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Sopranos is a popular Italian restaurant on Kensington High Street area, conveniently located with easy access to shops, parks and hotels around the area. Having served diners for over twenty years, the restaurant offers traditional Italian cuisine in a setting that is both relaxed as well as contemporary.

The food is hearty and flavoursome, and the a la carte offers classic antipasti dishes such as seasoned duck liver pâté served with lightly toasted honey and elderflower loaf, and langoustines cooked with a handful of herbs, butter, garlic, lemon juice and wine. Main courses such as the sea bass niçoise with egg, anchovies, grilled cherry tomato and green salad, and wild mushroom tagliatelle maintain the Italian pace. There's a wonderful selection of pizza, pastas, salads and side dishes, and to end the meal on a memorable note try the lemon meringue tart served with lemon sorbet. The carefully selected wine list complements the varied Italian food on offer.

Experience soulful live music nights from Wednesday to Saturday in the vibrant basement Live Lounge.

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.

London can do with a Mexican influence that really knows its way around and the Cool Chilli team have a good claim to that title. So for that matter have most true Mexicans given that they have been cooking with chillies for over 7,000 years, and the Cool Chilli Company have many varieties of the hot little number.

However, it is Taqueria we are here to tell you about. Located in between Bayswater and Notting Hill, one its main claims to fame is that within this good value, no frills, but designer-blessed cafe stands the only corn tortilla making machine so far known to be operational in UK. Straight to you from Guadalajera it is in full flow from 5-9 am each day, during which time some 400 totally fresh corn tortillas upon which their mainly central and southern Mexican menu is based, emerge.

Snacks include sope corn masa boat filled with salsa, beans and cheese, Quesadillas, or tortilla soup with corn chips, crema, avocado and chilli pasilla. Larger dishes hold Al Pasto, sliced chilli marinated pork straight off the spit, with grilled pineapple, diced onion and coriander, tacos and corn tortillas. Re-fried black beans with a smattering of crumbly cheese might not sound too thrilling, but just try it - delicious! Mexican chocolate ice cream brings a new dimension to an old friend.

The usual selection of mind distorting tequilas, based on 100% Blue Algave come served with sangrita or in 25ml snifters. If life is a bit dull go for a few glasses of rum shack punch and see what happens to your day.

Lessandro is the stylish restaurant at The Parkcity, Kensington, the boutique hotel that re-opened at the end of 2005, where a pair of Italian head chefs, both in their mid-twenties, are cooking up a storm. Their refreshing new take on classic Mediterranean dishes has a distinctive Northern Italian flavour: try tender terrine of pigeon with baby artichokes and figs cooked in red wine and cinnamon, the aromatic gnocchi with rabbit ragout, black olives and sage fragrance, or the richly flavoured sea bass in olive crust, cagnon style rice and braised fennel.

Open to residents and non-residents alike, the classic Mediterranean cuisine offers mouth-watering dishes with a lean towards northern Italy. Warm woodwork and balmy colour schemes give a taste of the confident, stylish and relaxed dining experience ahead.

If decisions prove too difficult to make from the a la carte menu, Lessandro also offers three tasting menus of four courses each - meaty, fishy and vegetarian - and a wide range of Italian wines to complement the dishes.

The private gardens of The Parkcity are available in the summer for al fresco dining, and their private dining areas are perfect for intimate gatherings of up to 20 seated or 30 standing.

Dunes is a lively restaurant and entertainment venue located on Kensington Church Street. The cuisine served up here is a combination of French and Arabic Mezze dishes. The mezze option will set you back around £15 per person and includes the likes of vine leaves, hummus and pitta bread, falafel and a variety of mini kebabs. From the French inspired menu you'll find classic dishes such as steak Diane, grilled breast of chicken with lemon, or a pancake filled with ratatouille. Once you've sampled the dining experience you can stay on to enjoy a few more drinks at the bar before taking to the dance floor.

Reviewed by Linda Buttle