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The Malmaison group of hotels has established throughout Britain a collection of centres of excellence where nothing but the best will do. As a concept alone this is exciting, but the reality is brilliant, so that at last there is a hotel group where uniformity of standards is of the same high calibre.

Hidden behind a Victorian-brick façade in the cobbled courtyard of leafy Charterhouse Square you will find the atmospheric Malmaison London. An oasis of calm in the heart of trendy Clerkenwell yet on the edge of the Square Mile and just minutes away from the Barbican and Smithfield Markets - the best of all worlds. Architecturally superb, in its past life it served as a nurses' residence for St Bartholomew's hospital. The bedrooms are all that one would expect from a hotel that has genuine regard for its guests and is concerned with every aspect of their wellbeing.

The hotel has ninety-seven elegant rooms and one suite, all of which are great for business trips or luxury weekend breaks. A calm yet fresh milieu is created by the understated décor of lilac, dove and earth fabric tones.

Amidst elegant surroundings, with crisp linen, spotless gleaming glassware and shining cutlery, an essentially brasserie menu is offered. The original vaults have been opened up to provide for intimate dining spaces, while cosy corners with plumped silk and velvet cushions create a warm relaxed environment.

Lovers of seafood will be delighted to note at once that their particular needs are well heeded, starting with a delightful mussel, leak and saffron tart or a smoked haddock fishcake. Other choices that seldom fail to please include treacle cured salmon, squid, clam, chorizo and chickpea salad, the assiette of charcuterie, and the chicken liver and foie gras parfait.

Head Chef John Woodward and his team bring to the table inspired choices such as the roast monkfish tail, and braised lamb neck fillet served with carrot puree, cabbage and salsa verde, for those seeking by this time a slightly more carnivorous approach. Which leads us neatly to the - wait for it - Mal burger, a 250 grams burger made from ground beef tucked into a floured bap to join bacon and gruyere, served with homemade relish and some fries.

Over the years the number of outriders surrounding a good honest steak on the plate has grown to unacceptable dimensions. At Malmaison the thought and care is centred on the 35 day aged rump steak frites and that's it - except for the chips. If you want all the rest go for the side dishes, but steak and chips on its own takes some beating. Vegetarians are well looked after - the sautéed wild mushroom and truffle risotto sounded appealing, and there is an excellent green salad as well.

Heading the puddings is the Malmaison vanilla crème brûlée, a triumph of timing and co-ordination, supported by other choices amongst which expect to find apricot and frangipane tart, chocolate fondant or a splendid crêpe suzette with Grand Marnier sauce.

Their wine list is a symphony of its kind, clearly compiled by an enthusiast who knows his wines well enough not to disappear into a world of hyperbole when describing them.

Their Website is a wealth of information that will, I predict, only serve to increase your resolve to make Malmaison your next stop in London. It is worth noting that you can also make reservations Online on their Website.

If you haven't discovered this part of London's riverside area yet, you really have missed out. Butler's Wharf has grown over the years and the formerly derelict warehouses have been converted into luxury flats, boutique shops and designer restaurants and bars.

Located in the shadow of Tower Bridge, Browns occupies the area's premier site with a stunning restaurant overlooking the Thames and the magnificent architecture of riverside London. Al fresco dining is always popular in the warmer months as the area's workers and residents enjoy the capital's impressive external decks. The whole area is thriving during the weekend as families and friends enjoy the relaxing feel to Shad Thames and the wonderful food and drink that Browns offers.

Browns is a classic English restaurant with a menu that evolves rather than changes. It offers a genuine value for money experience for guests and can also cater for large parties with a more expansive budget.

A plate of appetisers to share comes in vegetarian, seafood or Italian meat antipasti form, or there are thin and crisp flatbreads topped with such delights as garlic, rocket and Parmesan, and spicy beef and mushroom. Starters cleverly re-invent some of the classic brasserie dishes; expect to find crab and avocado salad, ham hock terrine, pan-seared scallops and a fine selection of freshly made soups depending on the day.

Fish and pasta dishes include prawn and chorizo linguine, served with tomato and chorizo sauce. A real value seafood platter will have smoked salmon, Browns crab mix, squid, kiln cured salmon with horseradish crème fraîche, large shell-on tiger prawn and marinated king scallops assembled together, whilst hungry chaps may well opt for the whole baked sea bream with lemon and ginger served with wilted spinach and new potatoes.

Browns's own steak, mushroom and Guinness pie is a real puller, with the rack of lamb not too far behind. Desserts include raspberry and chocolate brownie and cheese board with fresh bread, crackers, grapes and celery. The fact is that after years of experience in the field of what might be termed comfortable eating; Browns have it pretty well tied up.

On Sundays step into Browns for a relaxed Sunday brunch with newspapers, simple food and a well constructed Bloody Mary. And what a brunch it is! Smoked fishcake with poached egg and hollandaise, eggs Florentine, Royal or Benedict, the full English, or smoothies, it's all there.

Their afternoon tea is a real treat at any time, and two people can get into a friendly huddle over their Most Unusual version that introduces even more indulgence into the equation, including two large G & Ts. There is a full wine, cocktail and Champagne list with the Champagnes being particularly notable for their sensible pricing.

Adjacent to the stunning design museum, Browns has become an ideal neighbourhood restaurant and bar to those fortunate to live in the area, but also a perfect destination to those visiting this magnificent addition to London's amenities. Browns's private dining room is the ideal venue for corporate entertaining especially for those who want to offer their guests something a little bit different and special.

More information, including details on their full menu and private rooms, can be viewed on their Website.

"Where everybody goes and quite rightly so" - The Guardian

One of the recent exciting developments in London has been the Westfield Shopping Centre in Shepherd's Bush, and there in the thick of it is Fire& Stone, ensuring that this shopper's paradise has easy access to quality pizzas and pasta with an international twist. Feeling fragile after long exposure to a shopping frenzy? Head for some ravishing and tasty solace, freshly prepared and laced with familiarity.

Some years ago I lunched at the first Fire & Stone, in Covent Garden, with a colleague and quickly realised that here was a restaurant that meant business. The vibrancy of the sparkling new and contemporary retail centre at Westfield is infectious and a decent meal is all part of the experience. A simple but highly efficient service ensures that bookings can be made with ease wherever you are.

Frankly all this rushing about buying things can be pretty exhausting. Give yourself a break and take a close look, for instance, at the lunch meal deal. Book in advance and choose any pizza, pasta or salad from the set menu, currently for £4.95, and  note that lunch starts at 11am, going on to 4pm. Choose from amongst such delights as the Marrakech with cumin spiced ground lamb, mozzarella, mint yoghurt sauce, green olives, raisins and sliced onion drizzle with chilli oil, or the Acapulco with slow cooked ground chilli beef, Fire & Stone's tomato sauce, jalapenos, mozzarella, sliced red onions, topped with sour cream and guacamole.

For a modest extra indulgence there's the Peking, with Chinese Hoi Sin sauce, shredded aromatic duck, mozzarella and spring onions topped with cucumber ribbons, or you can go green with barrel aged feta, sliced red and green peppers, cucumber, jumbo green olives, red onion, oregano, vine tomatoes and red wine vinaigrette. From which you will note that Fire & Stone spare neither imagination nor scope.

On the main menu consider the myriad choices drawn from five continents preceded by starters that take in a range of dips, sharing boards, calamari, crispy wonton king prawns to name but a few. Their new thin bases still have the same great flavours, homemade sauces and chutneys that top the Original base, but are bigger and crisper. Salads of each and every sort abound. A range of toppings helps in adding individuality to your pizza or you may prefer to head for the pasta choices that include their renowned spicy sausage Rigatoni.

In these difficult times the number of special offers increases and Fire & Stone have that one taped too. Amongst them are the Pizza Passport, so that each time you buy one of their unique pizzas up to six you collect a stamp, ensuring that your seventh pizza is free. The best way to keep abreast of these and other offers is to sign up for their Newsletter, or check up on their Website where offers like Friends Eat Free, 2 pizzas for £10, £10 after 10pm, and Kids Eat Free, are frequently to be found.

You want to eat; Fire & Stone want to help you do that as economically and enjoyably as possible.  It's really that simple. Buon appetito!

The Fentiman Arms is the very epitome of England, and only a short stroll from the Oval, just south of the River Thames, it provides a perfect haven for post-match discussions, or even watching the event itself live on the big screens. A gastropub offering its own take on British food, it is full of comfortable chairs, heritage décor, rows of bookcases, log fire in season, and lighting that creates rather than destroys, in fact, this is the place to be at almost any time of the day.

In the summer the back doors open out on to a wild country beer garden, and the prospect of a barbecue is distinctly rosy. On the first floor a function room has its own bar and is available for hire all year round. Whatever the occasion, board meeting, birthdays, reunions or dinner parties, give them a call to discuss how best they can meet your particular needs.

Lunch and dinner is served every day and whilst the menus change daily to suit the market and the seasons the quality of the food never wavers from the high standard regulars have come to expect.

Lunch is a one, two or three course event, depending on your wishes, and has about it more than a hint of home cooking and the sort of dishes that are associated those who like their food uncomplicated, wholesome and filling. You don't have to be an Old Etonian to raise an appreciative eyebrow at strawberry Eton Mess, and a trio of Granny's favourites could yield portions of spotted dick, sticky toffee pudding and rhubarb syllabub. For those in a hurry substantial sandwiches as in char-grilled minute steak, caramelised onions and Tewkesbury mustard, or Somerset brie with sweet pickles and rocket leaves make welcome solutions.

Not everyone is rushed off their feet, and lunch with a friend before going on to the Oval for the match could start with a tomato, basil and golden cross goat's cheese tart,or the soup of the day. The smoked fish pie makes an excellent dish at any time, or perhaps the rump steak and fried onion sandwich with French fries appeals.

Eggs Florentine can be taken as a large or small course, but a Fentiman burger with streaky bacon, mature cheddar and French fries has only one dimension, along with the grilled King prawn salad, sweet tomato and chilli dressing. A simple smoked applewood Ploughman's seldom fails to hit the spot, and beer battered haddock with pea purée, tartare sauce and French fries does credit to our national dish. The menu says that "puddings, cheeses, digestifs, coffees, teas and more are always there to finish you off". I think they mean "your meal", though it's certainly possible to eat well enough to bring about something more arresting.

This is perhaps a good moment to introduce the wine list inspired and selected by John Clevely, Master of Wine and founder of the Geronimo Inns group, with some carefully chosen bottles from around the world that embrace New and Old Worlds with delicacy and skill.

Menus change, events happen at The Fentiman - stay ahead of the game by reference to their Website, only a click away.

A glamourous venue in the heart of London's Canary Wharf, Boisdale offers guests a unique dining experience. Its capacious interiors, which can seat 200 guests, has a vibrant colour scheme of lacquer red and dark green walls with rich mahogany paneling, tartan upholstery and original art work adding to the stylish, sophisticated ambience. The delicious modern British menu features a range of expertly chosen Scottish specialities including Aberdeenshire beef, Hebridean shellfish and Scottish smoked salmon.

The restaurant - housed on the second floor of an Art Deco influenced city block - overlooks Canary Wharf's Cabot Square, offering fine views of the River Thames and the city skyline beyond. Live music creates a buzz with a host of jazz, soul and blues numbers from a host of leading musicians. The space inside is supplemented by a covered and heated Cigar Terrace where diners can light up their favourite cigars while relaxing in comfortable tartan upholstered armchairs and sofas. Cigar lovers can replenish their stock from the restaurant's Cuban Library and Shop which features some of the finest Cuban brands sourced from Hunters & Frankau and C.Gars.

You could also chill out at the art deco-styled Caviar and Oyster Bar, sampling a delicious range of seafood including Rossmore and Colchester rock oysters, cold poached lobster, West Coast Scottish langoustines, Atlantic prawns and Morecombe Bay potted shrimps. The superb caviar selection offers Golden Almas, Imperial Beluga, Classic Oscietra and Royal Salmon for the connoisseur. 

The à la carte menu offers tempting starter dishes such as Aberdeenshire chopped steak tartare with Melba toast, Dunkeld Scottish smoked salmon with a shallot and caper relish and ballotine of guinea fowl and Yorkshire pigeon. A substantial main course could include steak, onion and kidney pudding with poached rock oysters, Wicks Manor pot-roast pork belly and pigs cheeks served with Herefordshire cider, pickled radishes and Ayrshire bacon or Cornish black bream accompanied by watercress risotto, mussels and clams. Your choice of a range of 28-day aged Aberdeenshire steaks served with option of béarnaise sauce, garlic roasted field mushrooms or Rossinni seared foie gras could be equally tempting.

Scrumptious desserts of chilled bread and butter pudding brulée rich with sultanas soaked in Glenfiddich 15-year and served with apricot jelly, Valhrona chocolate cheesecake with ginger biscuits and crème fraîche or crème caramel paired with Chantilly and almond tuile round the meal off in style.

The restaurant's stunning Whisky Bar an unrivalled glowing amber display of a thousand bottles of the finest Scottish malts, ranging from rare gems such as Macallan 1937 and Macallan 1946 to fine varieties like Highland 1968, a 40-year old Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie Traditional, an 18-year old Aberlour and Islay Mist, as well as an extensive range of whiskies from Ireland, the United States, Japan, Wales and India.

The wine list offers a fine selection, with an emphasis on French wines as well as carefully chosen examples from South Africa, Chile and Portugal sprinkled amongst them including Symposium Blanc, Welmoed Chardonnay 2010, Sancerre Rose 2008 Cotes du Rhone 2007 and a rare Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 1998.

Boisdale's four elegantly appointed private dining rooms, on the second floor, are perfect for that exclusive party, important business meeting or brainstorming working lunch you might have in mind.

For more information, do visit their Website.

Luc's Brasserie does what generations of politicians have generally failed dismally to do, namely bring the English and the French together into close proximity - and smile. The location for this superb diplomatic achievement is none other than the historic and increasingly fashionable Leadenhall Market, in the City of London, with its picturesque cobbled walkways that have somehow miraculously survived the health and safety process, and its echoes of London past and present, now triumphantly joined at Luc's with Parisian chic.

One of the greatest achievements of the Leadenhall Market project lies within its creation of a classless zone where all sorts and conditions of people happily whoop it up, and it is into this scene that Luc's blends with precocious ease, offering food that is cosmopolitan and appealing. So the city slicker finds himself sitting next to the day visitor from Cheltenham, or the lonely émigré from La France itself, amidst a riot of simple wooden tables casually draped with spotless white cloth.

The décor is indiscreetly French, with a restaurant that seats 100, and an upstairs private dining room that accommodates another 30. To provide before and after space a long elegant bar is backed with a cluster of high tables at which solitary visitors to Luc's can cherish their isolation with a meal and a glass or three.

Chef and Partner, Darrin Jacobs, has produced a menu that signals yet another success for l'entente cordiale, starting with some bacon and potato rösti with poached egg and hollandaise, sautéed foie gras with caramelised apple, calvados, sauce liege and toasted brioche, or some escargots de Bourgogne. Grilled Dover sole offer at least a breath of L'Angleterre and the French attitude to matters of meat is well captured in the duck rillettes with red onion confiture.

Steaks feature strongly; all are served with oven dried tomato, frites and sauces au poivre or béarnaise. Chateaubriand for two invariably makes the best of the cut as well as rolling nicely off the tongue when ordering. Calves' liver Lyonnaise makes a welcome change from our often uninspired methods of making this nutritious meat appealing to a wider public.

The eponymous steak hache burger has all the appeal of a well prepared faggot combined with the flavours of well hung meat, served plain or with beef tomato, cos lettuce and dill pickle.

No French leaning menu is complete without a boeuf bourguignon, or bouillabaisse with rouille, gruyere and croutons, and of course the French are always much more adventurous in their approach to bucolic meat such as wood pigeon, served here with braised endive and wild cherry sauce.

Desserts offer profiteroles with Luc's white chocolate ice cream, tarte au citron, mousse au chocolat and, of course, crème brûlée.

A wine list that leans exclusively towards the Gallic mode should come as no surprise, nor indeed as a disappointment bearing in mind the quality of the 100 plus wines from which to choose. Their Website is well worth a click to find out more about special offers and opportunities for private functions in this central City location.

Hidden away in St George's Wharf on the banks of the Thames, The Riverside bar and restaurant offers patrons an oasis to unwind in at leisure in elegant and capacious interiors. Apart from the modern British and European food, stunning views of the London skyline up and down the river will have their attention.

After having imbibed a cocktail or two at the stylish bar, you could settle down with pressed terrine of gammon, chicken salad with Wiltshire bacon and honey or a crispy duck platter. Then, progress to butternut squash risotto, steamed sea bass with pak choi, fish pie topped with golden Cheddar mash or sweet potato curry with Kashmiri pilau. Traditional British food classics served here include fish and chips, bangers and mash, salmon and smoked haddock fishcakes, and West County fillet steak with Portobello mushrooms. To pamper the sweet tooth, there's warm chocolate fondant, berry crumble with white chocolate ice cream and baked Camembert cheese. The Riverside's premium selection from wines to whiskies gives guests their choice of tipple.

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

Roast in the hugely popular Borough Market, with its intriguing twist on classic British food, is a great example of somebody seeing a unique opportunity, grabbing it with both hands, and then making it work. The last bit of course is almost invariably the toughest call. The man who has done this is no ordinary 'somebody'. Iqbal Wahhab made an early start by moving from Bangladesh at the age of 8 months.

In 2001 he launched the award winning Cinnamon Club, the Westminster restaurant where politicians, lobbyists and curries blend successfully together. Four years later came Roast, a wonderful opportunity to be at the hub of the rejuvenated Borough Market, one of the largest fruit markets in the world. Not for nothing was Iqbal voted into the Top 10 Restaurateurs in Britain by an Independent on Sunday survey.

Located in the elegant glass and stone portico on the first floor, the restaurant looks down into the Floral Hall of the market itself and out through tall arched glass windows over the surrounding townscape. As one leading newspaper recorded, 'restaurant locations don't come much better than this'. The atmosphere is one of excitement and buzz, sentiments wonderfully evoked by Prince Charles - whose Prince's Trust has a Table at Roast to support their work in the neighbourhood - when he and the Duchess of Cornwall dropped in on the Market in November 2005.

As with most markets, whose business is by its very nature an early starter, Roast starts the day with a full-on breakfast menu. Strewn with such evocative words as smoked streaky bacon, eggs Benedict, grilled Orkney kippers, toasted cottage loaf, Scott's porridge oats, smoked Loch Etive trout and Ramsay of Carluke black pudding, The Full Borough is highly recommended, or should you be returning from the hospital where your wife has just successfully given birth, The Roast Bubbly Breakfast. Any old occasion will do.

You will already have detected a note of Britishness about Roast. This celebration of our national culinary awareness moves easily to the main menu where spring pea soup, half a dozen Loch Fyne oysters or perhaps a Market salad precede roast Goosnargh chicken breast, or Isle of Wight asparagus and Berkswell cheese tart, in competition with slow roast Wicks Manor pork belly, or roast 8oz fillet of Welsh beef with spinach and fairy ring mushrooms.

A profusion of puddings - would chocolate banoffee pudding with Devonshire clotted cream tickle the buds? - is only surpassed by the seven or so cheeses always on offer, reading rather like a roll of honour to those afflicted by this persuasive, and yes, sometimes pervasive too, form of gourmet pleasure.

Markets are places where the human frame may benefit not only from wonderful uncomplicated top class food but also some decent wine to go with it. It is no exaggeration to say that the wine list at Roast would be the envy of many a top London hotel or restaurant. Lots come by the glass and the breadth of the list is truly astounding.

If you detect more than a little enthusiasm about Roast you are of course free to check out the reality. You will be in raptures when you do. Check on their Website for seasonal changes of menu.

Located in Horner Lane at Old Spitalfields Market, this latest addition to the Fire & Stone portfolio brings "deliciously different pizzas" into the heart of the City of London. Whilst the regular inhabitants of the area may be having to work harder these days they still have to eat and Fire & Stone are part of the pattern that has seen some of London's finest restaurants moving into the City.

Some years ago I lunched at the Covent Garden Fire & Stone with a colleague and quickly realised that here was a restaurant that meant business. Their claim to be a 'hip' place to eat was no idle boast then, nor is it now. A simple but highly efficient service ensures that bookings can be made with ease wherever you are.

But should time be precious the Fire & Stone takeaway service will make the most of what little you have. The same care and attention that goes into their other menus is applied to the substantial takeaway version that draws on ideas from an international spectrum. If time is money Fire & Stone takeaways are on your side.

Frankly all this rushing about really isn't good for you. Give yourself a break at lunchtime and take a close look at the lunch meal deal. Book in advance and choose any pizza, pasta or salad from the set menu, currently for £4.95. Choose from amongst such delights as the Marrakech with cumin spiced ground lamb, mozzarella, mint yoghurt sauce, green olives, raisins and sliced onion drizzle with chilli oil, or the Acapulco with slow cooked ground chilli beef, Fire & Stone's tomato sauce, jalapenos, mozzarella, sliced red onions, topped with sour cream and guacamole.

For a modest extra indulgence there's the Peking, with Chinese Hoi Sin sauce, shredded aromatic duck, mozzarella and spring onions topped with cucumber ribbons, or you can go green with barrel aged feta, sliced red and green peppers, cucumber, jumbo green olives, red onion, oregano, vine tomatoes and red wine vinaigrette. From which you will note that Fire & Stone spare neither imagination nor scope.

On the main menu consider the myriad choices drawn from five continents preceded by starters that take in a range of dips, sharing boards, calamari, crispy wonton king prawns to name but a few. Their new thin bases still have the same great flavours, homemade sauces and chutneys that top the Original base, but are bigger and crisper. Salads of each and every sort abound. A range of toppings helps in adding individuality to your pizza or you may prefer to head for the pasta choices that include their renowned spicy sausage Rigatoni.

In these difficult times the number of special offers increases and Fire & Stone have that one taped too. Amongst them are the Pizza Passport, so that each time you buy one of their unique pizzas up to six you collect a stamp that then entitles you to your seventh pizza free The best way to keep abreast of these and other offers is to sign up for their Newsletter, or check up on their Website where offers like Friends Eat Free, 2 pizzas for £10, and Kids Eat Free, are frequently to be found.

You want to eat; Fire & Stone want to help you do that as economically and enjoyably as possible.  It's really that simple. Buon appetito!