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hand picked restaurants

When you enter a chain restaurant there is always a sense of déjà vu, yet with Giraffe outlets , this may not really be true. Russel and Juliette Joffe and Andrew Jacobs' philosophy behind this group of restaurants is sustaining the driving force of healthy, happy eating, while retaining the difference each location brings. This includes minor variations in the menu too, and explains why the restaurant does not like to be called a chain, but prefers being referred to as a herd. The origin of its quaint name too, is interesting. The giraffe has the largest heart in the animal kingdom, and with its magnificent height is able to perceive things differently. These two features of being different and large hearted sum up the restaurant's proclamation of 'love, eat, live'.

Giraffe offers world food and adds an unusual twist to some familiar dishes. Their breakfast menu has stacked pancakes with bananas and blueberries, warm waffles, ranch styles tostadas and healthy veggie options. Some great starters are a mezze plate with warm naans that offer the best of many cuisines - grilled halloumi, hummus, tzatiki, ratatouille and falafel.  Japanese king fried prawns are a hit, while another bright spot on the menu, is the colourful sunshine antipasti bruschetta, a clever combination of artichokes, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, olives, roasted peppers, red onion and rocket on pesto foccacia. If this long list of ingredients is intriguing, just wait until your palate takes over.

The house's special salad, cheekily called 'more than love', is colourful and has crunchy appeal. The Thai chicken and vermicelli noodle version is an equally enticing starter. For mains, there are plenty of options like roasted corn and chilli bran burritos, tangy turkey enchiladas and the much loved sweet potatoes, asparagus, green beans and broccoli served with organic brown basmati rice. One can also settle for a good old burger and wash it down with interesting smoothies. They also offer world wines and unusual cocktails with catchy names like Bombay flower and pomegranate caipirinha.

The dessert section comprises of not just fruit based healthy desserts, but brilliant stars like Swiss mountain chocolate cheesecake, banana waffle split and rocky road ice cream sundaes, which transport the diner to a state of bliss. The friendly staff, who are carefully hired for their sunny disposition, and children's activities help make these restaurants a very special, happy and healthy treat indeed.

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

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. A cappuccino or hot chocolate 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; oven baked lemon and rosemary chicken wings, spiced meatballs, calamari, mini garlic butter-filled calzoni and lightly battered courgettes served with flamed pepper and lemon herb dips.

A speck e rucola pizza, added to a traditional margherita brings together two traditions with Italian speck 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, roast field mushrooms, fries and rocket, or the fritto misto, lightly battered prawns, cod fillet, calamari and courgette with fries and a herb lemon and caper dip.

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 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. For further enlightenment, news about their on-line shop and special deals, a click on their lively Website will reveal all.

When you enter a chain restaurant there is always a sense of déjà vu, yet with the twelve outlets of Giraffe, this may not really be true. Russel and Juliette Joffe and Andrew Jacobs' philosophy behind this group of restaurants is sustaining the driving force of healthy, happy eating, while retaining the difference each location brings. This includes minor variations in the menu too, and explains why the restaurant does not like to be called a chain, but prefers being referred to as a herd. The origin of its quaint name too, is interesting. The giraffe has the largest heart in the animal kingdom, and with its magnificent height is able to perceive things differently. These two features of being different and large hearted sum up the restaurant's proclamation of 'love, eat, live'.

Giraffe offers world food and adds an unusual twist to some familiar dishes. Their breakfast menu has stacked pancakes with bananas and blueberries, warm waffles, ranch styles tostadas and healthy veggie options. Some great starters are a mezze plate with warm naans that offer the best of many cuisines - grilled halloumi, hummus, tzatiki, ratatouille and falafel.  Japanese king fried prawns are a hit, while another bright spot on the menu, is the colourful sunshine antipasti bruschetta, a clever combination of artichokes, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, olives, roasted peppers, red onion and rocket on pesto foccacia. If this long list of ingredients is intriguing, just wait until your palate takes over.

The house's special salad, cheekily called 'more than love', is colourful and has crunchy appeal. The Thai chicken and vermicelli noodle version is an equally enticing starter. For mains, there are plenty of options like roasted corn and chilli bran burritos, tangy turkey enchiladas and the much loved sweet potatoes, asparagus, green beans and broccoli served with organic brown basmati rice. One can also settle for a good old burger and wash it down with interesting smoothies. They also offer world wines and unusual cocktails with catchy names like Bombay flower and pomegranate caipirinha.

The dessert section comprises of not just fruit based healthy desserts, but brilliant stars like Swiss mountain chocolate cheesecake, banana waffle split and rocky road ice cream sundaes, which transport the diner to a state of bliss. The friendly staff, who are carefully hired for their sunny disposition, and children's activities help make these restaurants a very special, happy and healthy treat indeed.

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

Masala Zone Fulham is a relative newcomer to the multi coloured scene of Indian cooking. Owned by Masala World, who also own Amaya, Veeraswamy and Chutney Mary, three of London's top Indian restaurants, they aim to bring informal and real Indian food to London at sensible prices, and not before time.

They serve tasty Indian street snacks, together with more conventional offerings. The atmosphere is terrific, very laidback and authentic. They also do vegetarian food, to which the Indian approach is always such a success thanks to its historic foundation in the sub-continent, which is prepared in a separate kitchen manned by Brahmins - a nice touch.

The décor is striking enough before you get anywhere near the food. Genuine tribal art from West India helps to blot out recent recollection of London traffic, tube trains and perhaps one of those days when there's just enough rain to find the weak spots. Welcome to another world where the genuine taste of India helps to subtly fortify you for return to the one you've just left.

Starters of spiced mash cake with yoghurt and chutney (aloo tikki chaat), vie with chana dabalroti, a tangy chickpea curry, lotus root with hunks of toasted bread, a famous sindhi dish.

Indian street food is world famous and you are most likely in for some exceedingly pleasant surprises as you scan the menu. Perhaps the adage "you are what you eat" will flit through your mind as you note the sparing use of oil, the fresh ingredients and the thalis that offer a balanced combination of nutrition, flavours, textures and colours. A gujarati thali on its stainless steel platter will offer gujarati vegetarian canapés, vegetables, dals, chapattis, rice, salads and pickles.

The grand thali, the equivalent of a two course meal, is for the very hungry, and the regular version caters well for the less-challenged. Look also for curry and rice plates that embrace some of the great Indian classics, such as rogan josh, prawn malai, and butter chicken, as well as Indian grills enabling an eat light approach, with chicken tikka, lamb seekh kebab, and prawns.

Indian desserts are notable for their seductive powers with homemade ice cream (kulfi), gulab jamun, falooda (a fun Indian sundae) and various sorbets and ice creams.

Drinks include several versions of lassi, the frothy yoghurt whip, a wide range of juices, Indian squash, and wine list chosen with Indian food in mind, starting at £13.05 a bottle with nothing more than £19.25. Indian and European beers are also available, but cooking this good demands, shall we say, something a touch more sophisticated. No reservations required. Find out more about this user friendly small group on their Website.

Masala Zone Covent Garden is a relative newcomer to the multi coloured scene of Indian cooking. Owned by Masala World, who also own Amaya, Veeraswamy and Chutney Mary, three of London's top Indian restaurants, they aim to bring informal and real Indian food to London at sensible prices, and not before time.

They serve tasty Indian street snacks, together with more conventional offerings. The atmosphere is terrific, very laidback and authentic. They also do vegetarian food, to which the Indian approach is always such a success thanks to its historic foundation in the sub-continent, which is prepared in a separate kitchen manned by Brahmins - a nice touch.

The décor is striking enough before you get anywhere near the food with each Masala Zone restaurant showcasing a different type of Indian art. The Covent Garden restaurant has several hundred vibrant puppets from Rajasthan suspended from the ceilings. This welcomes you to another world where the genuine taste of India helps to subtly fortify you for return to the one you've just left.

Starters of spiced mash cake with yoghurt and chutney (aloo tikki chaat), vie with chana dabalroti, a tangy chickpea curry, lotus root with hunks of toasted bread, a famous sindhi dish.

Indian street food is world famous and you are most likely in for some exceedingly pleasant surprises as you scan the menu. Perhaps the adage "you are what you eat" will flit through your mind as you note the sparing use of oil, the fresh ingredients and the thalis that offer a balanced combination of nutrition, flavours, textures and colours. A gujarati thali on its stainless steel platter will offer gujarati vegetarian canapés, vegetables, dals, chapattis, rice, salads and pickles. Thalis specially designed for diabetics are available, another thoughtful gesture.

The grand thali, the equivalent of a two course meal, is for the very hungry, and the regular version caters well for the less-challenged. Look also for curry and rice plates that embrace some of the great Indian classics, such as rogan josh, prawn malai, and butter chicken, as well as Indian grills enabling an eat light approach, with chicken tikka, lamb seekh kebab, and prawns.

Indian desserts are notable for their seductive powers with homemade ice cream (kulfi), gulab jamun, falooda (a fun Indian sundae) and various sorbets and ice creams.

Drinks include several versions of lassi, the frothy yoghurt whip, a wide range of juices, Indian squash, and wine list chosen with Indian food in mind, starting at £13.05 a bottle with nothing more than £19.25. Indian and European beers are also available, but cooking this good demands, shall we say, something a touch more sophisticated. No reservations required. Find out more about this user friendly small group on their Website.

When you enter a chain restaurant there is always a sense of déjà vu, yet with the twelve outlets of Giraffe, this may not really be true.Russel and Juliette Joffe and Andrew Jacobs' philosophy behind this group of restaurants is sustaining the driving force of healthy, happy eating, while retaining the difference each location brings. This includes minor variations in the menu too, and explains why the restaurant does not like to be called a chain, but prefers being referred to as a herd. The origin of its quaint name too, is interesting. The giraffe has the largest heart in the animal kingdom, and with its magnificent height is able to perceive things differently. These two features of being different and large hearted sum up the restaurant's proclamation of 'love, eat, live'.

Giraffe offers world food and adds an unusual twist to some familiar dishes. Their breakfast menu has stacked pancakes with bananas and blueberries, warm waffles, ranch styles tostadas and healthy veggie options. Some great starters are a mezze plate with warm naans that offer the best of many cuisines - grilled halloumi, hummus, tzatiki, ratatouille and falafel. Japanese king fried prawns are a hit, while another bright spot on the menu, is the colourful sunshine antipasti bruschetta, a clever combination of artichokes, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, olives, roasted peppers, red onion and rocket on pesto foccacia.If this long list of ingredients is intriguing, just wait until your palate takes over.

The house's special salad, cheekily called 'more than love', is colourful and has crunchy appeal. The Thai chicken and vermicelli noodle version is an equally enticing starter. For mains, there are plenty of options like roasted corn and chilli bran burritos, tangy turkey enchiladas and the much-loved sweet potatoes, asparagus, green beans and broccoli served with organic brown basmati rice. One can also settle for a good old burger and wash it down with interesting smoothies. They also offer world wines and unusual cocktails with catchy names like Bombay flower and pomegranate caipirinha.

The dessert section comprises of not just fruit based healthy desserts, but brilliant stars like Swiss mountain chocolate cheesecake, banana waffle split and rocky road ice cream sundaes, which transport the diner to a state of bliss. The friendly staff, who are carefully hired for their sunny disposition, and children's activities help make these restaurants a very special, happy and healthy treat indeed.

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

Strada describes itself as 'a group of stylish, contemporary Italian restaurants, serving good quality, simple and freshly prepared dishes'. The statement sums up what this group of around seventy restaurants offers to people looking for good Italian food. The first outlet opened in Battersea in 1999 and their clientele has been increasing steadily ever since.

Though Strada has grown into a fair sized group, each outlet retains the feel of being a local neighbourhood Italian restaurant. The menu includes pastas, risottos, salads, and fish dishes, but they are best known for their quality pizzas.

They present authentic Italian dishes in contemporary surroundings and aim to use only the freshest and finest ingredients, such as Luganica sausages, Parma ham and buffalo mozzarella, imported from Italy to provide exactly the kind of rustic, traditional dishes one would expect to find travelling around its regions.

A meal could kick off with zuppa vongole e fregola, a traditional clam soup with Sardinian fregola pasta grains, wine, chilli and parsley, served with bread, or the delicious sautéed king prawns with garlic, white wine, chilli, and lemon butter served with your choice of bread.

Move on to their creamy risotto verdure, freshly grilled asparagus, broad beans, peas, spring onions, zucchini, green beans, white wine and mint, finished with baby spinach leaves. Or you could opt for the healthier, tagliolini nero granchio, black cuttlefish ink pasta with crab, courgette, red and yellow peppers, spring onion, and a hint of chilli and parsley. A real treat for the taste buds comes in the form of the bistecca manzo, a 10oz rosemary-marinated char-grilled, rib-eye steak with fries and fresh rocket.

A range of pizzas, all spun by hand, is an integral feature of each restaurant. They include the rossa, with spicy southern Italian salami, roasted red peppers, chilli, caramelised onion, garlic, fresh oregano, tomato and mozzarella. Nor are vegetarians are overlooked, and can be found tucking into dishes such as fiorentina, made of spinach cooked with garlic, nutmeg and black pepper with mozzarella, parmesan, tomato and an egg.

For those wanting to satisfy their sweet tooth, there is torroncino affogato, an iced nougat semi freddo with a shot of espresso to pour over, or a classic Italian tiramisu and, as you might expect coffee to round off the meal.

A wine list consisting of purely regional Italian wines, beers and liqueurs, all carefully chosen to complement the menu comes as no surprise and in addition, every table receives a complimentary bottle of purified water.

For further details including their latest news, menus and deals, and to find a Strada nearest to you, their Website certainly warrants a visit.

With quality food, friendly staff, quick service and excellent value for money, Nando's is a great place to eat. Don't expect identikit, pre-fab restaurant interiors which are usually a staple of the larger chains; each restaurant is tailored to its local surroundings and customers, offering up a unique restaurant experience to go with the equally unique taste of legendary, Portuguese, Peri-Peri chicken.

Your peri-peri chicken, when the chips are down so to speak, is a fresh A grade chicken that has never seen the inside of a freezer, but having made the supreme sacrifice is butterfly-cut, marinated for 24 hours in a secret brew called - you've guessed - peri-peri, and is then cooked to your choice over an open flame.

There are, of course, many variations on this broad theme, numerous plays on words such as Nando's experi-perience, peri-peri good reasons why you should eat at a Nando's, and all one hopes is that for their sake chicken never goes out of fashion. New Nando's are opening all the time, peri-peri quickly in fact, the spicy bastes become hotter and more daring, and the full platter offers a whole chicken, large chips or spicy rice and Nando's salad or coleslaw.

Since chickens are vegetarian it seems logical you can order veggie or bean burgers and patties, and still feel the heat from the peppers. All in all, Nando?s is hotly recommended for those occasions when you have a large following of permanently hungry children, or adults even, to keep happy - the only thing taken really seriously is the quality of those peri-peri good chickens.

Nando's is a place for bright people who love to laugh and love to eat, and is guaranteed to spice up your taste buds. Their fun approach to life means that when you visit Nando's you can fully relax without the airs and graces associated with more starchy dining out.

For the location of your nearest Nando's restaurant and a host of details about menus, parties and drinks, a click on their Website will reveal a Pandora's box of information.

With quality food, friendly staff, quick service and excellent value for money, Nando's is a great place to eat. Don't expect identikit, pre-fab restaurant interiors which are usually a staple of the larger chains; each restaurant is tailored to its local surroundings and customers, offering up a unique restaurant experience to go with the equally unique taste of legendary, Portuguese, Peri-Peri chicken.

Your peri-peri chicken, when the chips are down so to speak, is a fresh A grade chicken that has never seen the inside of a freezer, but having made the supreme sacrifice is butterfly-cut, marinated for 24 hours in a secret brew called - you've guessed - peri-peri, and is then cooked to your choice over an open flame.

There are, of course, many variations on this broad theme, numerous plays on words such as Nando's experi-perience, peri-peri good reasons why you should eat at a Nando's, and all one hopes is that for their sake chicken never goes out of fashion. New Nando's are opening all the time, peri-peri quickly in fact, the spicy bastes become hotter and more daring, and the full platter offers a whole chicken, large chips or spicy rice and Nando's salad or coleslaw.

Since chickens are vegetarian it seems logical you can order veggie or bean burgers and patties, and still feel the heat from the peppers. All in all, Nando's is hotly recommended for those occasions when you have a large following of permanently hungry children, or adults even, to keep happy - the only thing taken really seriously is the quality of those peri-peri good chickens.

Nando's is a place for bright people who love to laugh and love to eat, and is guaranteed to spice up your taste buds. Their fun approach to life means that when you visit Nando's you can fully relax without the airs and graces associated with more starchy dining out.

For the location of your nearest Nando's restaurant and a host of details about menus, parties and drinks, a click on their Website will reveal a Pandora's box of information.

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. A cappuccino or hot chocolate 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; oven baked lemon and rosemary chicken wings, spiced meatballs, calamari, mini garlic butter-filled calzoni and lightly battered courgettes served with flamed pepper and lemon herb dips.

A speck e rucola pizza, added to a traditional margherita brings together two traditions with Italian speck 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, roast field mushrooms, fries and rocket, or the fritto misto, lightly battered prawns, cod fillet, calamari and courgette with fries and a herb lemon and caper dip.

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 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. For further enlightenment, news about their on-line shop and special deals, a click on their lively Website will reveal all.