Located in Maiden Lane, Fire And Stone Covent Garden, this is the original and it remains the flagship restaurant of their extending portfolio bringing "deliciously different pizzas" into the heart of the West End. For regular Fire & Stone habitués many feel this is the place to be. Visitors to London weaving their way through one of its most attractive areas are delighted to find this 250 seater restaurant, spread over two floors, with a cool and contemporary interior that attracts without deflecting attention from the fine range of fresh and appealing food.

Some years ago I lunched at the Covent Garden Fire & Stone with a colleague and quickly realised that here was a restaurant that meant business. Their subsequent expansion suggests this was a deserved assessment. A simple but highly efficient service ensures that bookings can be made with ease wherever you are. They also specialise here with their party menus for groups both large and small.

Give yourself a break at lunchtime and take a close look at the lunch meal deal. Book in advance and choose any pizza, pasta or salad from the set menu, currently for £4.95. Choose from amongst such delights as the Marrakech with cumin spiced ground lamb, mozzarella, mint yoghurt sauce, green olives, raisins and sliced onion drizzle with chilli oil, or the Acapulco with slow cooked ground chilli beef, Fire & Stone's tomato sauce, jalapenos, mozzarella, sliced red onions, topped with sour cream and guacamole.

For a modest extra indulgence there's the Peking, with Chinese Hoi Sin sauce, shredded aromatic duck, mozzarella and spring onions topped with cucumber ribbons, or you can go green with barrel aged feta, sliced red and green peppers, cucumber, jumbo green olives, red onion, oregano, vine tomatoes and red wine vinaigrette. From which you will note that Fire & Stone spare neither imagination nor scope.

With not a spot of grappa in sight the way is free to indulge in other liquid excitements from cocktail jugs to a range of uplifting house spirits, and wines displaying a good spread of country and style. Sensibly, many of the wines can be bought by the glass.

On the main menu consider the myriad choice of flavours drawn from five continents preceded by starters that take in a range of dips, sharing boards, calamari, crispy wonton king prawns to name but a few. Their new thin bases still have the same great flavours, homemade sauces and chutneys that top the Original base, but are bigger and crisper. Salads of each and every sort abound. A range of toppings helps in adding individuality to your pizza or you may prefer to head for the pasta choices that include their renowned spicy sausage Rigatoni.

In these difficult times the number of special offers increases and Fire & Stone have that one taped too. Amongst them are the Pizza Passport, so that you collect a stamp each time you buy a pizza up to six, and the seventh pizza is free. The best way to keep abreast of these and other offers is to sign up for their Newsletter, or check up on their Website where offers like Friends Eat Free, 2 pizzas for £10, Kids Eat Free, and a Sunday Special are to be found. One of the reasons they are able to keep their prices so incredibly reasonable is their efficient booking system that enables them to make best use of space and facilities.

You want to eat; Fire & Stone want to help you do that as economically and enjoyably as possible. It's really that simple. Buon appetito!