WHAT a fantastic way to break up the working week. It’s early on Tuesday evening and I’m overlooking a distinctly spring-like Christchurch Quay from the magnificent setting of the newly-refurbished Boathouse restaurant.

The owners were certainly listening when someone said the words “location, location, location,” as they also run the nearby Beach House, which is enviably perched among the extortionately priced beach huts on the famous Mudeford Spit.

Let’s face it, this lot could serve up gruel and people would queue for tables overlooking some of the best views in Dorset.

But the Boathouse is popular for a lot more reasons than that.

A makeover during the winter months has given the place a new lease of life with stylish, contemporary décor, a bigger bar and fabulous new menus to suit all tastes and budgets.

All the old favourites are still there; moules frites are as popular as ever, as are prime steaks, burgers, noodles, pasta, salads, baguettes, Thai crab cakes and scallops.

But something different seems to be attracting a fair share of the restaurant’s customers.

Despite the huge number of Italian eateries in the area, this restaurant is fast gaining a reputation for serving up the best pizzas in town – and with a 2 for 1 deal on Monday to Wednesday it seemed rude not to try them.

And they’re not your run-of-the-mill flavours either, with intriguing options such as hula hula, billy goat gruff and posh.

I couldn’t resist the Bangkok, topped with Thai green chicken, coriander, coconut cream drizzle, sweet chilli drizzle, bamboo shoots and French beans.

The light, crisp base was topped with just the right amount of all the ingredients, making it easier to polish off the whole thing than its size suggested.

My friend opted for the “relight my fire” and was soon grinning with delight from the flavours of the spicy hot meatballs, chorizo, fresh chilli, mixed peppers and onions.

Desserts posed a bit of a problem as we dithered over the tiramisu and the more traditional apple and rhubarb crumble with custard.

But, after much deliberation, I eventually opted for a mettise, a delightful dessert consisting of two different flavour brownies and a scoop of delicious movenpick ice cream.

My friend went for the surprise cheesecake, which turned out to be a pleasant one with delicious honeycomb flavours.

The bill was also a nice surprise; two pizzas, two desserts, two drinks and two coffees came to £31.50.