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Carluccio's was started by Antonio and Priscilla Carluccio as a small café and shop stocking Italian food and ingredients in 1991, and grew into a restaurant serving authentic cuisine at sensible prices in 1999. Antonio is an expert on food and has been a wine merchant, restaurant manager and owner, cookery expert on television and author of twelve cookery books. It is therefore not surprising, that today Carluccio's has over fourty-nine outlets across the UK.

Antonio believes Italian cookery involves minimum fuss and maximum flavour. This is exactly what his restaurants try to do by using fresh produce, and working largely with families who make things the traditional way - with care. Their passion also translates into special events like hands-on cookery classes and recipe sharing, Antonio and his team regularly organise for interested guests. They also offer takeaways and a catering service.

The breakfast menu offers croissants and breads served with butter and preserves or honey and free range eggs, either scrambled or fried and served with pancetta or ciabatta. They also have long cured Parma ham and healthier options like muesli and fruits. These are best had with coffee, tea or freshly squeezed juice. Carluccio's offers an impressive list of white, red, rosé and sparkling wines which complement your meal.

The restaurants offer a range of soup and salads which give your meal a nutritious start before moving on to the mains. If you like pasta, enjoy the small filled parcels served in a ham and cream sauce, or sample the Neapolitana spaghetti with whole fresh clams, garlic, herbs and chilli. The branzino con salsa e patate, fillet of pan fried sea bass served with tomato salsa and sautéed potatoes and Somerset rib-eye steak with rosemary potatoes, called bistecca di bue con patate, are good options too. If you are looking for something lighter, you could opt for the numerous sides called contorni and panini.

In the Tuscany region of Italy, meals end simply with almond biscuits dipped in a sweet local wine, Vin Santo and eaten. You can enjoy that experience at Carluccio's, or settle for a more conventional dolci of tiramisu, warm chocolate and kahlua pudding, your choice of Italian cheeses or gelatos in different flavours.

The classic elegance that is associated with most of Gordon Ramsay's ventures is evident in this sophisticated restaurant in Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport. Plane Food can be easily accessed by outbound or transiting passengers from this terminal and it's a soothing respite from the pressures of air travel. Smooth aerodynamic lines designed by renowned architects Bentel and Bentel define the decor of this restaurant, while the food is certainly a celebration of flavours, with a prominent Ramsay menu along with an innovative picnic offering for passengers.

A spot of breakfast could include eggs Benedict, smoked salmon with scrambled eggs or a selection of mini pastries while later on an a la carte could bring starters of five spiced potted duck with pear and saffron chutney. For main course, there's a delicious Suffolk pork cutlet and belly with apple compote, finally rounded off with a light elderflower jelly with berries and crème fraîche. The well travelled wine list at Plane Food demonstrates superb choices with most available by the glass.

Sheraton Skyline, a four-star hotel just minutes away from Heathrow Airport offers its guests the choice of four different venues in which to relax, dine or have a drink. The American themed, Sports Bar and Café provides light fare and a casual setting to watch sporting events on the big screen. It is open from 6 pm to midnight throughout the week.

A well-established favourite for west Londoners, the Osterley branch of the Memories of India group is a charming, informal restaurant decorated with hand-carved wooden panels and leafy potted plants.

The spacious main dining room leads into a bright relaxing conservatory, filled with a local chatty crowd who relish the menu of spicy Indian cuisine featuring Bangladeshi and tandoori specialities. Their tandoori pomfret and salmon ajwani tikka are definitely worth a try. There are many choices for vegetarians too.

Café Rouge has over one hundred branches throughout Britain all offering a wide range of dishes drawn from the French cuisine. Slightly less than half their branches are in or close to London. Almost inevitably the décor and design of each restaurant differs from the others, but there is a general curtsy towards La France.

Many restaurants do an excellent breakfast, or shall we say petit dejeuner, at which such delights as scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toasted brioche, croque Madame, croissants and pain au chocolate make welcome appearances, and to their credit the English traditional gets top billing.

An array of hors d'oeuvres takes in classic French onion and beef soup with a melted gruyere crouton, classic snails in melted garlic butter, and pan-fried crab cakes with a chilli, lemon and coriander jam. Salads, pasta and quiches feature largely, as do baguettes and croques. Quick dishes, ideal for lunch, include smoked Toulouse sausages with sautéed with new potatoes, caramelised onions and balsamic vinegar on a salad of mixed leaves.

Moving on to more serious stuff we find steaks, an 8oz bavette and thin cut rib eye, with a choice of sauces that include the signature sauce de Café Rouge, prepared specially from over twenty secret ingredients. No French menu would be complete without the demi poulet, or a steak frites before moving on to the crème brûlée, or the tart tatin. Almost invariably the coffee tastes like coffee should, something that sadly can all too often still not be said of our English restaurants, who depend too much upon technology and too little on the acquisition of a certain flair for this important conclusion to a meal.

By now we all know that the French, despite their distinctive habits when it comes to matters of satisfying the inner man, maintain a miraculous longevity of life. This is generally attributed to a number of causes, of which a measured consumption of decent wine is foremost. Café Rouge, you may be pleased to hear, encourages this with a well-chosen selection of French wines. Their prix fixe lunch and meals for children, both at a very reasonable figure, also offer excellent value.

For frequenters of the hallowed acres of Twickenham Stadium there is good news; the area has its first gastropub. Much more than that it is formed by four identities, with a bar, lounge, restaurant and terrace, all housed within the handsome Victorian building. Two minutes from the train station, ten minutes from the stadium, just far enough to work up an appetite if the game has not done that for you already, The Albany is the place to be.

However should the appetite require a slight awakening order up some bread and olives with olive oil and balsamic, and dishes like pan fried crab cake with a cucumber salad, or hot smoked salmon and shrimp cocktail take on a new urgency. If there's a few of you order Spanish meat platters for two, with olive tapenade, cornichons and pickled onions, and vary the choice with a Camembert baked in the box, with spiced plum chutney, walnut and raisin bread.

This contemporary Hunslow eatery takes its name from the powerful, mystical expressions used in Indian and Buddhist prayers. Luckily there is nothing overtly sacred about the place except for their flavoursome cuisine and a host of happy customers who relax in the charming, sleek interiors of the restaurant.

Their striking futuristic floors, tables and cutlery all made of glass set them apart from other restaurants in the area, while the soft lighting and bright red seating set the tone for a romantic meal or a peaceful family dinner. A candlelit terrace dining area can cover thirty-five people.

The menu impresses with starters such as bhatti murgh - spring chicken marinated in a homemade paste, grilled in the tandoor and served with a sweet mango and mint chutney. Other options include fresh water prawns fried with curry leaves, black pepper and garlic as well as grilled broccoli with yoghurt and cream cheese spiked with mace and cardamom. A short but tempting choice of mains has stir fried lamb with spiced mince and red onions, cottage cheese simmered in a tangy Hyderabad sauce with sweet pepper as well as familiar favourites like rogan josh and biryani.

Karahi Palace is an elegant restaurant located in Cavendish Parade, Hounslow and offers delicious, traditional Indian cuisine in its sophisticated and stylish surroundings. Whether you're planning a big celebratory dinner or hosting a tea party, this central venue is an ideal location particularly for those occasions when you want to make an impression. Karahi also offers excellent event management services to take care of your parties and get all the organising nightmares out of your way.

Their menu includes a wonderful array of vegetarian and meat based food, sizzling tandoori dishes and some interesting specialities too. Starters could typically include jeera chicken, tender pieces cooked with cumin seeds and capsicum followed by keema, minced lamb cooked with peas or king fish curry in a spicy masala sauce. Tandoori breads and rice dishes such as biryani are superb accompaniments while sweets such as creamy kulfi, Indian ice cream, bring the meal to its proper conclusion. Chilled Kingfisher beers and the wines at Karahi Palace complement the meal expertly.