Fusion cuisine is all the rage these days.  The Aussies are leading the way, apparently, creating lots of imaginative dishes and introducing us to a host of flavor combinations and ingredi-ents that us Poms had never thought or heard of! However;the Americans started it all off with places like the Firehouse Rotisserie, which serves up the quintessential combination of Californian/Italian cuisine in the form of gourmet pizzas and rotisserie, chicken and lamb along with a number of spicy New Orleans spe-cials. In fact, the owner of the Firehouse, Richard Fenton, used to cook for many of the Hollywood stars in California before returning to Bath with his wife Katie. The interior of the Firehouse is part 'Conran' and part 'casual rus-tic'. There are stripped wooden floorboards, white walls, an open-plan stainless steel kitchen where you can watch your pizzas being tossed. Decoration is minimal with the occasional collection of scrawny twigs, some rather nice wooden shutters and some bun-dles of dried chillis. The effect is very trendy and, combined with subtle lighting, very relaxing. The menu is split into three sections: salads and starter, gourmet brick fired pizzas and a selection from the rotisserie and grill.To start with, my partner and I decided to share a bowl of corn chips and avocado salsa, which was fine. There were more imagi-native starters on the menu such as giant green lipped mussels served with fresh herbs and garlic and a Caribbean habanero chilli dip or a brie and grape quesadilla with tequila lime salsa and sour cream, but my wife decided to play it safe on the grounds that a combination of adventurous food and being ten weeks pregnant can sometimes be a bad idea. I also ordered an excellent half litre of Chilean white wine. As the only one drinking, the half-litre was just the thing - a bottle would have been too much, a glass too little. The pizza selection is tempting - Tuscan roast vegetables, goats' cheese and fresh thyme, or gorgonzola, smoked bacon, parmesan  and fresh sage - but we opted for the grilll. My wife chose (and I helped her finish) an excellent Santa Fe barbecued chicken quesadilla. The chicken came with aged cheddar, sweet red onion, cilantro and smoked chill salsa, and had a lovely subtle coriander flavor to it. My catfish was a bit more 'in-your-face', and came seared in Creole spices with a mango and papaya salsa - it was an unusual marriage of flavors that worked surprisingly well. Both came with a choice of garlic mash or spicy fries and some mixed leaves. the desserts all looked delicious, out there was never going to be room for sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch ice cream or chocolate pecan pie. We left impressed. The Firehouse offers imaginative food at reasonable prices in stylish yet relaxed surroundings. Bath seems to have plenty of very good expensive restaurants and plenty of Michelin stars, but not that many very good mid-priced restaurants. With three courses likely to set you back £1 6-£1 7 per head (and less if you share a starter!), the Firehouse is definitely a great mid priced option. (Simon Whitehouse).