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Time was when wine bars seemed to be in recession, but Davy's have put that right. With 32 wine bars, most in the centre of London, offering a dazzling choice of refreshment well supported by quality food, this is an equation not to be missed. Start with grilled scallops, move to bone-in rib of beef from award-winning Donald Russell Butchers, finish with treacle tart, Welsh rarebit or the superb cheese board.

Great places for parties, buy their wine online or over the counter, no frills and furbelows, stacks of character, dozens of wonderful wines by glass or bottle. Relax in comfort.

The Water Poet may provide several choices to diners - a restaurant that morphs into a bar in the evening, a pool room and a large enclosed garden - but is a pub at its core.

Head Chef Bernadette Forde's cooking gravitates towards Britain with a slight modern influence, taking in mini fishcakes with tartare sauce, honey and mustard glazed Cumberland cocktail sausages, and lemon pepper chicken strips to share. The Sunday lunch menu could feature a roast sirloin of beef with honeyed parsnips, carrots, cabbage, roast potatoes, gravy and Yorkshire pudding, and peppered veal chops with fennel, roast vegetables, bulgar wheat salad and saffron aioli.

Leave room for a dessert of apple tart tatin with vanilla ice cream and Baileys white chocolate cheesecake. The concise wine list is well constructed and there's a small selection of real ales, lager and cider for lovers of the longer drinks.

Corney and Barrow are independent wine merchants who have been in business since 1780. Today they are also well known for their eleven wine bars and restaurants. As might be expected, the emphasis in these bars is on wine, with impressive lists - however, the food is enjoyable too.

They cater for different occasions whether it is a champagne breakfast, business lunch, post work drink or a private party. Each outlet is done up in different colours from rich wine to silvery white, with furniture to suit the mood of the place. The branches can host parties ranging from 150 to 400 people depending on the location, and some of them have private areas for groups and outdoor seating when the weather permits.

All branches offer British food with Mediterranean and European flavours. They have a typical brasserie menu with antipasti and Mediterranean platters for starters. There is a range of sandwiches from ribeye steak to honey roast Norfolk gammon served throughout the day. You could also find season's specials such as crispy herring, pancetta and white pudding salad or seared Hampshire red trout fillet.

They have burgers along with other dishes such as crayfish, Loch Linnha salmon fishcakes, twenty-eight day matured sirloin steak with béarnaise sauce or lemon and herb butter with Portobello mushrooms, sautéed spinach, slow roasted tomatoes and hand cut chips. For a perfect end to your meal, try the classic spotted dick with vanilla custard or have the chocolate and terrine with espresso cream.

Corney and Barrow cater to an eclectic clientele, so don't be surprised to find satellite television and huge sports screens at their Lloyd's outlet, but a more sedate group of office goers with a few representatives of the Press and Law at Fleet Place while theatre goers throng to the West End branch.

YO! Sushi St Pauls is a vital gastronomic experience rather than simply a place to eat sushi. This exciting and visually appealing Japanese delicacy, almost a cuisine in itself and going back to the 4th century BC, is fast rising in popularity for reasons of both taste and health, as well as its companionable setting. The restaurants offer a range of delectable nibbles that are attractively presented and revolve on a gently moving belt in front of customers, allowing them to sample a real wealth of varieties and eat just what they like best as often as they wish.

Contrary to many people's perception of sushi as raw fish, it comes in many forms drawing heavily on rice, fish, vegetables and seafood but the great variety arises chiefly from the different fillings and toppings, condiments, and the way these are combined. Often the same ingredients may be assembled in a traditional or a contemporary way, yet creating widely differing tastes.

Some of the most popular types are sashimi rolls, made from raw or seared slices of salmon and tuna and meant to be eaten within a couple of hours of being put together. Other options include cones of seaweed with rice and fillings and the little boat shaped parcels called gunkans. Miso soups, salads and nigiri sushi made of rice with toppings all add to its strong visual appeal.

Great beers like Asahi Super Dry and Sapporo support the food superbly, as well as hot and cold sake for those who want to sustain the Japanese experience. The menu also has non-alcoholic drinks and a limited list of wines and champagne. For dessert try the dorayaki, mochi or settle for fresh fruit.

The experience of having a meal at YO! Sushi is enriched by the unique array that appears as if by magic before the diner, with its unique colour coded pricing system. But the real pull is the fresh, healthy and tasty food that keeps people returning to their outlets across the UK.

The Leon restaurants spread across London have slowly but decisively changed the face of fast food, creating dishes that are not just tasty, but full of flavour and even nutrition. There's always a buzz at their restaurants, and it only goes to show how popular they have become with a varying group of people, from businessmen to students to anyone who wants a simple but delicious meal.

Breakfast favourites could include the hot sausage in a wholemeal bap or organic porridge spiked with Valrhona chocolate. Lunch time could bring classic baked beans in a slow cooked tomato sauce and plenty of wraps, filled with grilled chicken, chorizo and chilli or shredded pork with sweet chilli jam. Choose from main dishes such as a Thai style chicken curry, Moroccan meatballs or chilli chicken with garlic and yoghurt sauce served with rice. Don't miss their intense chocolate brownie for dessert. The drinks list features soft drinks, spirits, beers and a range of typically European wines.

Slug and Lettuce has a chain of almost a hundred bars spread across the country sharing a common love of serving down to earth, undemanding food and drink.

The group prides itself on offering dishes prepared using quality ingredients, and you should be attended on by attentive staff in a safe, welcoming and cheerful environment. The Slugs have something for anyone - breakfast for a lively start to the day, lunch for busy people, family meals or even a relaxing glass of wine to bring a tiring day to an end - all in a variety of modern and stylish settings.

The menu features old time English favourites such as Gloucestershire Old Spot sausages in buttered mash or fish pie made with Dartmouth smokehouse haddock, in a Devon cream and leek sauce, although dishes look to Europe and further afield to Asia for inspiration. A good way to start the enjoyment is by sharing platters of Southern fried chicken breast pieces, crispy potato wedges, garlic ciabatta strips, half a rack of BBQ pork ribs, wasabi vegetables with onion rings or some Greek mezze

Hearty steak pies, Thai curry with sticky jasmine rice or butternut squash with goats' cheese lasagne are amongst the more popular main dishes. Sandwiches or wraps - warm tortilla with chicken and Parmesan or aromatic duck in plum sauce - provide for those who prefer something lighter. They also serve burgers as well as tempting salads like salmon, asparagus or tomato and mozzarella. For children they have good old British standby sausage and mash, or pepper pasta and ketchup among other choices, all of which never fail to delight, particularly as some of them seem to have come out of a certain celebrity chef's Book of Forbidden Dishes.

Desserts appear in the form of raspberry biscotti, hot chocolate pudding or a creamy strawberry cheesesake. The wine list is well compiled and substantial. There are not less than seven French, three from Italy and some from Spain, Chile, Australia as well as New Zealand. Slug and Lettuce can cater for events including birthday parties, fashion shows, hen nights, wedding parties or just an enjoyable night out with a few friends.

It is their no-holds-barred concept of fun that captures your attention when you visit Callooh Callay in the heart of Shoreditch, a bar which celebrates irreverence and encourages you to let go. Inspired by the nonsensical poem 'Jabberwocky' by Lewis Carrol, this unpretentious bar is well on its way to achieve cult status with its quirky, unusual decor, its range of seasonal dishes and delicious cocktails on offer.

The menu is eclectic featuring a range of light meals and hearty dishes which you can share or taste, and this could include open ratatouille lasagne with cottage cheese and chilli. Other options might be the slow braised pork belly with creamy mash and apple sauce, pan fried trout with pickled pumpkin and beetroot or glazed duck liver with red cabbage. The mad hatter's tiki punchbowl is the signature cocktail served in a gramophone punchbowl which adds to the element of wackiness..