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Carluccio's was started by Antonio and Priscilla Carluccio as a small café and shop stocking Italian food and ingredients in 1991, and grew into a restaurant serving authentic cuisine at sensible prices in 1999. Antonio is an expert on food and has been a wine merchant, restaurant manager and owner, cookery expert on television and author of twelve cookery books. It is therefore not surprising, that today Carluccio's has over fourty-nine outlets across the UK.

Antonio believes Italian cookery involves minimum fuss and maximum flavour. This is exactly what his restaurants try to do by using fresh produce, and working largely with families who make things the traditional way - with care. Their passion also translates into special events like hands-on cookery classes and recipe sharing, Antonio and his team regularly organise for interested guests. They also offer takeaways and a catering service.

The breakfast menu offers croissants and breads served with butter and preserves or honey and free range eggs, either scrambled or fried and served with pancetta or ciabatta. They also have long cured Parma ham and healthier options like muesli and fruits. These are best had with coffee, tea or freshly squeezed juice. Carluccio's offers an impressive list of white, red, rosé and sparkling wines which complement your meal.

The restaurants offer a range of soup and salads which give your meal a nutritious start before moving on to the mains. If you like pasta, enjoy the small filled parcels served in a ham and cream sauce, or sample the Neapolitana spaghetti with whole fresh clams, garlic, herbs and chilli. The branzino con salsa e patate, fillet of pan fried sea bass served with tomato salsa and sautéed potatoes and Somerset rib-eye steak with rosemary potatoes, called bistecca di bue con patate, are good options too. If you are looking for something lighter, you could opt for the numerous sides called contorni and panini.

In the Tuscany region of Italy, meals end simply with almond biscuits dipped in a sweet local wine, Vin Santo and eaten. You can enjoy that experience at Carluccio's, or settle for a more conventional dolci of tiramisu, warm chocolate and kahlua pudding, your choice of Italian cheeses or gelatos in different flavours.

A recent review in The Times described this as one of the top ten pizzerias in London. "Walls covered by pictures of jazz icons set the tone for an upbeat evening at this refreshingly one-off alternative to the area's chain oriented pizzerias. Live music fills the air most evenings played without a cover charge..... the pizzas themselves are excellent crisply moreish, topped with fresh tasting ingredients and all priced under £7.00 Best washed down with the good value wine."

Love it or hate it - and there are more in the former group than the latter - the opening of Cipriani in London has made quite an impact.

The Cipriani family are most renowned for ownership of the world famous Harry's Bar in Venice, something of an institution as it opened there in 1931, however, as there is a totally unconnected Harry's Bar in London, they have created Cipriani, joining fellow restaurants in other world centres that they have.

Essentially they serve simple, high quality Italian food at prices to match, from carpaccio to salads, homemade pasta to fresh fish, everything is reassuringly familiar.

Bound to be a huge success though it will not be everybody's proverbial cup of tea, and bound to reap many column inches in Michael Winner's letters page in The Sunday Times for many months to come.

Jan Moir in The Telegraph said, after criticising certain aspects of the place: "But I don't care. I love it here! I'm coming back. So there." This view was supported by the Harpers and Moet Restaurant Awards for 2005 when Cipriani was voted best Scene.

Run by the Michelin-starred Chef/Owner Philip Howard and Nigel Martin, The Square is a stylish and elegant restaurant located on Bruton Street in Mayfair. Easily reached from the Bond Street and Green Park Station, the restaurant has a glass fronted façade that gives glimpses of the rich and understated décor within. Seated in a spacious dining room with subtle lighting and walls adorned with abstract paintings, guests can tuck into scrumptious modern British cuisine prepared from the finest quality seasonal ingredients.

The a la carte menu prepared by Chef Robert Weston includes starters such as roasted foie gras with caramelised peach or tartare of mackerel with pickled cucumber, smoked eel and a vinaigrette of Poole prawns, oysters and caviar. These could be followed by mains of roast cod with cauliflower puree, grilled potatoes and a summer truffle pesto, and saddle of new season's lamb with crushed broad beans, spring carrots, peas, broccoli and mint.

The restaurant also serves a fine selection of wines and champagnes from different parts of the world with suggestions available from sommelier Renaud Rolland.