely parent -- always a man with an eye for a bargain -- and I decided to investigate The Arundel.

We got off to a good start with a tasty tomato and basil soup and garlic mushrooms. Main course options were roast beef, turkey, salmon or vegetarian.

We chose the salmon and vegetarian, roasted vegetable lasagne, both served with a roast potato and a selection of vegetables. Unfortunately, both the salmon and the vegetables were somewhat overcooked for our taste.

The situation was redeemed, however, by the choice of eight desserts. We went for the plum bread and butter pudding, served with custard, and the raspberry meringue.

The former was flavoursome, although it could have been served a bit hotter, while the latter was crammed with ice-cream, raspberries and meringue.

That was followed by biscuits and cheese and a cup of good filter coffee. To be fair, despite being told when booking that the sitting started at 1pm, a large family party turned up 15 minutes late and, since we all sat down together, that might explain why some of the meal was cooked for too long.

The evening specials on the board provided interesting reading while we waited.

There were crocodile tails served in beer batter and pan fried trout with prawns in a lemon sauce.

Together with two soft drinks and two halves of lager, the bill came to £21.70. Caroline Woollard