ON a Sunday afternoon there’s nothing like a relaxing lunch.

And with its chilled atmosphere, peaceful location and varied menu, the Boathouse at Christchurch Quay is the perfect place to while away a couple of hours.

The restaurant, which offers breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, was full enough to create a nice ambience, but not too busy.

After a quick peek at the dessert menu before we ordered, we decided to skip starters and save room for something sweet.

We could have chosen from a range of starters including soup, bruschetta, fishcakes, moules and garlic bread.

The lunchtime menu offers sandwiches and mains such as spaghetti Bolognaise, hot chilli beef nachos, Thai red chicken curry, wild mushroom risotto, swordfish bap and beef Bourguignon.

There are also a handful of children’s options, making the restaurant a favourite with families, couples and groups alike.

I chose the 100 per cent beefburger while my friends selected a chicken and bacon baguette with a side order of chips and the roast beef.

Our food took an awfully long time to arrive – so much so that we were beginning to think our order had been forgotten.

But when it eventually turned up the food was piping hot and each serving was extremely generous.

My Aberdeen Angus |burger was topped with bacon and melted cheese and accompanied by fries. The burger itself was very meaty and obviously |home-made – I struggled to finish it.

The roast beef was an equally large portion, accompanied by traditional vegetables and the largest Yorkshire pudding I have ever seen.

The meat was tender and the Yorkshire pudding very light and crispy, but the vegetables were ever so slightly soggy.

My friend’s chicken and bacon baguette was topped with red onion, lettuce, tomato and cucumber, making for a very tasty combination and the accompanying chips were cooked to perfection without being too greasy.

For dessert we selected a fudge nut brownie, some coconut ice cream and some crème brulée and almond amaretto ice cream.

Again, service was very slow, but at least it gave us time to recover from our mains.

The brownie was deliciously chocolatey, if slightly rich, and the ice cream was beautifully creamy and very light, despite the rich flavours.

All in all it was a very nice lunch, if not slightly more leisurely than we had anticipated.

Our meal, including three soft drinks, came to £48.55.