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Part of the Whitbread family, Table Table restaurants aim to bring great value tasty pub food to an ever increasing eating-out public who like well prepared and genuine food served by friendly staff in relaxing surroundings. If that sounds too much like a dream come true be assured that at Table Table they also walk the talk, and are pleased to have the chance to prove it.

Their well located restaurants are spread across a wide range of decors and styles, and all of them share a determination to provide comfort, warmth and relaxation. Their buffet menus for special occasions are remarkable value.

In keeping with modern trends they provide dishes to nibble or share as guests consider the spread of options on a menu that could be described as British with welcome incursions. So as you share long Italian flatbread, and dough balls and dips, or a sharing platter with an imaginative range of finger food starting with garlic and breaded mushrooms, it's time to think about the relative merits of aromatic duck parcels, a prawn cocktail, breaded Camembert or sticky chicken goujons to name but a few.

Many an innocent dish from the past has been hi-jacked in the best possible sense into becoming what is now called a 'pub classic'. Wiltshire cure ham with eggs is served with chunky chips and beef, mushroom and ale pie, or chicken and chips are all familiar with British tables, be they in the dining room or the kitchen. Now they have been added to by chicken fajitas, a sweet red pepper, crème fraiche and fennel tart, a leg of duck slowly cooked and served with a Bramley apple and cider sauce, or chilli con carne with basmati rice, sour cream and guacamole and nachos. So is the humble burger with six enticing toppings.

The point is they, and others, are all here at Table Table, well prepared with quality ingredients, and presented in a way that makes you hungry even if you thought you weren't.

Getting down to the more serious side of the table keep an eye open for the seafood pie, a delightful assembly of things fishy including crayfish, red snapper, prawns and clams. Many of their steaks are 28 days matured, including a 7oz fillet. All steaks are served with watercress, roasted cherry tomatoes, a flat mushroom and chunky chips. A choice from 4 sauces adds the final touch of enjoyment.

Pastas and salads embrace some well known and loved names, but for sheer enjoyment the hot smoked salmon salad takes some beating - flakes of hot smoked salmon mixed with a house salad and soy and ginger sauce. A real winner.

Snacks aplenty cover hot baguettes with the like of grilled pork loin and Bramley apple sauce, sandwiches filled with Cheddar cheese, or prawns and Marie Rose sauce, and jacket potatoes with such temptations as chilli con carne. Add a bowl of chips for only a little extra.

A well travelled wine list offers helpful advice for the uninitiated and there's an impressive choice of draught and bottled beers and lagers. All in all it would appear that Table Table are more than achieving their aims, providing the opportunity for people to eat out enjoyably, with excellent value for money. Long may they continue to do so.

For completely up to date information on menu changes and special offers do make a regular check on their lively Website.

Ensconced in its own estate, the relaxed and family friendly Elveden Café Restaurant offers guests a pleasant, refreshing setting for breakfast, light bites, lunch or scones and cakes all day. Its picturesque courtyard is just the place for a pleasant meal while a trail through the surrounding woodlands is ideal for a stroll to build up the appetite.

The AA Rosette restaurant offers a fine selection of British dishes made with fresh seasonal produce, most of which comes from their own farm which specialises in the production of vegetables especially potatoes, onions, carrots and parsnips. They also grow cereals such as rye, barley and wheat.
 
Kick start your day with eggs Benedict, or a full English breakfast. If you fancy a quick bite you could order freshly baked fruit scone, smoked applewood and mushroom quiche or basil and pesto cream cheese grilled bagel. A range of sandwiches and wraps offers more variety.

A delicious lunch can get going with potted pig's cheeks, venison and wild boar terrine or goat's cheese and red pepper quiche. Mains of meatballs, chicken picatta, baked skate wing or mushroom risotto offer more fuel for the appetite. Homemade puddings of strawberry bavarois or rich chocolate brownie end the meal satisfactorily. A three-course Sunday roast lunch at Elveden offers more delights.
 
At the food shop choose from a range of locally sourced products including fresh bread, game, poultry and other meats as well as a variety of homemade produce and British and European cheeses to take something home.

When about to write this piece I thought it might be appropriate to commence something like, "should anybody out there be about to start writing a book on eccentric pubs, they might do a lot worse than to list The Angel at Larling". Quick reference to our googling friends reveals, of course, that several trillion people have already had the same idea, but this does not remove the validity of my judgement.

It's a real peach, in the middle of a singularly bleak bit of Norfolk countryside, with a fiercely parochial customer base that is supplemented at the weekends by a far more widely spread congregation who regard The Angel as their personal Shangri-la.

Not unnaturally the ales on offer are of a specialist nature - well maybe you had heard of Crouch Vale Amarillo from Essex - and class distinction is alive and well and works to the advantage of all except the seriously prickly who have mainly gone elsewhere. So scooter-owners in the public bar meet the odd cravat from the saloon and exchange amiable banter in the loos/toilets.

There are some fifty or so dishes from which to choose at prices that would bring crocodile tears to the eyes of the average company accountant, but one of the advantages of being sturdily independent is that the owner can project dust and derision in his/her direction. And no, that is not code for 'croc steaks on the menu'.

For a fun time call in at The Angel - you might just form a weekend habit in the process.

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 chocolate make welcome appearances, and to their credit the English traditional gets top billing.

An array of hors d'oeuvres takes in classic French onion and beef soup with a melted gruyere crouton, classic snails in melted garlic butter, and pan-fried crab cakes with a chilli, lemon and coriander jam. Salads, pasta and quiches feature largely, as do baguettes and croques. Quick dishes, ideal for lunch, include smoked Toulouse sausages with sautéed with new potatoes, caramelised onions and balsamic vinegar on a salad of mixed leaves.

Moving on to more serious stuff we find steaks, an 8oz bavette and thin cut rib eye, with a choice of sauces that include the signature sauce de Café Rouge, prepared specially from over twenty secret ingredients. No French menu would be complete without the demi poulet, 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.

Arguably one of the UK's most unusual restaurants in that it's located in the chef's own residence, Brovey Lair is a modern ranch-style home with a contemporary kitchen diner set within a south facing conservatory. There are only five glass topped tables all seating up to four guests and all with a view of the stunning gardens, which are floodlit after dark. Those who stay overnight love the tropical Cal-Mex breakfast - a UK exclusive.

Like a culinary theatre, cooking is performed using a Japanese tepan grill while guests look on in disbelief at the chef's skills. The adventurous all prime fish and seafood fusion menu is an East meets West experience with subtle spicing to lift the raw produce into another dimension. The chef's ethos is to excite not bite the palate.

The four-course set dinner varies each day and is discussed with guests prior to their visit so that, on the night, everyone gets the same food. The price includes pre-dinner tapas and post-dinner teas, coffees and special chocolates. The Good Food Guide 2010 gave the restaurant their Best Fish Restaurant in Britain award and chef Tina a 6 for cooking - the highest mark in Norfolk. Cost per head is based on the set 4 course dinner menu. Reservations are essential and should be made at least 3 days in advance.

Limited accommodation is available.

Located in the heart of Norfolk's Thetford Forest, The Crown Hotel was formerly a hunting inn and a local magistrate's court. Although not much of its past is evident now it has retained a rustic feel and the Old Court restaurant and the Club Room bear testament to its rich history.

The wide ranging modern European menu is seasonal and hearty, and the regularly changing daily specials provide a range of interesting options such as steamed Brancaster mussels, or pan fried medallions of beef with foie gras and oxtail daube, red wine sauce and crispy sage leaves. On the main menu skilfully prepared starters such as smoked haddock and scallion fishcake, and smoked trout timbale can be followed by substantial main courses of slow braised Cornish lamb kleftico, and chicken fricassée. If you?d prefer something a little lighter try the whole tail scampi, haddock and chips or homemade beef burger.

The Crown Hotel also houses a Lounge Bar with a relaxed feel, while things liven up a bit in the vibrant Public Bar.

Bella Italia is a restaurant that pulsates with Italian style and fashion, where the day starts with breakfast, not least the Inglese, the familiar bacon, sausage, mushroom, tomato and fried or scrambled eggs and sauté potatoes with ciabatta toast so beloved of hearty eaters seeking a good start to the day, particularly when they don't have to prepare it. A vegetarian option is available, along with the bambini of sausages, tomato and scrambled egg, or a strapazzata, scrambled eggs on ciabatta toast. Natural yoghurt with granola cereal or apple and blueberry compote offers a more gentle awakening and croissant or pastries are welcome at almost any time.

It is always worth remembering that eating Italian is a great opportunity to work away through something rather more liberating than the conventional 3 course English meal. Little and often seems to be the motto but move on to the antipasti and it's immediately obvious this is no easy task, confronted with well over a dozen dishes, not one of which you really have the heart to turn down. The selezione classica assembles a few of the favourite starters; bruschetta and formaggio fritto with funghi arrosto, calamari and king prawn skewers.

A speck e rucola pizza, added to a traditional margherita brings together two traditions with northern Italian mountain smoked ham providing the second, but it is within the pasta and risotto dishes that you can adapt almost any main ingredient, as well enjoy some of Italy's most traditional treats. Who can deny a well formed spaghetti Bolognese or penne Marco Polo? And not for nothing is a nicely prepared spaghetti carbonara the preferred dish of many.

From a selection of five choices amongst the secondi many will head unerringly for controfiletto ai ferri, a 7oz sirloin steak char-grilled to preference and served with garlic butter, garlic mushrooms, fries and rocket, or the fritto misto, tempura battered prawns, golden cod pieces and calamari with fries and a side salad.

Could anything be more appropriate than The Godfather, for 1 or 2 naturally, with nutty chocolate fudge brownies, vanilla and toffee ice cream with chocolate crunch, chocolate sauce, fresh cream and wafer curls, and rest assured the coffee will do justice to the meal.

With a wine list that makes few concessions to other countries - and why should it - good Italian food can receive an equally national baptism by wine.