Restaurant-Guide.com
hand picked restaurants

For weary travellers or merry holidaymakers in the Holiday Inn hotel in Norwich North, or just about anybody, the Concorde restaurant is the most likely place to head out to for a spot of good dining. The breakfast buffet serves a range of delicious and tempting dishes that is well worth getting up for in the morning on weekends.

The carvery menu, another special, offers starters of anti pasti such as crisp salad, seafood, paté, and other continental meats from a cold counter, followed by roast topside of beef with horseradish sauce. From the steaks menu, you could choose blackened tuna steak with fresh avocado, tomato salsa and sweet pepper cous cous.

There are a number of delicious desserts on offer, or you could just turn to cheese and biscuits to end your meal favourably. The cellar has an impressive selection of wines from Europe and the New World, available by the glass or bottle.

The enterprising Delia Smith has done it again. This time she dishes up a New York style diner serving delicious American cuisine with a contemporary outlook at the Norwich City Football Club on Carrow Road. Called Yellows, this restaurant offers the same quality consciousness that has been so evident throughout her career, notching up top points for taste, freshness and a pleasing atmosphere. Drop in for a meal before or after a game, a cup of steaming coffee or maybe drinks after work but it's interesting to note that this place also works well for quiet lunches and intimate dinners.

Amongst starters, go for the deep fried squid with homemade chilli jam or try the Louisiana crab cake with red pepper mayonnaise and follow it with a spicy Chicago hot dog with skinny fries or maybe the barbeque ribs with onion loaf. Don't forget to indulge in their New York cheesecake for dessert whilst sipping on ginger beer or the apple cider soda.

Yim Siam is in a good place to visit if you are in the mood for some authentic Thai food. The warm colours of the restaurant and contemporary design make for a relaxed setting if you wish to unwind or pamper your companion. The setting is only the beginning, for the delectable food is where the experience truly starts.

Fresh and free from chemicals and preservatives, the ingredients used by Yim Siam are locally sourced, and their dishes cooked individually. They also hold the distinction of serving vegetarian alternatives that are not based in meat or chicken broths and the variety is exhilarating.

For starters, try the gai hor bai toi, tender marinated chicken, lightly spiced and wrapped in Thai leaves, served with a soy vinaigrette, and move on to the weeping tiger, fine slices of tenderloin steak with coriander, lemon and chilli sauce. Soups, stir fries, noodles and Chinese dishes also feature prominently on the menu.

Need to be careful about how you use 'loved one'. Over here a frequent useage is to refer to a late relative or friend which I don't think is what you are trying to say!

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.