Starlight Express menu at Studio Five Wembley Park

That restaurant, Studio Five, is at the back of the Troubadour Theatre, where Andrew Lloyd Webber's rollerskating revival is currently thundering around a revamped auditorium.

The world-class production is drawing the crowds to Wembley, and Studio Five has mastered the art of delivering speedy pre-show dinners that would do racing trains Rusty and Electro proud.

The restaurant has glamorous dark blue walls and seating and is decorated with photographs of the stars who appeared there when it housed a film and TV studios (Image: Harbinson)

But across both the set and à la carte menu, the chef has sprinkled some starlight of his own, with Portuguese and Indian flavours from his native Goa.

The restaurant features low lighting, an open kitchen, glamorous dark blue velvet banquettes and walls adorned with pictures of the stars who performed here when it was a complex of film and TV studios.

Over the years as home to Rediffusion, LWT, Limehouse, then Fountain Studios, films like Quadrophenia, The Elephant Man, Time Bandits, The Princess Bride and some of The Empire Strikes Back were shot here before it became the home of X Factor The Cube and Britain's Got Talent.

A theatre since 2017, the associated restaurant also hosts live music nights near the spot where the likes of Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder and Harry Styles once performed.

I chose from the pre-show menu, which features a glass of wine, beer or soft drink, a side dish and two courses for £31 or £37 for three.

For quickfire catering, the quality and flavours of the dishes were impressive; a home-made pressed ham hock balanced salty meat with a tangy piccalilli and came with a chewy rye sourdough.

The roasted half chicken Calfreal was an inventive take on Peri Peri chicken, marinaded in coriander, spices and lemon.

It was a large, tasty portion that we paired with punchy chili fries loaded with chutney, red onion and chaat spices, and deliciously crunchy Indian-influenced croquettes dipped in lemon mayo.

My teenager went for the à la carte menu, a lovely dish of mussels in a coconut milk and lemongrass broth, and a chunky but tender Blythburgh pork cutlet soused in Kashmiri chilli, spinach, and garlic butter, with a tangy vindaloo sauce that he mopped up with a home made paratha.

The pork chop and vindaloo sauce (Image: Studio Five)

There are also crowd-pleasing menu items like burgers, fish and chips, steak and sea bass, but I recommend giving these well-spiced dishes a try.

With the set menu you can have a cocktail for £8.50 and Rusty's Rail Bramble was a tall, ice cold, and refreshing blend of gin, lemon juice, blackberries and Chambord.

We dithered over puddings, but as if by magic they appeared: a creamy sundae of chocolate brownie, hazelnuts, and orange chocolate sauce, and a calorific but moreish stem ginger sticky toffee pudding.

This is classy, good value cooking in a glam atmosphere - well worth a visit whether or not you have a theatre ticket.

The next live music at Studio Five is on Saturday, July 27 with Soul Ponies playing Soul Classics from the likes of Stevie Wonder and Donnie Hathaway.