YOU don’t have to be feeling patriotic in order to enjoy a visit to Jacks restaurant which prides itself on serving classic British food.

Situated in The Kings Hotel overlooking the local bowling green and historic Christchurch Priory, the three key words which sum up the menu are simple, local, seasonal. There’s no fancy pants fusion food here.

All the ingredients are caught, grown or prepared close to Christchurch from the New Forest or South Coast.

We were able to park for free in what looks like a lay-by in front of the hotel in Castle Street.

After pre-dinner drinks in the hotel bar we were taken through to the restaurant. The decor is a combination of styles, colonial and art deco in a high-ceilinged Georgian hotel in plums and creams.

There are glass chandeliers, ceiling fans, dark wood tables and raffia chairs but somehow it all works.

My first course was an easy choice as I’d heard about chef Alex Aitken’s twice baked cheese souffle £6.50.

It’s a melt-in-the-mouth combination of cheddar and parmesan and cooked to perfection – soft, light and fluffy on the inside and just a little crispy on the outside.

My husband had the prawn and crab sundae £7.50 served on a bed of crunchy gem lettuce.

At first glance it looked like your average prawn cocktail but this version included guacamole and Jacks Spicy Sauce which has more of a kick than the usual Marie Rose dressing.

For mains I was tempted by the chicken breast with oyster mushrooms and calvados cream (£14.50) and the Jacks fish pie with spring greens (£12.50).

But our waiter suggested that if I wanted to have any room for dessert, I would be better off with the crab and tiger prawn linguini (£15.50).

This proved to be a good choice as although it was a good portion it was light and tasty with just enough chilli to keep it interesting but not enough to overpower the delicate flavour of the seafood.

The shredded crab was moist and fresh and worked well with the tangy tomato sauce which was topped with generous shavings of parmesan cheese, a good handful of rocket and some decorative dollops of pesto.

Meanwhile my husband was tucking into the sirloin steak (£17.50) which was perfectly cooked for his palate (medium well) and came with a side dish of creamy, buttery bearnaise sauce.

His dish included a portion of chunky chips (just a little greasy) arranged Jenga-style on the plate alongside a large roasted mushroom and tomato and garnished with fresh watercress.

For pudding we shared the Jacks Mess with crushed meringue, double cream and juicy strawberries which my husband enjoyed so much I thought he was in danger of scraping the glaze off the bottom of the bowl!

All in all an excellent meal and well presented.

A tad more ambience would have been good but it was a mid-week night.