SOME of the oldest olive trees in the world have been growing on the same spot for more than 2,000 years.

I don’t know exactly how old Aberdeen’s Olive Tree is but its excellent reputation has been growing for as long as I can remember.

But despite the good buzz, I’ve never ventured inside – until now.

Smaller than I imagined but with the starched tableware and sparkling cutlery you expect from a top-end restaurant, the waiter showed us to our table then reeled off the night’s specials without needing to refer to his pad once. Always a good sign when the staff are this knowledgeable.

My wife’s face screwed up when I ordered sliced ox tongue with homemade pickles and micro cress (£5.25) but she had no reason to be so squeamish. The thinly-sliced tongue looked and tasted like beef and the bite-sized pieces of pickled vegetables added a sharp kick to the soft flavours.

I would have liked a more substantial dressing, because the dish was a touch on the dry side.

My wife ordered smoked mackerel with horseradish cream and beetroot dressing (£6.25).

It arrived without the aforementioned horseradish cream but she was too blinded by how good the rest of it tasted to even notice. The combination of warm oily fish and sweet-yet-earthy beetroot wowed my wife so much she was willing to overlook the fact that a pretty major component was missing. My roasted rabbit with carrot puree and a pea and lettuce fricassee (£16) arrived next and I prayed it would be better than the last rabbit dish I had the misfortune of ordering. That time, the meat was so tough I was worried my teeth would buckle. This time, for my £16 I got three cuts of bunny, each cooked differently – but perfectly.

Highlight was the leg, which was so tender I imagine the meat would have fallen off the bone with only a stern talking to. All of it was served up with a sweet carrot puree and pea and lettuce fricassee.

It’s fast becoming a bit of a joke that whenever we go out to eat my wife always chooses sea bass.

Clearly in no rush to change this unimaginative state of affairs, she plumped for seared bass with a prawn colcannon and salsa verdi (£16). But she was more than happy with her plate, particularly the herby sauce, which oozed over the fish and sank into the colcannon.

Despite being on the wrong side of stuffed, I was desperate to try the baked vanilla and gingerbread cheesecake (£5.45) and it didn’t let me down. Light and fluffy with a pleasantly-claggy texture in the mouth that only the best baked cheesecakes get right, I could have happily eaten another one straight away.

This may have been my first visit to the Olive Tree, but – on the strength of that cheesecake alone – it definitely won’t be my last.