ANOTHER uncomfortably humid day in the office.

The heat was rising off the street and the steam was coming out of the Moll's ears.

Blondie wasn't talking, all pictures but no sound. She had adopted the local Omerta – the silence of the bams.

"Right, there's no point in being a miserable git here when I can be a miserable git with a drink in my hand," I said.

I decided to hit the tourist trail to downtown Coatbridge and Toots naturally came along for the ride.

I crashed the anchors when we passed Mondo. The joint looked familiar but the name didn't ring any bells.

Still, I reckoned it was worth a looksee. The penny dropped the second I planted my brogues in the door.

Once upon a long ago this was called Ata- but now a whole new world had opened up, Mondo being Italiano for world.

A waitress with a megawatt smile showed us to a table and filled in the blanks. It changed ownership a few months back and was packing in the punters.

No kidding, I thought. The place was, as they say in these parts, hoachin'.

Time for that drink. I ordered up a Sauvignon, a small one since I had the Buick cooling its carburetor outside. But size didn't matter, it easily matched the Moll's large Merlot.

I had already carried out a quick scan of the scran on the menu before the waitress quickly took it away.

"Wrong menu," she said before replacing it with a pricier a la carte job. It didn't matter. I had already decided on the sautéed mushrooms – and it certainly put a smile on my dish.

A mountain of mushrooms, topped with delicate parmesan shavings, were spilling out over the bruschetta.

They were simply outstanding. The mushrooms were softly cooked and the sauce easily the best I have had in months. If you're talking about good taste, this really was the crème de la crème.

With no little sense of irony, the Moll had opted for the goat's cheese. And one mouthful was enough to convince Blondie she had a soft spot for this starter.

The cheese was on the right side of tangy, slightly barnyardy but not too salty.

And to top it off, the accompanying beetroot and apple salsa ensured the Moll had rejoined the ranks of the shiny happy people.

Toots had finally decided to end the silent treatment to ask for a refill of the Merlot front.

FAIR enough, but I stuck to a Coke to keep on the right side of the local Feds.

I was hugely impressed with the menu which had left me spoilt for choice. Earlier the waitress had told me they'd hired a couple of chefs from the Smoke to turn up the heat. Judging by the in-crowd, it was working a treat.

I decided to put her words to the test with the beef strogan-off. Mondo had dished up this meal with a superbowl instead of a plate. And it was a home run all the way.

The strips of beef were extremely well done and very tasty. And the sauce was the perfect touchdown moment.

The hand-cut chips, nicely presented as a stack, were just as good. It's moments like this when I love my job.

The Moll had decided to play it safe with penne arrabiatta. But when it came to a dish like this, the grill guys at Mondo proved they were pasta masters.

The spicy sauce contained a good kick and the pasta was really filling. The tomatoes were right off the vine and the tasty mascarpone guaranteed Mondo will be the flavour of the month for the Moll.

"That was brilliant, Tec," was the Moll's straight-from-the-lip verdict. I could feel my waist-line tighten and doubted there was wiggle room for dessert.

So I played the two-out-three-ain't-bad-card and paid the bill with the plastic before the bill got drastic. We were just over forty smackers and I was back in the Moll's good books.

Mondo had done us both the world of good-

MONDO, 144 MAIN STREET, COATBRIDGE,

ML5 3BJ TEL: 01236 427397

STARTERS

Sauteed garlic mushrooms £4.95

Goat's cheese £4.95

MAINS

Beef stroganoff with hand-cut chips £10.95

Penne arrabiata £8.50

DRINKS

Two large Merlots £7.90

One large Sauvignon Blanc £3.95

One Coke £1.50.

TOTAL £42.70