CragRats is a cool, stylish brasserie where both the food and the staff are well dressed, says food and wine editor Elaine Lemm.

When CragRats Brasserie opened four years ago it wanted to ‘create something different for the Holme Valley’. It did.

The Brasserie is an offshoot of the renowned theatre and training company based down the road in a converted mill.

Blending two such diverse passions – a training company and an eatery – could easily have gone haywire. But that has certainly not happened here.

The slick, contemporary interior, packed with comfy suede and leather sofas, low-level lighting and art, is unusual in this neck of the woods.  When you walk through the stylish courtyard you feel you are in a place that is cared for and nurtured. The staff, like the décor, dress faultlessly and their welcoming smiles are unforced.

For our lunch the room is dressed more like a wedding banquet that a cool restaurant with crisp, clean, white tablecloths, lilies and orchids and individually-labelled quarter bottles of Moét and Chandon Champagne.

Seasonality is clearly a passion at CragRats illustrated beautifully by our teaser course of garden pea soup. Bursting with flavour, it bought the spring sunshine on to the plate, with tender, moist pigs’ cheek offering a welcome twist.

Next came an exemplary chicken parfait with seasonal asparagus and squeaky fresh crab, dressed with a lemon-watercress salad. The dish was light, bright and a perfect balance with no one ingredient taking centre stage.

Sandy Greetham from Matthew Clark chose the wines for lunch.  A crisp, complex Australian, unoaked Semillon stood up well to the flavours of the first two dishes. A Saint Emillion from Chateau Lyonnat brought together the classic duet of a good powerful Bordeaux red with lamb, the principal component of the main course.

The views from CragRats across the valley are stunning, the hills dotted with sheep and lambs frolicking in the spring sunshine.  It was only appropriate then that the main course was rare rump of lamb, even if it meant averting my eyes from the pleasant scene outside so guilt didn’t spoil what was the best piece of lamb I have eaten in a long, long time. The star of the show.

The Jersey Royals, so good at this time of year, usually need little more than a sprinkle of sea salt and a good dollop of butter.  Chef Richard Shaw chose wild garlic instead.  The season for this delicious herb is so short it is sometimes difficult to find. I learned later that the supplier let them down at the last minute.  So Gary, from behind the bar, was sent on a foraging mission to the local wood the night before. It was well worth the effort.

A bitter chocolate strawberry fondant for dessert showed the same skill we had seen throughout the meal.  The idea of hiding the strawberry deep inside the soft chocolate was whimsical and making rhubarb crumble into ice cream was witty.  There is a definite sense of fun behind the seriousness of the food here.

Finding wine to match the complexity of the dessert was always going to be a tough one for Sandy but a luscious, delicately sweet late harvest Riesling from South Africa breezed alongside the pudding.

This was a thoroughly good lunch, served graciously in great company and fantastic surroundings CragRats Brasserie deserves all the applause it receives and I for one would welcome an encore any day.