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Surrounded by shops and bars on Queen's Road, Prezzo Buckhurst Hill serves authentic Italian cuisine in a stunning setting. The modern interior features wood panelling, feature lighting and cosy booth seating whilst the rear garden area is perfect for a relaxed alfresco meal.

A short walk from Buckhurst Hill Tube Station, Prezzo is also a short drive from Buckhurst Hill Football Club and Buckhurst Hill Cricket and Lacrosse Club.

The restaurants satisfy the needs of those who like genuine Italian cuisine, as they use only the best seasonal products, many of which are imported directly from Italy. The menu includes pizza, pasta, risotto, grilled meats, fresh salads and frequently changing specials.

The freshly baked breads, like the garlic pizza bread with caramelised balsamic onions and melted mozzarella cheese, are perfect for sharing and give you adequate breathing space to order starters to follow. Crab cakes served with garlic mayonnaise or grilled goats' cheese with plum tomatoes and caramelised onions on focaccia bread with a balsamic glaze set the tone for a hearty meal.

Find pastas such as the unusual chicken ravioli, made pancetta bacon, petits pois and grana padano cheese in a cream sauce; amongst the special pastas, the polpette al forno with meatballs, field mushrooms, caramelised onions, red chillies and penne in a tomato and garlic sauce is interesting and different. Italian menus would be incomplete without risotto, like chicken and red pesto with roasted peppers and grana padano cheese, while tiger prawns with oak roast salmon and petits pois in a creamy saffron sauce, is enticingly different.

Classic pizzas embrace, among a wide selection, the popular fiorentina, topped with spinach, free-range egg, grana padano cheese, marinated olives, mozzarella and tomato, and the much loved quattro formaggi - gorgonzola, goat's cheese, grana padano, mozzarella, tomato.

Specials could include the pollo Siciliana, char-grilled chicken breast, prosciutto ham and plum tomato slices, baked with Prezzo's own blend of cheese, only one example from the many tempting offerings that come out from the Prezzo kitchens.

You can wash down the food with a variety of tipples - ranging from house wine and Chardonnay to liqueurs and beer and there is espresso or fresh ground coffee to wind up an enjoyable meal.

To gain further information, just visit their extremely comprehensive Website.

Café Rouge has over one hundred branches throughout Britain all offering a wide range of dishes drawn from the French cuisine. Slightly less than half their branches are in or close to London. Almost inevitably the décor and design of each restaurant differs from the others, but there is a general curtsy towards La France.

Many restaurants do an excellent breakfast, or shall we say petit dejeuner, at which such delights as scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toasted brioche, croque Madame, croissants and pain au chocolat make welcome appearances, and to their credit the English traditional gets top billing.

An array of small dishes takes in pulled pork pâté with French bread, and spicy beef and lamb sausage with harissa mayonnaise. Salads and pasta feature largely, as do baguettes and croques. Quick dishes, ideal for lunch, include slices of saucisson and cured pork loin with French bread.

Moving on to more serious stuff we find steaks, an 8oz bavette and thin cut rib eye, with a choice of béarnaise or peppercorn sauce. No French menu would be complete without the poulet jaune grille, pan-roasted breast of corn-fed chicken served on a warm taboulé of bulgar wheat and a medley of roasted vegetables with minted crème fraîche, or a steak frites before moving on to the crème brûlée, or the tart tatin. Almost invariably the coffee tastes like coffee should, something that sadly can all too often still not be said of our English restaurants, who depend too much upon technology and too little on the acquisition of a certain flair for this important conclusion to a meal.

By now we all know that the French, despite their distinctive habits when it comes to matters of satisfying the inner man, maintain a miraculous longevity of life. This is generally attributed to a number of causes, of which a measured consumption of decent wine is foremost. Café Rouge, you may be pleased to hear, encourages this with a well-chosen selection of French wines. Their prix fixe lunch and meals for children, both at a very reasonable figure, also offer excellent value.

Their Website will keep you updated on menu changes, news and other competitions and offers from the Café Society.

Zizzi Loughton brings delicious Italian cuisine to heart of this leafy Essex town on the borders of Epping Forest. The restaurant boasts an open plan kitchen and a lovely secluded outdoor dining area at the rear, which is perfect for enjoying an al fresco meal during the summer months.

With plenty of parking available, Zizzi is the perfect place to indulge in a leisurely Italian meal and is a popular spot with walkers who stop off to recharge their batteries after a trek through Epping Forest.

The restaurant's bustling open kitchen turns out a wide range of freshly prepared, tasty fare. The extensive à la carte offers traditional antipasti, pizza, pasta and salads, as well as seasonally changing meat and fish dishes with a variety of tempting desserts to finish.

Zizzi's special antipasti platter has mixed Italian meats with buffalo milk mozzarella, marinated sun-dried tomatoes, mixed olives and red onion focaccia bread. There's also choice of arancini, crispy risotto balls stuffed with mozzarella and peas and served with a tomato chilli sauce as well as gnocchi gorgonzola, potato dumplings in a creamy gorgonzola and spinach sauce seasoned with nutmeg and black pepper, setting the tone for a hearty meal.

For a delicious pasta or risotto choose between penne vodka, king prawns, chilli, peas and Grana Padano in a creamy tomato and vodka sauce; ravioli di capra, goat's cheese and spinach ravioli served with tomato sauce and topped with pesto and pine nuts; zucca e pancetta, pumpkin, pancetta, spinach, sage and Grana Padano topped with mascarpone and rigatoni con pollo e funghi, chicken in a tomato, onion, rosemary and mushroom sauce. Gluten-free pasta is also available on request.

If you prefer a pizza, then you could try Zizzi's speciality pizza rustica, which couples extra thin and crispy bases with a range of toppings such as bufala, buffalo mozzarella with sunblush tomatoes, basil, rocket and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or mare e monti, one half topped with tiger prawn, courgette and mozzarella and the other with spicy sausage, tomato sauce and chilli, all finished off with a rocket and crème fraîche. The carne piccante calzone has marinated chicken, meatballs, Bolognese sauce, mushrooms, chillies, tomato and mozzarella while the clarissa version, has aubergine, and red pepper caponata, olives, goats' cheese, rocket, pine nuts, tomato and mozzarella. Zizzi's calzon'pizzas, half calzone and half pizza, add an interesting twist to the meal.
 
Sumptuous mains include agnello con peperonata, roasted lamb shank served with basil, roasted vegetables and a little pot of potatoes with tomato, red onion and Grana Padano; duck arrosto, slow roasted whole duck leg in a balsamic, olive and pancetta reduction served with Tuscan potatoes and green beans; and sea bass al vino, sea bass pan fried with wine, garlic and baby plum tomatoes and served with herby potatoes.

The scrumptious dessert list offers torta cioccolata with its thick hazelnut chocolate base topped with rich chocolate torte and served with vanilla mascarpone; homemade tiramisu; creamy vanilla pannacotta with fruit compote and torta Zizzi, an almond-based plum and fig tart topped with pistachios and icing sugar and served with gelato.

The wine list is dominated by a range of Italian wines from regions such as Veneto, Lazio, Sicily, Tuscany and Lombardy. Also on offer is an assortment of beers, and spirits as well as a range of soft and hot drinks.

More information can be found on their Website.

Whilst the 42 Loch Fyne restaurants have a shared background there is a welcome degree of individuality encouraged throughout the group, which makes for customer interest. If you like wholesome, fresh and reliable seafood caught and reared under carefully controlled conditions, well presented in unfussy surroundings, and you enjoy being well looked after by pleasant staff, Loch Fyne is for you.

There is an increasing awareness of other food staples with an extended choice of meat dishes, but it is the original fare upon which their success was created that prevails. Loch Fyne kippers, a fine bouillabaisse, braden rost, kiln-roasted salmon fillet, and the toothsome oysters on ice, with a selection of accompaniments, all are to be found throughout the various restaurants, as well as Glen Fyne 21 day aged rib-eye steak and Scottish smoked venison. There is invariably a well-travelled wine list available which is sensible, both in content and prices.

Loch Fyne's greatest achievement has been to prove to a sceptical populace that chains or conglomerates can be made to work in the eating-out public's best interests.

Pizza Express remains a hugely popular bedrock of casual eating. Its popularity is testimony to the fact that across the country, they have restaurants where you will always be guaranteed a good nosh, with children's tastes being well catered for.

Pizza Express has gone even more Roman, and following the success of that particular example of listening to their public have introduced Romana pizzas, including the scorching Etna and the hearty Siciliana.

These pizzas are now thinner, bigger and crispier, and if that sounds like a marketing line, it is. However, unlike many such lines, this one is true, and their quality is always consistent, though cleverly they have still managed to retain a homemade feel to their pizzas.

As an alternative to pizza, try their pollo pesto - cavatappi pasta with torn chicken breast, mushrooms, red onions and mozzarella in a creamy gruyere, parmesan and pesto sauce and finished with grana padano - or the niçoise salad with mixed leaves, yellowfin tuna, free range egg, green beans, potatoes and tomatoes with olives, anchovies, capers and house dressing.

Many of the big chains have come a long way, and Pizza Express is certainly amongst them. One of the first to be quoted on the Stock Exchange - in 1993 - Pizza Express is not a franchise operation and retains tight control through its own staff.

Their wine list - though short - contains some surprisingly good offerings, especially their intense Australian Chardonnay, and a big, full-bodied Merlot from Cusumano, Sicilia.