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This friendly neighbourhood restaurant is the kind of place you can pop into at anytime of the day. The décor is simple and inoffensive with wooden floors, large silver framed mirrors and both wooden and pretty mosaic tables. From the menu you can start your day with a simple croissant, a full English breakfast, or just stop by for a quick cup of tea or coffee. Otherwise the menu has a wealth of choices to offer such as lasagne and spaghetti carbonara, to more varied dishes such as pan-fried lamb cutlets with sage and rosemary, seafood risotto, swordfish steaks on a bed of diced tomatoes and spring onions, or salmon fillet with pesto. Main courses cost anything from around £6 - £12.

Reviewed by Linda Buttle

Gouramys opened at the beginning of December 2002 on the site of the former Rose of Denmark public house in Barnes. The proprietors, Elaine and Tony Martin have moved from Lincolnshire where their restaurant gained entry to the 'Which Good Food Guide' and won 'The Joseph Perrier' best restaurant in Lincolnshire award.

Specialising in fish and seafood the restaurant also offers a selection of meat dishes. All the fish and shellfish are purchased fresh from the markets and depending on the days catch there is a daily specials board.

For Sunday lunch they offer a traditional roast menu as well as the normal seafood menu. Wednesday to Saturday lunchtime they have a set lunch fixed price menu as well as the normal menu, this changes daily and weekly.

The ambience and style of the restaurant is comfortable and relaxed with friendly professional and attentive service. The bar area for pre and after dinner drinks is comfortably furnished with easy chairs and settees and the dining area has well spaced tables from which you can view the two large tropical fish tanks (those are their pets and not on the menu!).

Housed in a pretty Victorian tavern right on Putney Common, the Spencer Arms is a cosy local, serving the best of British food with a good wine list and certain, rather individual, homemade specialities; The Spencer Arms kitchen is headed by Adrian Jones.

Adrian Jones was formerly the Head Chef at Yorkshire's award winning Shibden Mill Inn and he has teamed up with Jamie Sherriff, co-founder of Notting Hill's highly successful neighbourhood Italian, Zucca, to create this cosy local, serving the best of British food with a good wine list and homemade specialties like hot Suffolk cider with cracked allspice berries. The Spencer Arms kitchen also makes its own condiments and freshly baked soda bread to take home.

Lauded for his commitment to Slow Cooking, Adrian uses carefully selected suppliers, including award winning butchers Aubrey Allen of Coventry, and traditional cooking techniques to create deliciously rich and fully flavoured dishes, like his 7 hour braised ox cheek With jabron potatoes and baby onions.

Adrian trained under Gary Rhodes at The Castle in Taunton and has 20 years experience working in restaurants around the country. He has been influenced by Britain's culinary doyens including Elizabeth David, Simon Hopkinson, Rick Stein and Jane Grigson, inspiring his dedication to great British food. It's this enthusiasm which fuels his 20 mile bike ride along The River from Greenwich to The Spencer Arms every day.

The Spencer Arms kitchen offers local lunch goers, midweek grazers, families and destination diners two menus which changes everyday - lunch menu and dinner menu, and weekend brunch, as well as a hearty Rower's Breakfast, which includes Wiltshire dry cure streaky bacon, old English sausages, Clonakioty black pudding, organic eggs, baby plum tomatoes and granary toast, this is served Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am - 12 pm.

For bar snacks there is a wide selection of freshly prepared British tapas including potted shrimps, mini shepherd's pie, salt cod fritters and comforting classics like Welsh rarebit and eggy bread with grilled herrings.

The lunch and dinner menus feature robust and satisfying dishes like duck burger with goat's cheese and homemade beetroot pickle and celeriac soup with crayfish tails and favourites like bread and butter pudding, banana custard and lemon curd tart with plum compote and homemade apple crumble ice-cream.

"More gastro than pub...well worth the trip to the end of the 22 bus route", Square Meal.

"A fine pub", Guy Dimond - Time Out.

Toby Young of ES Magazine described the cooking as "outstanding" and "possibly the best gastro-pub food that he has tasted".

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.

The Winkfield is located between Windsor and Ascot and is a favourite of Berkshire residents for its traditional British cuisine and warm, friendly, pub like atmosphere. Located on Lovel Road in Winkfield, the building dates back to the 1880's and different elements in the decor such as wooden beams and low ceilings create the homely feeling of a village pub. The food however is far from that, with fresh and locally sourced produce coming together with consummate skill in the kitchen to create a range of delicious fare, dazzling in its simplicity and bursting with flavour.

Tasty meals could begin with seared scallops, grilled chorizo and blood orange salad and this might be followed by pan fried sea bass with Lyonnaise potatoes, white wine and parsley sauce. Finally, end with a marble chocolate and pistachio brownie with white chocolate sauce or maybe a trio of British cheeses might appeal. The Winkfield bar menu offers salads, baguettes, burgers and pies and the extensive wine list features favourites from across the world.

Succulent and sizzling meats sliding off skewers on to your plate would be a fantasy come true if you're a true meat lover. 40 Degrees helps you achieve this with minimum fuss and plenty of ease in their comfortable and stylish restaurant on Upper Richmond Road. Service is excellent, attentive but non-intrusive, with the gauchos continually parading different cuts of perfectly seasoned chicken, lamb, beef, pork and vegetables that have been grilled over open flames.

The buffet offers fantastic value with a variety of salads and Brazilian hot dishes as well and some of the options could include char grilled rump on skewer flavoured with lime and garlic or maybe the pan fried sea bass with steamed mussels and seasonal vegetables. The barbecue features chicken wings and drumsticks, sirloin steak, gammon, chorizo and spare ribs amongst others and is inevitably a favourite of diners. The New World wine list, cocktails and beers at 40 Degrees are popular and they complement the fiery dishes superbly.

Annie's Bar and Restaurant located in White Hart Lane, brings memories of grandma's house when kids merrily bounded in while heartfelt greetings were exchanged and home-cooked food emerged from the kitchen. With its genuinely warm service, superb comfort food and stylish ambience, Annie's ensures that there's something here for everyone and at any time of the day. If you want to show up early on for coffee, you could soak in the sun with your newspaper at the stylish al-fresco dining area. Family gatherings, business meals, casual lunches and romantic dinners are just enjoyable in the lively, welcoming atmosphere at Annie's.

The food is a delightful blend of British and continental flavours and the place is particularly renowned for its brunches. Sample the crisp bacon sandwich with oven-roasted tomatoes or go for the full English breakfast which comes in smaller portions for children. Lamb burger with goat's cheese is an excellent option for mains and there are a host of dishes for vegetarians that include a daily risotto special. For dessert, you'll find all the usual suspects, but crème brulée at Annie's Bar and Restaurant will surely have you pulling an Oliver Twist.