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Brewer's Fayre restaurants offer a warm welcome to those who want a reliably tasty meal in pleasant surroundings, with plenty of choice, minimal fuss and friendly service. With a reputation going back 25 years they should have a fair chance of doing that, but don't take our word for it. Give them a try and see if you agree that this is how good quality pub food should be served.

Whether it's snacks, grills, pub classics, fish, Sunday roasts or side dishes they think their way through the options, talk to their guests, and then come up with the goods. Not everybody wants a full meal so they've considered the needs of those who want to keep the gap filled and the children contented, perhaps on a journey or a day out.

Hot filled baguettes are always popular be it sausage and red onion or a classic chicken club sandwich. Jacket potatoes are good on their own but filled with mature cheddar cheese and beans they take on a new dimension.

More paced occasions demand a wide menu, perhaps with starters of breaded butterfly prawns, chicken goujons or breaded camembert bites. Grills are there for the hungry and whole rack of meaty BBQ pork ribs served with extra sauce, chips and coleslaw can be very welcome. The days of the mixed grill are back - or did they ever go away - a 4oz rump steak, two pork sausages, and a gammon steak topped with a fried egg served with all the trimmings will remind you if they did.

Salmon and prawn fishcakes are served with buttered new potatoes, tartare sauce and a lightly dressed salad. A combination of sea and land comes with a rump steak, whole grilled chicken breast and breaded breaded butterfly prawns, served with chips and a side salad or garden peas.

The rise of eating out in pubs has brought into our daily lives a whole legion of what might be termed 'pub classics'. Many of them have their roots in what used to be called 'good home cooking' and include such dishes as sausage, egg and chips, beef and ale pie, chicken and mushroom pie and for the very daring a beef lasagne. Well, all of them and many more are on the menu at Brewer's Fayre, supplemented by such new regulars as vegetable Goan chicken curry, pork chop, chilli con carne and grilled chicken and bacon salad.

It has often been said that chicken tikka masala is now the most popular dish in Britain. Some may not really want to believe that, much as they love curry, but travel, population movement and other factors have widened our scope and they are probably pretty keen on fish and chips in Timbuktu.

What is certain is that the great British Sunday roast is exclusive to these islands, though copied maybe elsewhere or in ex-pat outposts. No surprise therefore that it's on the Brewer's Fayre menu. A trade of three roasts with an opportunity to trade up to a mega roast for a modest sum. With it come two Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, fresh seasonal vegetables and that important element - gravy.

A fine list of immensely tempting desserts may well bring the most ardent weight-watcher to their knees. A short but well thought out wine list offers all choices, except champagne, by the glass. Staying the night - check to see if there's a Premier Inn next door - chances are you'll be lucky.

A quick click on their Website is always worth while. The only thing that stays still permanently is the quality which is helped by a changing menu, and some very special offers.

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.

A splendid baronial mansion built by Charles Barry, of new Westminster Palace fame and now providing a useful staging post en route to Scotland. As you might expect everything is gracious and comfortable, and the food is traditional and safe. Downstairs you can eat cosily in the bar with much the same food for significantly less. A challenging wine list with house wine at £10.50.

Located on Bridge Street in the Northumberland market town of Morpeth, The Black Door Dining Room is a new dimension in enjoyment and relaxation in this wonderful venue. The interior features a beautiful and intimate space consisting of 12 dressed tables, wooden floors and elegant design. The venue offers its guests a wonderfully relaxing environment and excellent service and the staff are knowledgeable and friendly.

As for the food, you are in for a treat; Chef David Kennedy has produced a menu full of traditional dishes, great British classics with a delightful contemporary twist using the produce from the local suppliers. If you are looking for light bites then order potted salmon with pickled beetroot and bitter leaves, or pork terrine with apple chutney and croutons. Seared black bream with braised beans, chorizo, and wilted spinach is an excellent filling option. Vanilla pannacotta and sticky toffee pudding are among other options to satisfy the sweeter tooth.

Apparently it took until 1983 for the pleasures of Indian cuisine to arrive in the Tyne Valley area, and it was, of course, Diwan-E-Am who came up with the goods. The Geordies could hardly have had better tutors, and if the statistics are anything to go by there has been a wealth of catching up done in the years between then and now. Not for nothing did the late Robin Cook MP pronounce that chicken tikka masala was now a leading dish in Britain.

Herbs are nowadays recognised once again as sources of healing as well as powerful antidotes for treatment and prevention of illness. Turmeric, for instance, is an antiseptic, cloves can be beneficial to the heart. So some of the milder Indian dishes are packed full of herbs, others are rich in piquant spices that create the sort of aroma which caresses your taste buds as you enter the average Indian restaurant or street market.

Amongst the wide variety of freshly cooked dishes to be enjoyed at Diwan-e-Am are duck cooked with Satcora (a type of lemon from the Syhet region) in a sour and hot texture, or aromatic duck cooked sweet and sour in a coconut sauce. Gosht dishes offer a variety of lamb treated with methi leaves, ground cashew nuts, pomegranate sauce, split chick peas, hot lime flavouring, as well as the traditional rogan gosth, cooked with extra garlic and tomatoes.

Indian cooking pays considerable homage to vegetarian cooking, and a shabnab curry is a delightful cream curry of mushrooms and green peas. Ponch Chorchori reveals a mixture of spicy vegetables in a hot and sour sauce. Biryani dishes carry a vegetable version as well as the favourite King Prawn, chicken and lamb. Malayan, Kurma and Kashmiri dishes give a mild approach to your meal, but fans of madras and vindaloo will not be disappointed. Good to see that fish is not neglected, with delicious prawn dishes including salmon and prawns always available. Be sure not to miss the murgh jardaloo, an ancient Parsee dish steeped in mystery and tradition, a sweet and sour dish strongly spiced and hot.

The usual range of beers and lagers, with a wine list completes a traditional Indian evening of excellent quality.