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Housed in a timber framed building, like the other establishments in historic Spon Street, Kakooti brings an old world charm to the authentic Italian dining experience. Serving freshly prepared food in an unpretentious ambience, this is where diners can get their fill of their favourite pasta, meat and seafood dishes. Drop in for lunch or dinner on a weekday or gather with friends and family on the weekend. Individually tailored party menus are available too.

A compact normal menu features mussels in white wine with garlic and parsley, grilled sardine fillets and bruschetta pomodoro for starters. Your choice of a meat dish could be minced fillet of beef in red wine with parmesan and gnocchi, lamb chops or shredded chicken with pasta and roasted vegetables. Or if seafood seems a better choice, take your pick from fresh pasta with smoked salmon flambéed in brandy, lemon sole fillet or pasta with anchovies and olives. The special menu has pasta with mixed mushrooms and prosciutto, chicken fillet in a mushroom, brandy, sage and cream sauce and pasta with gorgonzola, white wine, walnuts, sage and cream.

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As if the classy, well-appointed bedrooms are not spectacular enough to warrant a stay at Haigs Hotel there are even more reasons to do so, including its strategic location close to The NEC and Warwick Castle, and its consistently high percentage of 'Comfort Rating' from the AA. McKee's Brasserie, a well-admired venue for family celebrations, business lunches or just a cosy, romantic meal for two, also ensures that the high standards are maintained.

Modern British cuisine takes centre stage and the monthly changing menu is a fine example of well-executed, imaginative cooking starting with smoked salmon with soft cheese flavoured with lemon and chives and ending with banana and toffee cheesecake served with a caramel sauce. In between there could be plates of chicken breast filled with blue cheese and cranberries wrapped in bacon, or pan-fried pork fillet on a bed of red cabbage draped with a port and red currant jelly sauce.

McKee's also host regular themed evenings such as Moroccan, French and fish nights that makes dining there a fun-filled experience.

Pizza Express remains a hugely popular bedrock of casual eating. Its popularity is testimony to the fact that across the country, they have restaurants where you will always be guaranteed a good nosh, with children's tastes being well catered for.

Pizza Express has gone even more Roman, and following the success of that particular example of listening to their public have introduced Romana pizzas, including the scorching Etna and the hearty Siciliana.

These pizzas are now thinner, bigger and crispier, and if that sounds like a marketing line, it is. However, unlike many such lines, this one is true, and their quality is always consistent, though cleverly they have still managed to retain a homemade feel to their pizzas.

As an alternative to pizza, try their pollo pesto - cavatappi pasta with torn chicken breast, mushrooms, red onions and mozzarella in a creamy gruyere, parmesan and pesto sauce and finished with grana padano - or the niçoise salad with mixed leaves, yellowfin tuna, free range egg, green beans, potatoes and tomatoes with olives, anchovies, capers and house dressing.

Many of the big chains have come a long way, and Pizza Express is certainly amongst them. One of the first to be quoted on the Stock Exchange - in 1993 - Pizza Express is not a franchise operation and retains tight control through its own staff.

Their wine list - though short - contains some surprisingly good offerings, especially their intense Australian Chardonnay, and a big, full-bodied Merlot from Cusumano, Sicilia.

A welcome ethnic addition to Coventry's slenderly endowed culinary charms. Thai restaurants vary considerably in their Thai-ness but Dusit does have a particularly authentic feel to it, with its friendly staff and exceptionally good value for money. Set lunches on weekdays come out of the kitchen at an incredible £3.95, nor are they compromise jobs. The banquets, so often a feature, start from £15. The wine list is perfectly adequate and there is the usual range of those ethnic lagers and beers that seem a pleasantly inescapable part of the process. Parking is blissfully easy and you can count on a hassle-free and thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Drawing inspiration from some of Asia's finest hotels, Cosmo Coventry on Corporation Street brings in the concept of opulent dining in the heart of the city. The enormous choice of over 120 dishes from nine Asian countries, all for just one price, whose flavours speak of spice and subtlety, is the winning formula of this pleasant buffet-style place.

The list of dishes border on the gargantuan - lemon chicken Shanghai style, deep-fried crab claws, crispy seaweed and curry samosa - and maki ,nigiri and Thai style beef salad from the sushi and deli counter. The main course line-up carries depth and variety from the Cantonese barbecue roast pork and Singapore fried noodles to Thai green curry chicken and mixed vegetable korma.

The café lounge bar on the ground floor of Cosmo Coventry serves fresh pastries and coffee in the morning, so sit back and chart the course for a busy day whilst making use of their free wi-fi.