When it comes to dining out at mid-range, mid-budget Hamilton restaurants, Monte Carlo - unlike the tiny principality from which it takes its name - isn't exactly on the map.

Overlooking the City Hall car park and dwarfed by Victoria Street office buildings, you can almost walk past the place and not see it. Its menu doesn't even feature in the Bermuda Telephone Directory's restaurant guide and Hack can remember eating there just once in the past half a dozen years or so. In fact it was only due to the extensive media coverage of Prince Rainier's (the latest of three with that name) failing health (and now death) that reminded Hack that the place still existed.

We made a last minute telephone call on Saturday night and had no problem making a reservation. The restaurant obviously wasn't going to be packed to the gills.

Our first pleasant surprise of the evening came when we walked through the door. The dining room had undergone a revamp since Hack's last visit and was all the better for it. What was once light and airy - although a bit insipid - has been replaced by something warmer, darker, cosier and more exotic.

Surprise number two turned up on the pages of our menus. Yes, we were expecting Mediterranean cuisine and that's what we got, but rather than featuring French and Italian influences, this menu looked more to the Eastern Med and North Africa for inspiration. A refreshing change from pastas and pizzas.

To start, we opted for a spinach and haloumi salad with ginger dressing and rosemary pita bread, and calamari with pesto (okay, you can't get more Italian than that, but Hack can't resist calamari, particularly when it's prepared differently from plain deep-fried). Both dishes lived up to their billing and the portions were enormous. The calamari came swimming in a sea of peppery green while the salad contained so many char-grilled chunks of the firm, salty Greek cheese that there was more than enough for two. All good stuff.

We had a real problem selecting main courses. Choices, choices and all of them sounding equally delicious. Should we try the Allspice lamb or striploin in a truffled mushroom sauce?

Just for a change I went for the harissa-rubbed chicken with lemon roast potatoes and pistachio cream while my companion selected honey and cracked pepper duck breast with a fig, honey and port reduction.

The one letdown of the night was the chicken. The breast must have come from a very big and very tough old bird (yes, the portions were enormous again) and the result was rather dry and stringy. The harissa rub wasn't as punchy as I would have preferred, although all the side dishes worked well.

But the duck certainly didn't disappoint. Thick and fatty, this was a really succulent piece of meat and the accompanying sauce was exquisite - the best duck dish I've tasted on the Island. Thankfully yet again there was enough on one plate for two to enjoy. Our bill came in at just over $100 for two appetizers, two entrees, a pair of pre-dinner cocktails and coffee.

We were just too stuffed to tackle dessert and no doubt the cost would have shot up even further had we enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine but that's still pretty good value for a night out that left us more than content.

Monte Carlo, on this showing at least, has got just about everything right.

The food was, by and large, imaginative, different, and well prepared and the portions more than generous. The setting is perfect for an intimate dinner for two and the service was warm, efficient and unobtrusive. The one thing that Monte Carlo might consider tweaking is its own publicity. The dining room was definitely more half-empty than half-full when we visited, which is a shame because it really deserves to have diners queuing up for a table. Perhaps the restaurant's owner should consider following in Prince Rainier's footsteps and get hooked up to a glamorous Hollywood blonde - or at least have the restaurant featured in the pages of the telephone directory.