OH, the joys of being a single mum! Vilified in the media. Subjected to being "set up" with blokes you wouldn't touch with somebody else's bargepole.

Never invited to dinner parties because a) odd numbers don't add up and b) wives seem to be very possessive of their husbands these days. So, what's a girl - OK, mature, full-time working, wrong side of 30 woman - to do?

The answer: call up another member of the single mums' club (Sue), book the babysitter-from-heaven (not telling, she's ours!) and go for the far-from-easy option of booking a table at Skipton's latest restaurant, Aeolos. (No, I can't pronounce it either.) It took me a full week of hitting redial to get through to book the only table still available last weekend. How come it's so popular before I've even reviewed it and given the proliferation of communication available these days, is it too much to ask that someone picks up the phone once in a while?

Well, they've gone all out on the Greek-themed dcor, though the restaurant offers both a Greek and "international" menu - think melon balls, steak et al. This attempt to please all tastes seems a bit, well, desperate.

Melon-eaters are already well-catered for round these parts, so myself and Sue went strictly Greek, which involved ordering a bottle of retsina. More later.

When good decision-making skills were being handed out, I was nowhere near the queue. Hence single mum status. But Sue hit a blinder with beautiful dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) to start, moussaka for main - though she'd have lived without the two cloves and bay leaf still included - and a lovely, surely home-made apple crumble and custard for pud.

My spanakopita (spinach and feta in filo pastry) didn't have the feta cheese-tang I was expecting, so was quite bland. The kleftiko (slow-baked lamb on the bone) was beautiful and enough to feed several armies, but was let down by too much (dried) rosemary and an overly-rich gravy which battled for attention.

And my toffee cheesecake, which was a "special", was anything but. In fact, I left half of it.

On the upside, the staff were absolutely fantastic.

As first-time customers, we were welcomed as if we were old friends and had a drink and a gasper in the airy upstairs bar (the restaurant is strictly no smoking) before Sue insisted on instigating Retsinagate!

Assured that it is a wine drinkable with anything, quite frankly I'd only drink it with a death wish! So, when we ordered a bottle of much more quaffable sauvignon blanc, the retsina was spirited away never to be seen again on the final bill.

The prices are reasonable at about £5 for starters, £10 to £13 for mains and £3-ish for puds. Vegetarians are very well catered for and there is both a meat and veggie meze menu, giving a wide range of dishes to try, at £19.95 per person.

Aeolos is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and if you want a table you really, really have to book in advance...if they answer the phone. Yes, I'll go again. No I won't order retsina. And no, you can't have the babysitter's number. Find your own!

Eilis Bottomley Reviewed by: