The location looks great, and when we walked in it looked like it might be a nice place. The first sign that things might be a bit wrong was when we were pointed to our table across the other side of the room by one of the serving staff who remained behind the bar.

Garlic Mushrooms
Deep Fried Bree

Haddock and Chips
Canadian Burger and Chips
Sausage and Mash

The Garlic Mushrooms came and were just as they promised, mushrooms cooked in a soup like sauce. My Mum was surprised to find that the mushrooms weren't cooked in any batter and were just sliced and cooked. My Dad did enjoy finishing them off though.

As for the Deep Fried Bree, all three of us agreed that it was undercooked. A small sliver of it was melted enough to pour out when cut, the rest had the consistency of goats cheese and although it was warm it wasn't actually runny.

The Canadian Burger was good, it was well cooked and had a charcoal look to it, but it was really enjoyed, as were the fish which were lovely and moist.

However the chips were a bit unhappy, overly salty and dry, they were chips and nothing more.

The biggest disappointment, and the one that really annoyed me, was the most simplest of dishes, Sausage and Mash.

We were astounded when I saw the sausages, they were the standard supermarket type pork sausages, and they were the extra thin type. What's more they were over cooked with the outside being too crispy and burnt.

The gravy was burnt too and had a thick oily consistency, even afterwards you could pools of oil sitting around the gravy left on the plate. I'm not exaggerating, there was loads of it.

The mash, the cheapest and easiest thing to make, was okay but was in short supply. Compared to the full plates of the other two mains, this really did look like a starter.

Very disappointing, and when I told the gentleman serving us that it wasn't that good and we didn't want to even try pudding, there was no question other than offering the bill, a bill which never appeared.

The one and only visit to Braid Hills Hotel, and we're glad we didn't pick it for our wedding venue, oh yes, it was on the consideration list.

Now let me say that in my past I was a hardened gamer. We used to run Doom, Quake and Tom Clancy game competitions all the time, and I was a more than healthier winner of most. I played the consoles at home, and games on the PC, and played a lot online too.

Nowadays other priorities have come forward. There's life in general, and then there's the place that sucks all my spare time, Filmstalker.

So I'm amazed that I've finished the game in under five days without huge sessions in front of the console. In fact I'm disappointed.

Let's go back though, let's go back to the moment I first loaded the game in. It crashed. That's the first experience I've had on the XBox or XBox 360 of a game crashing, and during the loading page it just stopped. It took me a little while to realise it had frozen, but stuck it had.

Luckily that didn't happen again, until the weird thing at the end of the game. I had just completed the last level, although I didn't realise it was at the time, and just as the saving screen began to come up I was shot and killed. Killed while the saving screen was fading in and the game screen fading out. Then I was right back to the last checkpoint.

That's not a problem though, as in CoD3 once you've been killed once you pretty much know where and what to do the second time around. That was one of the tiresome aspects of the game.

Another was the traditional big boss sections. Although there wasn't a big boss as such, there were moments of "throw everything at them and repeat" this would last until a predetermined amount of enemies were killed or that a certain amount of time seemed to pass, and these were the most frustrating parts.

The hand to hand combat moments were awful, and were just something to click through and get out of the way. They didn't seem to flow in the game at all, and I rather wish they just hadn't been there.

The other non fighting parts were quite clever though. The way that you had to assemble charges as they were planted involved a lot more than just "press X to place charge here". The missions themselves flowed well together in the storyline, and moving from different squads and playing different nationalities was done very well. Although I have to take point with the overly French hating Scotsman they created, he really did have a beef with them originally which was bordering on racism. That said, the story did pan out and he began to bond with them, and it did highlight the pressures of working with, and trusting, the local resistance.

The graphics and scenery are perhaps the most effective thing about this game, it's just a pity you don't get too much time to appreciate it. What I particularly liked was when I zoomed in with a weapon and as I moved from near to far objects my focus would take a small moment to change and it looked superb on screen.

The gameplay is good, although it became easy not to get killed. Just avoid sustained multiple shots. Single shots wouldn't kill you and as long as you kept ducking for cover when three or more enemies were hitting you, you would be okay. Perhaps I need to play it again on a harder level to appreciate it more, but I fear there's no desire to go through the story again, unlike with Band of Brothers.

However the hardest part was the being rushed through the levels. I could appreciate this at times as it kept the pace up and forced you to dive into situations you would probably either avoid, or sit back from a little, and it's perhaps more realistic. Yet I found that for the most part it meant I was just shooting a few baddies and then racing on, hardly realising where we were, what was going on around us, and getting involved in the game.

For the most part CoD3 feels very arcade like, and running about firing at anything that moves can get you very far in this game. I've seen it played online and it is played exactly like Quake, I haven't seen a game played in the style of World War II soldiering. For me that's a real shame because that's what the game is all about.

Band of Brothers seems to embrace this and pull you deep into the story, even when you're in the middle of the attack. It slows the pace down and keeps you in the middle of the war, and not running around.

There were several glitches with CoD3 that annoyed me throughout the game though. Backing up almost always caused you to stop dead in your tracks because you were up against something solid and couldn't move, I found this annoying on stairways. If you were crouching and climbing slowly at an angle to shoot round a corner, backing up quickly caused you to touch the railing and just stop dead, sometimes there didn't even seem to be anything in the way when I turned round to run head on, I was just stuck.

Objects in your way was the biggest problem, even going forward I would find myself stuck and unable to move. The only way out was to stand up, while being shot at, and start jumping repeatedly to try and get out of the way. Most of the time it worked, and sometimes I just died.

The AI was good though, for the enemy anyway. I would be forever firing at something and have one of my men walk right in front of me. Luckily there's no friendly fire so I couldn't shoot them, but this causes a delay in firing again, even after they're passed and you're coming under fire.

The tank missions were fun, although the controls of the tank would never quite work. When I tried to rotate the tank right I would move the joystick right and the tank would rotate left. Damn, I kept thinking, must invert that control for this game. So then I'd push the joystick left and the tank would rotate left. Eh? Pushing the joystick right again and it would rotate right. For one mission this seemed to happen everytime I used the tank (actually I think it's the only mission you need to drive the tank) and it was infuriating.

Despite all this it was fun to play, just all too short. For me to complete it in five days is an unheard of thing. I'm still sitting with XBox games I haven't finished, Halo 2 for example, although that isn't very good anyway.

I wish there were more missions, and more varied missions. It seemed I just got a taste of what could have been. Perhaps though this is the future of gaming, a small one player game and the rest is online play. If that's the case, they might as well just keep releasing Quake forever, after all that's all that seems to happen with online play.

Call of Duty 3 on Amazon UK

One concern I did have though was that the trailers showed a lot of running about in the light and shooting at people, was the sneaking element gone in favour of a first person shooter in places? Time would tell.

Now that I’ve been played the game for a few levels I have to say I love the style and some of the new additions. There’s things like the ice kill where you punch through shallow ice and pull the victim under the water, and despatch him with a stab through the heart. That’s very satisfying and visually a lot of fun.

Then there’s the whole idea that you have to pick and choose your objectives in a mission, this threw me totally the first time it appeared, but when I got the hang of it I really got into it. The thing is you’re working for the bad guys, so you have to complete the main missions they want you to and any of their side should you feel the urge. At the same time the NSA are going to ask you to do a few things, some critical and some not, but all of the missions, NSA or not, are up to you.

You chose which to do, and the more you do for one, the more trust you gain for them. So do them all for both sides and you get equal amounts of trust, forget one team and they lose trust in you and (I’m guessing so far) the game changes.

These things are really good about the game, and the graphics look superb, even though I’m not on HDTV as yet. However there are problems that are sneaking in.

The swimming is perhaps the most annoying part of the game. The responses of Fisher can be pretty erratic, and I’ve seen him floating in front of an open tunnel bumping into an apparently invisible brick wall. At one point he just refused to move anywhere and I had to load from the previous checkpoint.

Another thing is the ability of the baddies to see you. I’ve found next to no dark sneaking since the first level of the game. Since then my onboard light indicator has told me that I’m out in the light pretty much all the time.

During the prison sections there’s a room where there’s three prisoners on the ground floor of an open plan room, and on the second floor walkways are two prison guards. The prisoners have just shot and killed some guards in front of your eyes, and right below the guards above, yet they walk back and forth looking down upon them without the slightest of concerns. Yet as soon as I vaguely appeared in the light, even directly underneath a walkway, they saw me and began shooting, and as soon as the guards did so did the prisoners. Nice teamwork, but didn’t those guys just kill your mates?

Same situation happened when I try to sneak around the room when the guards are shooting at the prisoners, and as soon as I’m spotted they all stop to start shooting at me. Eh?

Getting through that room was a nightmare, and to be honest I’ve totally abandoned using my light meter. I’m just concentrating on where anyone is looking. I’ve found the alert system totally irrational. So much so that I was clambering down a drainpipe with no guards anywhere around me – I checked the 3D map very carefully – and I had the warning sound. Miles away a guard was showing on the map as alert, and even I couldn’t see him with heat vision and my zoom scope on my rifle.

One of the most frustrating parts of the game is the final mission breakdown. I actually thought this was a great feature for the first few levels, where I scored 98% twice and a 100% the last mission. However the one I just completed bagged me a whopping -2%. Why so?

Well the breakdown looks at things like missions completed, locks picked, people knocked out, kills, bullets fired, hacks completed and failed, etc, etc. Some it adds percentage score and some it removes. In this mission you have to incapacitate the entire crew of a super tanker. So I did. Every single one starting at one end of the ship and working to the other. The reason I received -2% was because of the 3 times I was spotted which bagged me a -30%, that’s fair enough, and the 6 bodies found which got me the remaining -72%.

Now the mission means I go from one end of the boat to the other incapacitating everyone, and I mean everyone. There was no one left awake behind me. That means none of them would have found bodies, I was careful to clear an area before moving on so that there were no guards left alive to walk over anyone else.

Even at the end of the level it’s announced that the rest of my team are coming in to clear up, so why the hell were 6 bodies found? Found by whom? My own team?

There’s another infuriating style where things just happen and you have to work out what to do. It’s not always clear that you have to wiggle your left stick and then press A when ready, although you are told LS in the corner of the screen. Likewise it’s not clear sometimes what you’re supposed to do full stop. Except this actually improves the game too, it makes it more realistic and more tense, and it can sometimes be a good thing.

The cut scenes are really good, and there’s been some thought put into them about how to involve you. So that some cut scenes are actually a tiny little bit of gameplay. It may be how to open your reserve parachute, or deciding to kill a terrorist’s hostage or not, and they last seconds, but it adds an extra layer to the game.

The addition of the layered objective system is something I really do like, and the breakdown of your scores at the end is great, but there are flaws with some of the new areas that just don’t feel right and I wish these had been ironed out for the release. Still, I’m enjoying it, even if the sneaking and staying hidden has become exceedingly difficult and some of the AI, gameplay and scoring system seem quite out of sync, but there’s still a lot of fun to be had here.

I’m sure there will be more to report as the game progresses, but this is the verdict so far. Excellent, but needed more testing and QA.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent for the XBox 360 on Amazon UK
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent for the XBox on Amazon UK
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent for the PS2 on Amazon UK

When we visited we hadn't made a reservation and were greeted warmly. They were busy but there would be a table in half an hour. So we disappeared for a few drinks and came back to a readied table.

Wine:
Solar de Libano Reserva 2000 Rioja

Starter:
Walnut bread and olives
Spicy tuna fishcake
Grilled Salmon and gruyure rarebit on rye bread

Mains:
Pork with port and onion and mash great herbs, rye bread thinly sliced on pork
Seabream with creamed leeks and spinach

Dessert:
Knockandhu, Brandy and coffee
Cheese board with homemade chutney

Starters

I loved the homemade walnut bread and the tasty destoned olives, these were dangerously good and had me addicted. I fear I may have spoiled my appetite if there had been anymore on the table.

The starters were gorgeous, and to be frank, all the food was. I had the spicy tuna fishcake which was just that. It had a chunky and crispy covering and a gorgeous sauce. Beautifully cooked.

My partner had the grilled salmon and gruyure rarebit. She was initially concerned about these two strong tastes together, but they were lovely and fitted well. If there had been a much larger portion then perhaps it might have become too rich, but it was just perfect.

I then progressed onto the Pork. To be honest I had chosen it because of the lovely sounding mash, but the entire dish was lovely. The pork was tender and juicy and the mash was delicious. I was surprised by the rye bread, and really like the texture and taste it brought to the dish.

However I do wish I had chosen the seabream my partner had. It had these beautiful melt in your mouth potatoes and the creamed leeks and spinach were fantastic. Try as I might I couldn't persuade her to swap!

The wine was recommened and was lovely. Rich and full of flavour, and we finished it off before we even contemplated a dessert.

My partner couldn't face any more food and quite frankly neither could I, but there was something that just had to be done, the cheese board. I did too, and it was a great selection of cheeses with a lovely homemade chutney.

Now I know I've kept saying gorgeous and lovely throughout but I'm being totally honest saying that it was probably one of the best dining experiences I've had, certainly the best at Puerto Pollenca.

It wasn't just the food and the lovely surroundings though, it was the service. Fast, efficient, always catching when your glass was about ready for a refill, and the perfect amount of attitude mixed with friendliness.

Maureen was the lady who looked after everything at the front of the shop and Kenny, her partner, was the superb chef. The owners were away this evening and apparently helped out front most times, but Maureen was very much in charge of the tables, and it was a perfect setup.

The only tarnish to the evening was when the owners popped in with their friends to have a quick drink and hang around. This totally destroyed the atmosphere for the time they were there, making it feel more like a bar than a restaurant with class. Their friends also had a child with them and it just didn't feel right.

However they weren't there for long and the great atmosphere and attitude was back as soon as they were gone.

We polished off our meal with a rather large whisky for me a brandy for my partner, and we were lucky enough to be allowed to stay past closing for another.

I have to say that this is an excellent restaurant with wonderful food and service and it's such a shame that it isn't just down the road, or perhaps it's not because I could see myself heading there everytime we went out for a meal.

I'd heartily recommend this for a fantastic meal out, and to the owners, keep hold of your two best assests Maureen and Kenny.

Despite all that the wine is lovely. It has a velvety texture and I defintely caught the black fruit taste, which was actually blackcurrant. My girlfriend caught the red fruit, which was actually raspberry. Then there's a little bit of spice which made this wine a lovely choice. Very pleasant and quite reasonable from M&S.

Monteguelfo Chianti 2004 was one such new bottle we tried, and we were sorely disappointed. The wine had no real flavour to it, there were nice tannins which weren't too overpowering and a smokey, oakey taste, and that was about it. In my limited knowledge of wine I had assumed Chainti's were tastier, not so here however.