Restaurant-Guide.com
hand picked restaurants

The pretty village of Thorpe Langton is home to The Bakers Arms, a relaxed restaurant and pub that is known in the area for its tasty food and comfortable environment. Owners Kate and Tim together with their three chefs warmly welcome customers and ensure each person has a great time dining and drinking.

The menu never stays the same very long but its consistently high standards remain the same, with the result that booking is advised. Those pining for fruits of the sea are rarely disappointed here. Freshly created starters embrace a platter of smoked salmon, smoked trout and a prawn cocktail, while Head Chef Andrew Wilson's main courses encompass a well-presented whole-grilled lemon sole with parsley butter, and confit of duck with red pepper and ginger marmalade.

Among desserts, watch out for a coffee and almond Pávlova with amaretto cream and fresh apricots. There is a perfectly adequate wine list and a good range of decent beers, both bottled and on draught.

Located in the rolling countryside of hunting Leicestershire the Horse and Trumpet is a good example of an estate pub that has come places and is now essentially a restaurant with rooms looking out over the village bowling green complete with its colony of ducks.

Starters set the pace with a foie gras parfait, smoked duck with pear celeriac and hazelnut, a ballotine of quail with confit chicken, goat's cheese and grape jelly, or a lobster cannelloni with soft lettuce, peas, bacon and spiced apple veloute. That much maligned, but now happily better understood cut, pork belly is served with a langoustine cannelloni, black pudding and cauliflower to make a robust and delicious dish, but for sheer effect the roast chump of tender lamb with braised red cabbage and raisins, fondant potato and a cordon of mustard sauce really rouses the tastebuds.

When I tell you that it is not unknown for some of the puddings to arrive with mustard seeds in the ice cream you will detect a note of originality in the proceedings, but for sheer degeneracy order the apple strudel, made with sweet Jerusalem artichoke panna cotta, confit lemon and green apple sorbet.

A fairly brief and interesting wine list offers six or so by the glass.

Only a mile from magnificent Belvoir Castle, The Windmill was the subject of a refurbishment in 2006 that has transformed this old country inn, but instead of tearing the heart out of the place as sometimes happens, this one has been handled with skill and taste. The essential nature remains and the overall effect is one of added welcome and roused expectations.

Because of the changing menus we list here dishes that make regular appearances, though proprietors David and Kirsten are always on the lookout for new and interesting additions to their repertoire. Starters of Belvoir pigeon and black pudding salad are always popular, and chicken liver and foie gras parfait is served with homemade chutney for added piquancy. Main courses can include fresh fillet of salmon with mint yoghurt dressing and sag aloo, or their famous combo of beef, chicken and pork on Sundays, with meat supplied by the very credible Owen Taylor Butchers from Derbyshire.

A two course menu chosen from the main menu is available Monday to Friday, except Friday evenings, to include a choice of dessert. The slate menu with ten or so snacks is available most of the time. A handy wine list is kept lively by Weavers of Nottingham, well known and respected in the area. A plentiful range of beers, including Adnams, Peroni, Hoegaarden, Peetermans, Guinness and Stowford Press.

The original concept for All Bar One was developed by two enterprising ladies, who wanted a bar ideal for women to have a drink and something to eat without the intimidating confines of a traditional pub. Little wonder, that the place has huge glass frontage, open spaces and interiors that are bright and airy. The first outlet opened in Sutton in 1994, became a huge hit, and there has been no looking back since. Today there are close to forty outlets, including one in Cologne, Germany. Irrespective of location, they have identical wooden flooring, menu and service. Antique mirrors, natural colours and reclaimed wooden furniture combine classic and modern styles well.

The menu has tapas from different parts of the world, including the Mediterranean region, Italy and the East. One can also have a variety of burgers, sandwiches and salads. Baked goats' cheese parcels, flat mushroom and halloumi burgers are highlights of the menu, as is the All Bar One beef and coriander burger, a house speciality. With the emphasis being as much on drink as the food, many outlets display a wall of champagne and wines, with beers and spirits thrown in for good measure. The blackboards on the wall often flaunt the impressive selections.

The success formula of All Bar One has been faith in doing simple things well, and that is what they are best known for. A place that is hard to define, for it is not just a bar, restaurant, café or pub, but a special place where people can unwind alone or in company.

Han's was the first Market Harborough restaurant to introduce diners to the delights of authentic Chinese cuisine. The rural south Leicestershire market town thus got an opportunity to sample an exciting new cuisine that had long taken many parts of Britain by storm.

You could order either a takeaway on the ground floor or head to the bright and spacious upstairs restaurant and enjoy a lovely traditional meal in pleasant surroundings. The set menu presents a range of banquets that offer value for money, and perfectly suit the needs of those who find it difficult to order Chinese food.

The à la carte opens with crispy aromatic duck that can be ordered quarter, half, or whole, and comes with pancakes, trimmings, and sauce. This could be followed by a platter of succulent Mandarin ribs or fresh sweet corn soup. Main courses that stand out are king prawn with green peppers in a black bean sauce, seafood chowmein, and flavoursome sweet and sour pork.

Beers and wine support the menu well.

Stapleford Park is a place like no other, one of Britain's finest stately homes set in a relaxing country estate, where the traditional and the contemporary co-exist in perfect harmony. Surrounded by five hundred acres of parkland, lake and woods, originally created by the legendary Capability Brown, this is somewhere to find your perfect retreat.

With 2 AA Rosettes for the quality of its dining, you can enjoy delicious food, unobtrusive service in the uniquely elegant surroundings of the Grinling Gibbons dining room. Evening dinner is a mix of English and French cuisine with traditional Sunday lunch served at £27.50 for 3 courses.

The lively La Tasca chain caters for parties, children's events and family gatherings in addition to anytime dining. These restaurants capture well the warm and vibrant spirit of Spain, and are best known for their tapas and traditional paellas.

Their star player is tapas, which can be had solo or in tandem with a meal. The calamares andaluza, deep-fried squid rings, served with roasted garlic mayonnaise and lemon, is great for sharing, while the chorizo frito al vino, spicy Spanish sausage flavoured with paprika, garlic and herbs, sautéed in red wine, offers a real treat. Chicken lovers order alitas de pollo, marinated chicken wings, or have skewers of chicken breast and pepper, marinated in paprika.

Valenciana is an interesting paella that combines seafood with chicken, and if you have a taste for trivia, you may be surprised to learn that 'la paella' actually refers to the utensil in which the dish is cooked.

Other than liqueurs and beer, there are wines from Spanish vineyards and sparkling cava. All of these, especially the dry rosé wines combine well with tapas. And you would be really getting into the spirit of things if you rounded off with the crema Catalana, traditional Spanish-style vanilla custard, topped with caramelised sugar.

La Tasca Spanish Tapas Restaurants and Bars today have over sixty outlets across the UK, so it is odds on there is a branch fairly close to your home.