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The Beefeater Grill range of restaurants, owned by the well established firm of Whitbread has transformed over time into what is now predominantly a cooking platform for chargrill. The restaurants are warm, modern and stylish, with low lighting and contemporary artwork. A comfortable, cosy, mainly booth layout offers guests their own space with no feeling of being hurried at any point. Staff are friendly and helpful if need be - what a difference that can make to a good evening out.

Be it the wide open spaces of Argentina, the intimate setting of a French restaurant, or a busy grill in London's West End, there's no denying the popularity of chargrill. As the production of quality beef, chicken, fish and lamb has grown, prices have come down by comparison, and the simple and traditional art of minimally cooking dishes by chargrill, sealing in the flavours and tastes by intense heat has caught the public imagination.

All the steaks at Beefeater Grill are matured for a minimum of 28 days before being seasoned. Whether it be juicy rib eye, the classic sirloin, that emblem of the Sunday lunch, a tender fillet, or a delicious 7oz rump, all grilled to your own specification, you're never far away from perfection. Even beefburgers have shaken off their dubious image and the highly popular Beefeater burgers are made from 100% beef.

The popular sirloin with giant prawns offers a treat to those for whom an alliance between sea and pasture is a natural attraction, whilst a 16oz steak platter links rump, fillet, sirloin and rib eye into one mouth-watering dish served with chips, battered onion rings, grilled tomato, a flat mushroom and peppercorn and brandy sauce.

Many of us love rib meat, and the rack of ribs at a Beefeater Grill has a meaty rack smoky flavour; maple ribs of pork with a choice of three sauces, mojito, smoked caramel and apple glaze, or Bourbon and black BBQ. And if all else fails and you are totally baffled by the wealth of choices, ask to have a word with the Steakmaster who will help find what is right for you, together with the best cooking method. These guys leave nothing to chance.

On a menu that is a delight to read, let alone choose a meal from, expect to find smaller dishes such as traditional prawn cocktail, whitebait, chicken liver pâté and baked Camembert, or juicy lamb koftas served with yoghurt and mint dip. There's something about a good steak meal that always leaves a gap for a little temptation to sweeten up the scene and from amongst twelve options look for Belgian chocolate cheesecake, treacle sponge pudding or a caramel apple crumble pie.

Throughout the day a wide range of more general dishes are yours for the ordering, sandwiches, jackets, classic favourites like fish and chips, pasta, salads, and sharing dishes of nachos, potato shells and a Beefeater Grill combo. Next door to many of the restaurants are Premier Inns, so staying the night whatever the circumstances need not be a problem.

And what about wine? Endorsed by Matthew Jukes, wine writer in the Daily Mail and bon viveur in his own right, a wine list that marches with the menu completes an impressive and compelling invitation to enjoy whatever takes your fancy at the nearest Beefeater Grill.

Click on their Website for menu updates and special offers.

This wonderful evocation of flying as it used to be in the romantic '30s is on the edge of the aerodrome at Sywell, and the décor within is pure kitsch, in the nicest possible sort of way. Just forget about artistic purity and all that stuff, and let the place wash over you as a fun experience that has had a great deal of time and effort lavished upon it.

In the Aviator Restaurant the food is good homely fare, with no aspirations to haute cuisine, and therefore entirely in key with the surroundings in which it is served. Inevitably as you enjoy starters of chargrilled prawns wrapped in filo with hoi sin sauce, and chargrilled bread, you are half expecting the doors to swing open and a dishevelled figure in a leather flying jacket stagger in to announce, "Whacko won't be back - piled in from 8,000 feet, didn't stand a chance, poor fella".

Midway through the chicken breast with more hoi sin you will realise that no effort has been spared to preserve and adapt what was once a WW2 military airfield, and still serves in a civilian capacity but clinging tenaciously to its service background.

There is certainly no need to be bored, or indeed a lover of aviation, the place is just packed with memorabilia at every turn and the Number One Hanger is a place on its own, ideal for conferences and events with a difference.

Life would be the poorer without bizarre places like this, and their prices are of a nature that will bring a smile to your face, despite the bad news about Whacko.