Bay Brasserie, The

Torquay, the epicentre of the English Riviera, a place of balmy climate with sandy sea washed beaches, palm trees and sun soaked wide horizons, has so much to offer that it still surprises me people find it necessary to endure the increasingly risky delights of foreign travel when there is so much pleasure to be had on their own doorstep.

The Riviera International Centre takes due heed of its advantages, and on the seaward side of the Centre you will find the Bay Brasserie, a well established and popular restaurant that provides an extended service every day of the week for visitors and local residents alike. Indeed many of the latter regard it as their home from home.

Breakfast is served from 9am until midday, ranging from the full Bay Breakfast to more modest dishes such as smoked salmon muffin with free range scrambled eggs. A daytime menu starts with, say, mussels cooked in double cream and white wine, finished with turmeric and chilli, or for a real life restorer head for the chef's crab bisque, garnished with prawns and served with garlic bread.

Proximity to the sea undoubtedly encourages thoughts of dishes such as deep fried fish and seafood medley, but a 6oz Bay Brasserie burger will give heart to those whose interests lie elsewhere. Toasted paninis, jacket potatoes and sandwiches ensure the quick tasty snack is always omnipresent.

Bay Brasserie has an enviable record as a location for evening meals, particularly its event nights when an ingenious management leaves no stone unturned in finding reason for a celebration. Thus it is that such occasions as Burns Night, an Italian night, Bastille Day, USA Night and of course Christmas are well and truly celebrated with full attention paid to the proper dress code for the occasion. Private parties are always welcome. From October to February the Wednesday Winter Pie Club holds court from 12 to 3pm at BB, with a choice of two home made pies on the menu.

More routine evening meals could start with a warm wood pigeon salad or smoked salmon and prawn parfait, followed by rib eye, sirloin and fillet steaks from locally sourced farmers, honey and ginger glazed Gressingham duck breast, or perhaps a roasted vegetable goulash.

Sunday lunch is celebrated with all the fun and laughter that this happy and distinctive occasion deserves. The menu changes every week and a typical meal could start with Dartmouth smoked chicken Caesar salad or cauliflower and cheddar cheese soup with crispy croutons, before moving on to the traditional roast sirloin of beef with Yorkshire pudding and horseradish cream or perhaps a game and venison pie in a rich red wine and Dijon mustard sauce. They don't spare you at BB and the choice of desserts can suddenly find space where you thought that none existed. Whisky and walnut trifle with Chantilly cream or a white chocolate and almond roulade served with an amaretto sauce come to mind before the final surrender to coffee and mints.

The wine list is a real treat with many wines by the glass, an ideal foil to the ever changing and imaginative menus produced with such obvious pride and pleasure throughout the year. These changes are kept well up to date on their Website, which also lists events and special occasions at this buzzing, popular restaurant.