AS we pulled off the eastbound carriageway of the A66 onto the filling station forecourt, passing over the faded "welcome" exhortation painted on the tarmac, I remembered what the Akbar Dynasty Indian restaurant had been. One of a thousand Little Chefs which once seemingly graced every A-road in the country.

Many have now closed and they are now mainly to be found at large motorway service stations alongside Burger King, KFC and other distributors of gunge dressed up to look like food.

The closure of the little Little Chefs is no bad thing as I have experienced some truly gruesome moments in these roadside hellholes. Like the one near Lincoln which served soggy chips for breakfast when the fried potatoes ran out and another on the A1 which could not serve an omelette but could fry eggs. It turned out they had run out of the pre-cooked omelettes and were unable to wield a pan to make one. I vowed never to eat in one again aftter sampling mushrooms which looked like rabbit droppings soaked in engine oil. Well, it was near Birmingham.

Happily, once through the door of the Akebar Dynasty, the funky Indian music and neo-classical decor dispelled any lingering memories of greasy fry-ups and Formica-topped tables. It was early on a Sunday evening and initially we were the only diners present but shortly afterwards more arrived, perhaps attracted by the "eat anything from the menu for £9.95" offer advertised outside.

We enquired about this offer which applies Sunday-Tuesday and it's not quite as straightforward as it seems ('twas ever thus). For £9.95 one can choose any starter and main course with either pilau or boiled rice except anything including seafood. As the Akbar Dynasty seems to specialise in seafood dishes, that represents about a third of the menu and certainly not "anything". Still, there was still plenty to choose from and if you can restrain yourself a very good meal can be had.

Sadly, we couldn't, ordering some suitably crisp poppadums (35p each). They came with a pickle tray (£2.50) which, strangely, featured no lime pickle. It's an acquired taste certainly but rather a glaring omission nevertheless.

The two starters, which arrived well before we had finished the poppadums, were a mixed bag. Sylvia's Chicken Chat (£3.10 when not included in the £9.95 offer) was a great success. The chopped chicken was very tender in an aromatic massala sauce served on puree bread. My Sheek Kebab (also £3.10) was hot and spicy but a little dry and needed a liberal dousing with lemon juice to moisten it.

Both, it must be said, were substantial dishes and we could have done with a little more breathing space before the arrival of the main courses. This time my choice - chicken jalfrezi (£6.70 when not included in the special offer) - was the star turn. Again very tender chicken was at the heart of the dish. The sauce was as hot as I like it with enough chilli, coriander and tamarind to give that characteristic sinus-numbing "high".

Sylvia's lamb resala (£6.70 again) was not unpleasant but the sauce was dominated by coconut flavouring which made it more like a salan dish. The lamb was tender enough but there not much of it.

Other main dishes which might have tempted us were Lamb Shahjani - lamb tikka and spinach with fennel, coriander and chillies (£6.70) or from the vegetarian section Mutar Sag - spinach and chick peas stir-fried with garlic, green chillies and coriander - (£5.60).

Fifty minutes after sitting down we asked for the bill (a measure of the brisk service) which, with a couple of drinks, came to a shade under £30. Reasonable value if not the "all-you-can-eat" bargain hinted at by the restaurant's roadside advertising banner.

Akebar Dynasty deserves credit for making a go of an unpromising location and in doing so taking the place of this reviewer's ultimate culinary bete noir.

The cooking is a cut above your average High Street tandoori and well worth the trip down route 66.

One point to remember when leaving. If heading back towards Darlington, you have to drive eastwards for a mile or so to the Longnewton turnoff to get back on to the westbound carriageway.