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Al Forno restaurant, in Shepherd's Bush, is a snug and friendly family run Italian restaurant with an affordable menu offering a wide variety of high quality dishes. Overlooking Shepherd's Bush Common, Al Forno's contemporary decor and open kitchen provide a stylish setting for a gathering of friends and family, or a quick meal before the show at the nearby Shepherd's Bush Empire.

Offering distinctive home-style Italian cooking, guests could kick-start their day with an Italian breakfast of two fried eggs, olives, mozzarella, tomato, salami, toast and cappuccino. Lunchtime delights include a selection of starters, salads, pasta, pizza and main courses such as grilled sea bass served on lemon parsley sauce, or roasted fillet of Scottish salmon steak. The extensive evening menu celebrates authentic Italian flavours in dishes like chicken, mushroom and lemon soup or agnello brasato, a traditional dish of braised lamb shank served with roasted vegetables in a rich balsamic gravy sauce.

Al Forno also serves a good selection of Italian wines as well as beers, cocktails, spirits, liqueurs and cold drinks.

The chefs from the original Monty's restaurant on South Ealing Road have since parted company and set up on their own, explaining why you can now find a selection of Monty's restaurants in the area. The favourite amongst locals who know the difference seems to be the one at 54 Northfield Avenue. Here you'll find well-cooked dishes from good old favourites to the more adventurous, and portions are generous to say the least.

Belushi's believe in living life king size, whether it's their huge drink offers or the massive parties that they host. So stop by at the trendy Fulham venue, relax by the sea at Brighton, or head to Greenwich, the unstoppable East End, or any other outlet, you're assured of an all American bar and restaurant experience and like many of its rivals Belushi's certainly know a thing or two about partying.

No doubt their discount deals are a major draw, but having said that it's important not to overlook the food, and being thoroughly American, burgers are a speciality with typically generous portions. Think big, think Aussie works burger, or choose from some inventive toppings like Cajun, mushroom blue, the BBQ bacon or satay. A closer look at main courses could reveal chilli con carne, sausage and mash, fish and chips and sirloin steak, in addition to fresh salads and sandwiches. Haute cuisine it's not, but for well prepared and well priced classics, it's hard to beat.

If your culinary conception of London is built around expensive restaurants or not-so-expensive-less-quality eateries then think again, as there are still places like Byron that offer some good value food to those on a tight budget. Well, how can anyone go wrong with a burger, you may ask, but this burger chain is not just about a slab of meat slapped between two halves of a bun, here the meat is sourced from small farms, the cattle roam freely in the Scottish Highlands, and the hamburgers are freshly ground every day; surely it can't get more simple than that.

The menu opens up an abundance of inexpensive delights, starting with burgers stuffed with dry cure bacon, mature cheddar, Byron sauce, or corn fed chicken fillet with tomato, mayo and baby spinach. Their salads are a wonderful melange of fresh ingredients such as squash and feta unified by garlic and parsley dressing, and buffalo mozzarella and Portobello mushroom with crispy bacon, almonds and cos lettuce dressed with honey balsamic. Desserts include the indulgent banoffee pie and caramel and honeycomb sundae.