Now there is food, then there is cuisine and then there is the sort of gourmet food which can only be described as a work of art.

I have eaten food which I would want to put in the last category on only a handful of occasions but if I were to list the most memorable meals I have ever had (and I am 55 so I have had many years in which to enjoy good food) then the meal I had at Apatura on Sunday evening would be right up there in the top 10..

What is remarkable is I was able to enjoy this meal not in a Michelin-starred London eaterie but right here in Croydon.

And I am not going into raptures about the food simply to fill space but because this is just the sort of restaurant Croydon sorely lacks and is one I want everyone to try and turn into a success.

Its owner is restaurateur Cem Arif who seized the opportunity to turn the former Duke’s Head into a really high class restaurant.

“The pub had become very run down and decrepit but it is a building with huge potential and I wanted to open a really high class restaurant,” he says.

He spent six months (and an awful lot of money) turning the old landmark into the kind of sophisticated place not normally found outside the trendier parts of London.

Step inside and you will find a spectacular bar with leather chairs where Cem and his manager Tito hope you will take time to sip a cool cocktail or glass of champagne before you dine.

The old building was gutted then` completely rebuilt with attractive slate floors, walls plastered and painted in neutral colours and the room furnished with sleek, black wood tables and chairs to give this a chic, modern look. The décor might be high class but the ambience is chilled and relaxing.

Luckily Cem’s vision for a high class restaurant was shared by a good friend, a first class chef who has worked in some of London’s top hotels and restaurants who has used all his creativity and flair to come up with a gourmet menu.

I am always suspicious of restaurants which come up with menus that go on forever. I know that in order to cook really fresh, good food, the menu needs to be kept to a maximum of about six dishes and that is what Apatura has done.

You will find a choice of five starters, mains and desserts.

As a couple dining out, we did what we often do, and that is sample each other’s courses, which at least gave us the chance to try two different dishes from each section.

I ordered the skate cheeks, clam chowder, Suffolk Samphire risotto, broad beans and smokey bacon (£8.50). My other half went for the Dorset crab tian, avocado mousse, ruby chard, quail egg and caviar dressing (£8.75).

For the main course I ordered Launceston lamb rump, braised beck, celeriac, bubble and squeak, pistachio powder, port jus (£16.95) and my husband chose guinea fowl ballotine, chicken livers, nocerella risotto, ratatouille and basil oil (£15.50).

And, after a pause, we ordered dessert – coconut panna cotta, pineapple carpaccio, white chocolate granite and black olive caramel (£6.25) and the chocolate moelleux, honey ice cream, honeycomb lavender sabayon (£6.25).

The food looked and tasted exquisite. This is no one sauce fits all place – in fact the chef spends hours creating them and it is possible to taste a huge range of different flavours. There is only one word I would use to describe it all – mind-blowing!

But you don’t have to be in the mood for dinner in order to enjoy what Apatura has to offer. The restaurant also offers a bar and lunch menu from noon until 3pm each day serving delicious modern tapas, grills and salads.

If you are in business and have a client you want to impress, then book your table at Apatura.

If you are on a date and want to show him or her you appreciate the finer things in life, then come here – and for everyone else who simply wants to enjoy really fine dining then give the restaurant a try – it really is something else!

Apatura 14 Southend Croydon CRO 1DL Tel: 020 8688 9416