Bosco, in Italian, means a small forest, a wood, writes Bob Noble.

However, what you won't find at this trendy lounge bar on Surbiton's St Mark's Hill, is any sign of trees, leaves or furry woodland creatures.

What you will find is a sophisticated mix of beautiful people, barmen who could teach Tom Cruise a thing of or two about mixing cocktails, and a comfortable sofa-setting with contemporary décor.

The back-lit bar is fronted with a range of drinks bottles that create an amazing stained-glass rainbow of colours highlighting the cleverly edged-tiled wall. The mix of labels that adorn these hundred or so bottles have names that most drinks connoisseurs would have serious difficulty in identifying. Fortunately, the highly skilled bar staff know exactly what to do with them.

The clientele is distinctly Surbiton suburbanites. Smartly dressed business execs fresh off the train from the City – the station is literally t200 yards across the road – female office workers in high-end fashion outfits, couples meeting for early evening drinks before heading into the clubs of Kingston. Bosco appears to be the place to be if you want to be seen.

The 48-page main cocktail brochure, let alone the sundry smaller offer menus, could take you all evening to read, so we found the best thing to do was tell the barman our favourite tipples and he promised to make us a ‘personal’ cocktail. He didn’t disappoint.

The music playing in the bar was an eclectic mix of dance, jazz and contemporary modern classics – Bosco actually has live music once a week although not on the night we were in. The whole ambience reminded me of a mixture between being in an episode of Cheers and Friends - lots of young smiling faces, greetings and meetings in high spirits. The laughter, however, was real for once, rather than canned.

And then the serious big surprise.

Ordering a three-course dinner in what appears to be a trendy cocktail bar is not always a good idea. Not known as places of culinary expertise, most are best known for serving up strangely named alcoholic beverages which leave you wending your way home in a happy stupor some hours after ordering the first drink. However, happily Bosco is not just like any other cocktail bar. Let me say its rib-eye steak could challenge any cooked in a Michelin-starred restaurant in the country.

Head chef Howard Oakley joined Bosco after a 23-year career creating dishes for the likes of Princess Anne and Sir John Major to name but a few. He has worked internationally and closer to home with a spell at the prestigious Gleneagles.

His philosophy is that every dish served is produced from high quality fresh ingredients sourced from local suppliers.

My steak was sourced direct from Smithfield's market and was traceable back to the farm from which it came. As delighted as I was on discovering the genealogy of my meal, I was more interested in where it was heading rather than where it had come from.

The missus and I shared the vegetarian board as a starter. Toasted pitta bread, hummus, feta cheese, olives and a bowl of fresh tzatziki were nice and refreshing and not too filling.

For mains, I went for the 28-day hung (27 days is so yesterday) 10oz rib-eye steak served with watercress, triple cooked hand-cut chips, and a delicious béarnaise sauce. It was cooked to perfection and simply melted in my mouth.

Our other main course - it's always good to share - was the thyme roasted chicken, sage and onion mash, and buttered greens. Good though the chicken and greens were, the sage mash was to die for.

This is top-quality cuisine at its best and would give any high-end restaurant in the area a run for its money.

And talking of money, complete with puddings to follow – a Bosco knickerbocker glory and a vanilla pod ice cream with hot chocolate sauce , especially scrummy – complete with a glass of very unique Italian beer and a g&t, our bill came to less than £30 per head. An exceptionally good price for an exceptional meal.

If you want superb food in a very lively and fun-filled cocktail bar full of beautiful people then book a table at Bosco.

On Wednesdays, the restaurant offers two-for-one on all steaks, Thursdays it offers all Mojitos for £5 which you can enjoy with live music. Not surprisingly, Bosco is also a very popular place for celebrations, complete with fantastic party platters.

Bosco Lounge St Mark's Hill Surbiton Tel: 020 8339 5720 hotelbosco.co.uk/boscolounge