Five: Union Street, Aberdeen

IT CAN be handy having a layabout student for a brother.

The lack of workload, schedule or commitments of any kind makes him useful for doing all manner of tedious tasks.

Getting him to sit in my flat during the day to meet the delivery man, for example.

But after enlisting his parcel-collecting services twice in the space of three days, I thought I’d keep him sweet with some pub grub.

Five, a trendy bar at the east end of Union Street, was our venue of choice.

No sooner had we taken a seat by the tall street-side windows than a friendly waitress was on hand to offer drinks and menus.

My starter of sweet potato and parsnip wedges (£2.95) came with a paprika mayonnaise.

The dip had a pleasant kick and the wedges were flavoursome, if a little soggy for my liking.

No such problem with my brother’s pan-fried king prawns (£5.95) which were beautifully firm.

My chicken fajitas (£7.95) came on a sizzling platter. The smaller tortilla wraps made the construction of the fajitas a lot more manageable, and there was plenty of delicious meat to go round – my only gripe was that I could have done with a bit more guacamole, salsa and sour cream.

My brother went for the Angus beef burger (£4.95) and a side order of chips (£2), and said the slightly bland dressings were more than made up for by the tasty meat.

The bill came to £23.80, and should have bought me another couple of parcel days at least!