In the very centre of Hindon sits the Lamb, a good example of a traditional country inn with food and drink to match, serving an appreciative local population for whom there are just enough of the little extras to make this a home away from home where one can eat without having to do a calculation first. In late 2004, it was purchased by Boisdale, whose two restaurants in London have a reputation for quality and eclectic style.

The Lamb Inn dates back to the 17th century and was originally a coaching inn. Just one mile off the A303, the hotel stands in the heart of Hindon, an attractive unspoilt Wiltshire village. Its excellent location makes it a great place to stay if you are en route to the South West. Alternatively if you want to explore the local area, Salisbury, Shaftesbury and many other places of historical interest are only a short distance away by car.

Ranald Macdonald, Managing Director of the Boisdale Group commented at the time: 'We are delighted to have acquired such a beautiful historic coaching inn. This is our first venture outside London and we are looking forward to spending much time in this stunningly beautiful part of the country. We are very aware of the responsibilities attached to running such a longstanding and much loved institution and will be careful to maintain its tradition.' As he is a man of his word, that philosophy has been stuck to ever since.

The Lamb is home to a striking restaurant with food that is sourced from local suppliers. Seldom does a menu make you want to try everything that is listed on it, but try resisting the tempting starters that could include the award-winning Dunkeld oak smoked Scottish salmon with lemon, shallots and baby capers, and Somerset pork pie with piccalilli.

While mains carry on in the same vein, with choices like local pork and herb sausages, mashed potato beer and onion gravy, and 16oz braised shank of lamb, mashed celeriac, young carrots and lamb gravy, while fish eaters and vegetarians are not forgotten.

The Lamb at Hindon has a positive warren of different bars, a private dining room and nineteen bedrooms. The oldest part of the present inn dates from the 14th century, but there was certainly an earlier building on the site since it is known that the Assizes were held there as far back as the middle of the 13th century.

The wine list has been given the Boisdale treatment, and is sufficiently travelled to excite the imagination. To learn more about The Lamb at Hindon, do visit their Website.

The picturesque and awe inspiring landscape of the town of Perth is home to the smart New County Hotel where the award winning Opus One restaurant continues to gather laurels and awards for their impeccable modern British gourmet cuisine. The hotel is located on County Place in the heart of Perth City Centre and is an ideal retreat whether you're there for business or pleasure. The marvellous adventure sports scene in Perth draws many an enthusiast, and at the end of the day the respite offered by the hotel is enough to rejuvenate even the most exhausted participant.

The light and airy bedrooms are furnished splendidly in stylish monochromatic colours, where white teams up with black for a classic look, and with beige for a more understated but elegant feel. The en-suite bedrooms are equipped with every conceivable comfort including flat screen TV, direct dial telephone, hair dryer and a well stocked hospitality tray.

The 2 AA Rosette awarded Opus One restaurant has garnered other prestigious awards too, such as a Silver Award from EatScotland at the end of 2008 and a Platinum Plate for their outstanding food with Hotel Review Scotland. And to add to that they were named the 'Rising Star Restaurant for 2009' and also achieved a runner-up place for Scottish National Hotel Restaurant of the Year in the Scottish Hotel of The Year Awards; while in 2010 they were 'Urban Restaurant of the Year' in the Scottish Restaurant Awards. Little wonder that the restaurant's popularity has been increasing from strength to strength and their Head Chef, Romuald Denesle from Normandy, who has worked in many excellent restaurants, most recently as Senior Sous Chef at The Ardeonaig Hotel on Loch Tay, is busy as ever trying to raise the bar even higher.

Opus One, we are told, could mean several things, such as the first masterpiece of an artist or composer or the famous wine from Napa Valley. The restaurant, which can be perceived as a magnum opus on its own, has been furnished with a contemporary taste where elegance combines graciously with modern style. The seasonal menu draws on the best of local produce and for lunch starters might include chicken liver parfait with red onion jam and oatcakes, or wholemeal blinis with thick cut smoked salmon with salad leaves and a grain mustards crème fraîche.

Main courses could involve delights such as slow roasted belly of pork with braised red cabbage, truffled potatoes and a sultana and thyme jus, or breast of corn fed chicken with celeriac and potato rösti, Savoy cabbage and Madeira jus. Dishes tend to become more elaborate in the evening, where meals could typically begin with goats' cheese pannacotta with caramelised beetroot and rocket salad, or carpaccio of monkfish cured in lime oil and a caviar dressing. Follow this with fresh market fish of the day or pan-fried fillet of beef.

Luscious and decadent, the desserts at Opus One could easily meet your calorific fantasies more than half way, for who can resist the pineapple and star anise mousse with roasted pineapple and green apple sorbet, or sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce? To ably accompany such excellent food be sure not to miss the selection of fine wines and spirits. Their signature wine is understandably the Opus One, a Napa Valley number that is produced meticulously as a result of the inspired collaboration between Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Robert Mondavi.

There's much more information about opening times, menus and drinks lists on their elegantly designed Website and a few clicks will bring you closer to this wonderful dining destination. Do note that they do not accept children under the age of ten.

At the very heart of the vibrant Covent Garden quarter, Tuttons has for over 30 years occupied its enviable position, offering high quality Modern European cuisine to an enthusiastic and cosmopolitan clientèle. Now refurbished and re-opened looking across to the sublimely beautiful front to the Royal London Opera House, Tuttons again takes its place in the scheme of things.

Large sliding, folding windows enable diners to enjoy some of the best views across Covent Garden's market, much enhanced by the dining terrace where alfresco rules.

In keeping with the tradition of freshness that the name of Covent Garden recalls, the menu calls upon the best of seasonal produce in the daily specials. As one might expect from a former market area the tradition of an early breakfast is maintained and at 8am daily the doors are opened and the delights of a major breakfast menu revealed. Two delightful private dining rooms are available from 8am for business breakfast meetings. What a civilised start to the day!

An à la carte menu eventually takes over with around twelve choices, of which I am happy to say four originate from the sea, with Dorset potted crab, mace butter and sour dough leading the way. Warm smoked ham hock with an Umbrian lentil vinaigrette carries warmth and recollection in its flavours, and a roulade of goat's cheese, with roasted baby beetroot, red chard, pine nuts and beetroot vinaigrette can be served as a main or starter. An attractive charcuterie board for sharing makes a pleasant change and ice breaker if needed.

The menu has been well designed by Executive Chef Darren Lock (lately of Tom's Kitchen) so that it provides lighter dishes more suitable for lunchtime to some of the more traditional brasserie style favourites such as chicken liver and Madeira parfait and confit duck leg. Children are able to enjoy their own menu with five main dishes of the sort beloved by the young (and some young at heart adults).

The grill makes a major contribution to the Tuttons scene, with steaks and Middle White pork cutlet, caramelised apple and red wine jus. Good to see Mid Shires rose veal schnitzel with lemon and caper butter sauce back on menus, including Tuttons, and also the pan fried line-caught pollock with turlu turlu, a Turkish vegetable and chickpea stew, an unusual and delightful combination; even the side dishes have received careful attention, notably the broccoli transformed by the addition of Pecorino cheese and olive oil.

Tuttons does a brisk business in Hen and Birthday packages where everything is thought about, even to disposable cameras at the table. These are frequently held in the vaults, offering a comfortable and sociable setting to a minimum of 12 guests.

For a central London venue within easy distance of main line stations and tubes, theatres and entertainment Tuttons is hard to beat and looks set to enjoy a further 30 years giving good food in pleasant surroundings to an admiring following. Do click on their Website for offers, menu changes and images.

When one of the country's most respected and leading critics says that a restaurant in this group is 'the best Italian Restaurant outside London' it is time to take them seriously. Britain's love affair with Italian food is a cause célèbre of long standing and shows no signs of waning, so it is always welcome news when somewhere like San Carlo sets out to reach for the skies.

Located in the heart of Leicester, San Carlo is well suited to catch both day and night time business, and the menu reflects this. There are a wide range of dishes, plus blackboard specials, offering snacks, meals, celebrations, all in true Italian style, dishes that bring Italy into the very centre of life in the city. San Carlo is one of a chain of similar restaurants, yet each one has its own personality.

The San Carlo at Leicester is particularly famous for having the city's only wood burning oven, ensuring that they produce the freshest pizzas in the area.

Favourite dishes include sliced prime Scottish fillet of beef with a light dressing of capers, anchovies, garlic and extra virgin olive oil, and that old favourite of connoisseurs the world over, pan fried breast of chicken with white wine, mushrooms and cream sauce, garnished with asparagus. Many of the ingredients to create these dishes are imported from Italy, and it goes without saying that the wine list is unashamedly and spectacularly of the same origin.

A combination of Italian cuisine and fish has always seemed logical - all that coastline - as well as highly attractive to the British taste. The antipasti at San Carlo includes a mixture of squid, prawns and mussels, deep-fried whitebait, and scallops in white wine and garlic. Amongst the main courses expect to find grilled whole sea bass, a mixed grill of fish, special pasta with lobster, brandy, tomato, cream and peas, or giant prawn and scallops in garlic and chilli.

It is customary to look for Italian wines in such places, nor will you be disappointed, but there are a few French inclusions also, with a rather nice Chablis in evidence. House wines, and few off the list, are available by the glass. Service is a good example of that Italian 'just make yourself at home we'll look after everything' manner, when you generally surprise yourself by taking their advice. In Britain we just say 'no problem', which may be succinct, but lacks style.

San Carlo Leicester is a real gem amongst the San Carlo collection, with its location in Granby Street, and its architecture and décor providing the best of Italian luxury. Groups are welcome at San Carlo, but to preserve the balance between groups, a limit of up to nine people applies on Friday and Saturday, and twenty to thirty on weekdays. Booking will always make for security but in general the arrangements mean there is room for everybody.

Ultimately a restaurant is judged by two main factors, each dependent upon the other. Combine quality food with life's movers and shakers in attractive surroundings and you have a sure fire record for the sweet buzz of success that permeates San Carlo.

Make sure you check out their Website to bring you up to date on special events at San Carlo Leicester.

By London standards Boulevard Brasserie, well established in the Opera Quarter on Wellington Street, is an old hand at providing excellent food and service since 1991. Surrounded by some of the best known and most vibrant centres of the London theatre, it is only 50 metres from Covent Garden Piazza; near neighbours such as the Royal Opera House, Lyceum Theatre and Theatre Royal on Drury Lane, ensure that Boulevard's credentials are impeccable.

Recently having completed a refurbishment, there's more to its credentials than just having the right neighbours, well demonstrated by menus that provide for every occasion, be it a night at the theatre, a family celebration, Sunday lunch, a romantic assignment, or a good place to seal a business proposition.

The theatre menu is a tour de force, operating pre- and post matinée meals in afternoon and evenings at prices that are an incitement to take the best seats available in the theatre of your choice. Three courses offer four choices on each and a typical meal might consist of gravalax, followed by a minute steak with fries and Béarnaise sauce, and petit pot au chocolat or Roquefort cheese with spiced pear. Private dining rooms can accommodate theatre groups of between 25 and 120.

An à la carte weaves its way through an extensive range of dishes, all of which sound totally beguiling, thus transforming the choosing of your meal into a Catch 22 situation. Where to start? One of the greatest mistakes to be made when eating is to hurry, particularly when ordering. Let nature, not the maître d?, has its way. Find space for some tartines, delightful little French sour-dough snacklets topped with Jambon cru ham, shredded duck and other delights, and revel in whole tiger prawns pan-fried.

La Français is never far from the scene and beef bourguignon and mash, confit de canard, steak frites and classic French onion soup sit comfortably with their English counterparts. The vegetables are a delight with a refreshing absence of root numbers and a light hearted hand applied to the rest.

However the ritualistic Sunday Roast is omni-present, made even more welcome by being served all day, thereby minimising the risk of getting overlooked by other events of which sleeping-in is but one.

A choice of some six desserts yields a classic crème brûlée, sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream, and a rhubarb and raspberry bavarois, and the French return with a triumphant ménage of cheeses, bandying around such names as Comté, Saint Maure, Fourne d'Ambert and Munster, all served with quince jelly, grapes and celery, a very model of its kind.

A new feature to Boulevard Brasserie is the Boulevard Cellars - a cosy and intimate wine bar - offering a wide range of regional French wines and Champagne. Ample opportunities by the glass make exciting drinking a real possibility and a relatively short but very interesting range of after dinner treats for those with time and company on their hands is well worth considering.

Like many good restaurants nothing stays the same for very long with the exception of the standards Boulevard sets, which remain unremittingly high. A click on their Website will keep you up to date.

In 1979, Porters English Restaurant was opened by The 7^th Earl of Bradford, for those times, a restaurateur extraordinaire; not every day does an English Earl, either then or now, expand his interests beyond the ancestral acres to set up shop within the highly competitive London restaurant market. Lord Bradford, who wears his title lightly, said at the launch, "Porters English Restaurant will give a lot of people good, simple, traditional English dishes in comfortable surroundings, at very reasonable prices!" If every politician kept their word as well as he has done the world might be a better place.

Porters does not set out to be a classy restaurant. Instead, in homely surroundings that smack of bistro turned brasserie, they serve food and drink that is easily recognisable as genuinely comfortable grub, relished by far more people than might be supposed if you paid too much attention to the culinary media.

So for starters keep an eye lifted for Norfolk dressed crab, the ever popular roast tomato and basil soup, creamy and with that tell-tale colour which proclaims the real thing, and chicken liver pâté with brandy and garlic, with homade red onion marmalade.

At the outset Porters was mainly about pies, and whilst the balance has shifted, they remain a staple dish. Little wonder then that steak, Guinness and mushroom pie stands still as Porters's perennial bestseller. No fancy recipe, you get what it says, and like all other main courses it is served with one of a number of traditional accompaniments, of which chips and baked potatoes are well up the list.

Loyalty is suitably expressed by Buckingham pie, venison for the Scots, beef for the English, leeks for the Welsh, and redcurrants or puff pastry, depending on your point of view but just as welcome, for the Irish. The wild boar and sage sausages are a real treat for the connoisseur of such delicacies, in the same ranking as the braised beef and herb faggots, with onion and ale gravy.

Grills at Porters are chargrilled over hot coals for full flavour retention, and include a 16oz Aberdeen Angus T-Bone steak, 28 day hung and cooked to your preference and served peppered, plain or with a Béarnaise sauce and caramelised onions. Puddings follow the same traditional course and include steamed syrup sponge, dark chocolate chip pudding, burnt Trinity cream with a tangy damson base, and wonderful homemade ice cream.

As with so many things English, afternoon tea is an event at Porters, complete with bottomless cups, traditional fruit scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam, and other more weighty confections such as summer pudding with whipped cream for those who missed out on lunch.

A practical, down to earth wine list offers excellent value interesting drinking from around the world, including England - of course. And if you like the food that much a copy of Porters English Cookery Bible can be yours for a modest sum.

Sorrento is a traditional Italian restaurant, offering silver service amidst elegant surroundings. Jackie and Tony de Angelis and their family see to it that their guests, be they business, family or friends enjoy dishes made with the finest ingredients, with friendly service and a great selection of Italian wine.

There is something vaguely whimsical that in the birthplace of one of England's greatest playwrights an Italian restaurant of the quality of Sorrento should be on hand to delight the lives of those who flock to Stratford-upon-Avon to witness the works of Shakespeare, well laced with their cast of highly convincing Italian characters.

In the summer al fresco dining is available on the patio. Naturally, in this theatre-blessed town, pre and after theatre dinners are served, and there is a three course lunch special for tourists and business people.

A quick glance at the menu reveals traditional, well-loved dishes such as mussels gently simmered in white wine, with garlic, chilli and parsley in tomato sauce or garlic bread topped with tomato, oregano and fresh basil, or with mozzarella.

No Italian menu would be complete without a selection of pasta dishes, amongst which are penne in a traditional spicy tomato, garlic, chilli and herb sauce, or the spaghetti alla Bolognese, pasta embraced in the chef's mince meat, tomato and Italian herb sauce. All pasta dishes may be taken as a starter or main course.
 
Main fish dishes include breast of chicken cooked in Marsala wine, mushroom and cream sauce, and squid lightly dusted in flour and deep-fried. Escallops of veal in white wine, shallots and cream sauce come topped with mozzarella cheese and fresh basil.

The Bard, who displays no evidence of having been inclined to vegetarianism as far as is known, might reasonably have been expected to approve of the medaglione peppe verdi, medallions of fillet steak flamed in brandy in a peppercorn and cream sauce. The chef's daily specials are a popular feature of this restaurant, applied with a frequency and enthusiasm that would have had the witches of Cawdor reaching for their broomsticks with cackling alacrity.

A daily selection of sweets at which the Italians are so adept, brings the meal to a graceful ending, and those who love their cheese will rejoice to see a good selection from Italy, with Formaggio, their answer to England's Stilton, well to the fore. Gelato is Italian for ice cream, and the selection at Sorrento is agreeably bewildering.

There is particularly good value to be had at lunchtime when the set menu is on offer at £13.90 for two courses, three for £17.90. At such prices the rascally and un-lovely Shylock would be counting his beans all the way to Venice.

For more details, including other menus, and special arrangements for party and corporate reservations, do click on their excellent and user-friendly Website.

Serving modern Lebanese food with flair, LayaLina on Beauchamp Place in the heart of fashionable Knightsbridge delights the palate as well as the senses with a vibrant ambience. Just a stone's throw from Harrods, Layalina is open every day of the week from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., evenings here come alive with music and belly dancing, reflecting the typical verve and zest of traditional Lebanese culture.

The restaurant's executive head chef Joseph Chahine comes with nearly thirty years of experience and is highly acclaimed for his culinary skills. His extensive menu delivers a flavourful variety of dishes combining creativity with traditional culinary techniques. The mezze selection includes cold, hot and tartar dishes with choices of hummus, tabouleh, stuffed vine leaves, prime fish fillet topped with herbs and pine nuts and served with a spicy tomato salsa, crispy cheese filo and kafta nayeh - a traditional dish of minced lamb tartar mixed with parsley, onion and fresh spices.

A delicious beginning to the meal is followed by sumptuous vegetarian, fish, chicken or lamb main courses. Vegetarian options include artichoke heart stew of grilled artichoke, flavoured with olive oil, spinach mushroom, white cheese, onion and garlic. While fish dishes include roast fish, a classic Lebanese fisherman?s dish with prime fish-of-the-day served on a bed of seasoned rice with a fragrant glaze. Meat dishes include the house speciality of LayaLina lamb, slow cooked fall-of-the-bone lamb leg served with mushroom and rice of the day, or chicken taouk - a traditional  shish kebab of marinated chicken pieces, char grilled and served with roasted vegetables and garlic sauce could be equally satisfying.
 
No Lebanese meal is complete without a salad and choices here include fatoush, a mixed leaf salad with tomatoes, sumac, cucumber and roasted bread croutons, or a seafood salad with prawns, pickled calamari, anchovy fillets, mixed leaves and tomatoes, flavoured with green sauce, cheese and virgin olive and garnished with roast almonds. Other options include a rustic village salad of cheese, tomatoes and black olives or chicken salad of grilled chicken marinated with garlic, lemon and red capsicum, served on tossed green leaves with cucumber, onion and tomatoes.

The grilled selection offers marinated lamb cutlets with bouquet of wild herbs and mustard served with Lebanese couscous, or succulent fillet steak, and seasoned beef fillet grilled and served with mushroom sauce on a bed of asparagus, vegetables and flavoured rice. Sides of traditional bread, steamed rice cooked with minced lamb onions, pine nuts and Arabian spices, and thick cut potato chips served with homemade salsa or Lebanese pickles complement your main course dish.

Elaborate confections of baked fresh pears served with ice cream and mohalabiyah, cheese honey - a dessert dish of steamed cheese with semolina and honey, topped with ashta and syrup and sprinkled with crushed pistachio, and aish al saraya, homemade crispy dough cooked with honey, topped with cheese, banana and pistachio make for tempting desserts. Guests can savour a range of champagnes and cocktails in the trendy lounge bar and sample a variety of fine wines too. 

A two-course lunch menu comes with a complimentary glass of house wine. Sharing set menus are available too. LayaLina offers a takeaway menu and home delivery as well for the convenience of its patrons.

Guests can also chill out at LayaLina Privée, a late night cocktail lounge adjoining the restaurant. Stylish contemporary interiors with individual touches provide the perfect setting for Knightsbridge denizens and out-of-towners to relax and unwind in comfort while enjoying a range of exotic signature and classic cocktails. A main room and a VIP room can be booked for private parties with up to 150 people.

More information is available on their Website.

The Betjeman Arms at St Pancras Station is part of a small group of friendly, but individualistic pubs, which if you pressed me I would concede are probably gastropubs - reluctantly, because I am never quite sure what the term means.

The fight to preserve St Pancras Station is well catalogued, and it is very much to the credit of Sir John Betjeman that it stands today restored, reinvigorated and ready for the 21st century with a series of dining rooms, terraces and drinking spots to accommodate a range of customers, moods, events and offers.

The station terrace allows views of the arriving trains and a full length view of the truly spectacular Barlow shed. The Euston Road terrace makes the most of our limited English sunshine, under the façade of the gothic station and hotel.

Inside the high bar helps identify the weary traveller or local over a sea of faces, seeking a pint of ale in a handled glass. Through the bar are two dining rooms as well as a boardroom. The Kitchen dining room is reminiscent of the country kitchens of old and is ideal for a glass of wine and a quick bite to eat before heading under the Channel to foreign fields, whilst the main dining room is wonderfully grand without being imposing.

Betjeman Arms opens at 7.30am and serves breakfast until 11am. Naturally this includes the Full English, traditional fare for those away from home, the hungry, and some would say the wise. Scottish smoked salmon and scrambled eggs or a bacon sandwich with tomato chutney are also available, and for those who prefer the healthy option there is Greek yoghurt with granola and honey, or a fresh salad of seasonal fruit. Croissants, pain au chocolat and toasted buttered crumpets all help to revitalise the spirit, as well as the body. Sir John would have approved.

The all day menu kicks in at 11am with a good selection of gastro dishes, and seven starters could include a Welsh rabbit (or rarebit depending on your opinion), bubble and squeak with soft poached egg and smoked bacon or chicken liver and wild mushroom pate with rye toast. Some of these dishes make good light meals.

Main courses of beer battered fish and chips is served with crushed peas, 28 day aged Hereford rib eye steak has chips and béarnaise sauce for company, or head for the tuna steak with white beans and chorizo. More light meals of a ploughman's made with Cornish Yarg, pickles, bread and salad, or a salt beef sandwich with pickle and English mustard are available, before a look at the short but versatile puddings list where rhubarb crumble is served with fresh cream, or enjoy a deliciously moist treacle tart with crème fraiche.

The Betjeman and its siblings have not been slow to appeal to a discerning public, and their list of Awards from 1996 onwards demonstrates beyond doubt that here is a small group of pubs, wise enough to retain the Britishness of its houses to the obvious delight of its customers.

Chutney Mary in the Kings Road, Chelsea, started out life in 1990 and has never looked back. Perhaps this is a comment on the British attitudes to Indian cuisine, and curry in particular, for when the late Robin Cook made his 'chicken tikka masala' observation he was not far wrong, and in an age when multiculturalism is fashionable we could do a lot worse than concentrate on exchanges of culinary traditions. Their colourful Website is a mine of information and well worth a regular browse.

From the outset Chutney Mary has been picking up the gongs, and deservedly so. In 2002 a major transformation took place, bringing the restaurant even more into the London mainstream, and the awards continued to flow, including Best Modern Indian Restaurant in London for 2003 and 2004.

Fay Maschler, writing in the Evening Standard remarked "Not so much Bollywood as jolly, jolly good", and if, as one suspects, she was referring to the décor as well as the food she could hardly be more right.

The approach to food here is to combine traditional Indian recipes with the contemporary ways that food is going in India, presenting refined Indian cooking at its very best. The emphasis on seafood will be welcome to many who wonder why more conventional Indian restaurants have so little on the menu, particularly with a coastline that extends so far.

Tapas have their Indian counterpart in kebabs, and breads, always a hot number if you'll pardon the pun, have the attention of those who would extend their range. Starters at Chutney Mary could include a real artisan soup, spiced seafood of great delicacy, a well presented chaat and flavoursome kebabs. There is no hesitation here in using the ingredients and produce of the country such as game, and applying Indian cooking techniques and adapted recipes. Prices start at £6.25 up to £9.50, with more for lobster.

Main courses cover the whole range of cooking techniques and produce, including game. Prices range from £15.50 to £22.50, amongst which poultry, lamb sourced from Devon and seafood feature prominently. If there is one country in which vegetarians get a really square deal it must surely be India, and at Chutney Mary there is a choice of two platters, one of which is a traditional North Indian composition of vegetables and daal.

A more modern approach comes in the form of seven mini-dishes such as stir-fried banana flower with coconut, baby courgette masala, okra and water chestnut combined into one platter. Indian food is by nature colourful, though to look at some of the dishes served elsewhere the colour element has been lost to a universal Windsor brown occasionally alleviated by a touch of turmeric or the flash of a chilli defying the colour ban.

Chutney Mary are to be lauded for helping to put to flight the universal assumption that Indian food is worthy only of pints of indigestible lager, or CAMRA approved ales whose own flavours tend to be submerged in a flood of curry.

Wine is taken seriously, aided by an input from Matthew Jukes, the writer on wine, to whom the buying of wine is no great hardship. Their attitude to wine can be clearly seen in the glassed-in, temperature controlled wine room. Some of the fruits of his labours are to be seen there and be found in a wine list that has attracted warm support, particularly the helpful annotations.