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There's nothing quite like the aroma of freshly brewed coffee to rejuvenate your senses and Fego Caffe, with its pleasantly quaint continental ambience and comfortable atmosphere is an excellent place to visit with friends or colleagues. With their four locations spread across the UK, they are making their mark on the café scene and considering the delicious food they have on offer, it is hardly surprising they are becoming a welcome dining destination for many.

Coffee in all its forms is available and you are quite spoilt for choice, but do take a look at their breakfast menu with the delectable filled croissants, Panini baguettes, wraps, muffins and even a whole traditional English spread. Salads, pastas and burgers are adequate choices for other meals, while their desserts are simple but enticing, with a selection of cakes served with cream. For those who enjoy their tipple, there's a good selection of wines and spirits available to help ease along the meal.

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.