At Amy's Bar and Restaurant at Gatwick Hilton, connected to the South Terminal by a 200m passageway, something odd was afoot.

I had just been led by the head waiter to a quiet corner booth, exactly the one I would have chosen. He smiled and invited me to sit on the side of the booth I also would have picked. He handed me a menu and asked whether I would like a glass of wine - taking the words right out of my mouth.

Tinkling piano jazz played. Candles flickered, the light reflecting warmly on the brass fittings in the club-like room. Another waiter arrived. I ordered the corn-fed chicken (good), and the waiter said: “Perhaps some spinach as a side dish?” Just as I was about to ask for the spinach.

I was tempted to collect a pools coupon from the Coral bookies around the corner... and let this lot fill it in.

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Service at Gatwick Hilton's main restaurant (there is a less expensive option downstairs) was spot-on in an American kind of way. Towards the end of the meal - as a mini-test - I asked the head waiter who “Amy” in the restaurant name was. In the normal course of events, I expect a question such as this to be met with a shrug and an “I only work here” expression. Instead I got “Amy Johnson, the pioneering female aviator from the 1930s” - and a look of pleasure that I had asked.

Amy's faces a rectangular atrium, where captains, stewardesses and groups of camping-it-up stewards were checking in. Beyond, there was a shop selling Union Jack mugs and double-decker bus models with “Best of British” written on them. By the lifts, there were machines to check your luggage weight; a chart explained excess charges for different airlines.

My room was surprisingly large and cost £93. There was a trouser press, a bath-tub, a kettle with Earl Grey tea bags, a picture of a vast open landscape, and fancy Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries. Walls were thick and there was an easy-to-use electric alarm clock tuned to Radio 4.

Given that I could have stayed around the corner in a YOTEL capsule room not much bigger than my bathroom here (£59 for the same night), I thought £93 was decent. It was certainly a lot more comfortable; I've tried YOTEL and found the capsule claustrophobic.

I popped to the Jockeys Bar on the ground floor and watched American football - the Buffalo Bills playing the Arizona Cardinals - on a flatscreen TV. The bar was crowded and rushed, but the barmaid was alert and smiley. She didn't quite say, “Have a nice day!” and she didn't quite guess my drink like the waiters upstairs. But I half expected her to.

Bottom line Mystery Guest paid £93 for a double

Sampling the fare About £16 for a main dish at Amy's

Best thing Snappy service

Worst thing Wait at check-in

Need to know Gatwick Hilton (01293 518080, www.hilton.co.uk), South Terminal, Crawley RH6 0LL

Room 7 out of 10

Food 7 out of 10

Service 9 out of 10

Value 6.5 out of 10

Score 7.38

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