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Berkhamsted is a gorgeous town and was well in need of a gorgeous pub. Alan Turtill had rescued and restored the Old Mill, keeping what remains of its original Georgian and Victorian features, but making the whole place light and airy. The unloved yard at the back has been turned into a special space - the mill race crashes over the weir into a deep pool - and the garden borders the Grand Union Canal, perfect for watching the boats slide by on lazy summer evenings. The Old Mill remains a real pub, where you're just as welcome to enjoy a decent pint of bitter at the bar as a three course meal or bar snack.

It would be possible to enlarge upon all this indefinitely, but our purpose here is to tell you about The Old Mill and how they put into practice their strongly held principles. There is something very heartening to see sad old inns, particularly those whose character has refused to bow to neglect, being restored to useful life and becoming part of life's pattern in their particular community.

Senior Sous Chef Stefan Brodin and his team have designed a menu featuring traditional pub favourites as well as something a little different. They are in the kitchen everyday preparing all the dishes fresh on the premises. On their menu, you will find the very best quality fresh ingredients - fantastic sausages; free range chicken; moules marinière and mini loaf; 28 day dry-aged Aberdeenshire 24oz cote boeuf - sourced from producers who take pride in their products and an ethical stance in their production.

The Old Mill menu always makes the most of seasonal ingredients - this ensures they avoid air-freighting and keeps us in touch with the cycle of the year - while combining the best of great British cooking and influences from around the world that are now part of our culture.

The deli board lists cheese, charcuterie, veggie, favourites, fruit and vegetables, and fish or the customer can have the option of making their own board from the five options. The deli can be enjoyed as starters, nibbles or tapas. If the conversation level is proving demanding let the restaurant do the work for you by selecting a selection from one of the five.

The Old Mill is open from 10am for breakfast. Start the day with a hearty full English or bacon or sausage sandwich and a glass of champagne with friends. The express menu also operates from noon to 6 pm, offering Mediterranean vegetable with goats' cheese tart, cherry tomato and herb salad, chips and burgers as well. Noon to 3pm, and 6.00pm to 10pm their a la carte menu is on offer with an ample selection of dishes which pulls in the locals who have quickly come to regard The Old Mill as a second home.

Afternoon tea is served everyday from 12pm - 6pm while, sandwiches with smoked salmon or Mediterranean vegetables are served with chips or soup of the day, Monday to Saturday.

A relatively short but punchy wine list mingles well with the menu, so few will quibble with this much needed addition to the local scene.

A swift click on their Website will keep you in the picture over menu changes, special offers and events. You could also consider visiting The Thatch at Thame, sister pub and only 30 mins from The Old Mill.

Located on the bustling High Street, just a stone's throw from The Rex cinema, The Kings Arms at Berkhamsted is a beautifully refurbished inn, restaurant and hotel that offers guests an excellent modern British menu in the heart of this historic Hertfordshire town.

The extensive menu offers a range of starters, sharing boards, salads, sandwiches, burgers, steaks and hearty pub classics. A meal here could begin with starters of roasted bone marrow with olive oil, crispbreads, and herb salad; Stornoway black pudding with garlic fried oyster mushrooms and Scottish parsley drop scone or salt and pepper chilli squid with rocket salad, coriander aioli.

Main courses include delicious comfort fare of slow cooked Cornish lamb belly with truffle roast potatoes, classic ratatouille and port jus; the King's 8-hour sticky beef ribs cooked in cola and chilli and served with soured cream, leaves and fries or natural smoked haddock fillet served with bubble and squeak, poached egg and hollandaise sauce. The grill offers a variety of succulent steaks from British cattle, dry aged on the bone for better flavour, and served with mushroom ketchup, roasted tomato, fries and rocket salad.

Sandwiches of rustic bloomer bread with fillings of warm rare roast beef with horseradish crème fraiche and water cress or Scottish smoked salmon with lemon mayonnaise and rocket salad and burgers of prime ground beef and butterflied corn fed chicken breast are equally delicious options.

Vegetarians are also well catered for and can enjoy dishes such as chickpea, charred pepper and spiced courgette tagine served with toasted peanuts, green onion and coriander and sandwich of Somerset brie with cranberry jelly and dressed leaves and portabello mushroom burger.

To finish, mouth-watering desserts of white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake, glazed pistachio crème brulée or rhubarb, gooseberry and ginger fool will satisfy even the sweetest tooth.

The drinks list offers a wide range of local real ales, fine wines and exciting cocktails.

To gain further information, just visit their extremely comprehensive Website.

In the heart of the picturesque Hertfordshire countryside, in the village of Water End, The Red Lion on Leighton Buzzard Road offers a modern Mediterranean cuisine menu in stylish contemporary interiors set in a meticulously restored building dating back to the mid-18th century. Guests can relax in the cosy bar with an open fire or eat in the modern glass walled restaurant with an open kitchen. A terrace is perfect for al fresco dining in warm weather.  The town of Hemel Hempstead, home to Marlowes Shopping Centre, is a short drive away.

The extensive à la carte changes with the seasons and features plenty of classics, innovative chef's specials and delicious grilled fare from the charcoal Josper Oven. Dinner could begin with starters of Mediterranean king prawns in white wine seasoned with garlic, chilli and virgin olive oil and served with wild rocket salad or sautéed chicken livers with raisins, pine nuts and rocket leaves. There are also sharer plates of antipasti, Greek mezze and fish and seafood.
 
Steak lovers can follow with mains of succulent 8oz rump steak with fries, vine roasted cherry tomatoes and rocket leaves or the The Red Lion burger which features 8oz of prime ground beef with Emmental cheese and beef tomato with fries and mustard mayonnaise.

The authentic wood burning pizza oven offers a range of pizzas including a Napoletana with anchovies and capers and Fiorentina with spinach, free-range egg and olives. The pasta selection includes rigatoni with sautéed mixed mushrooms, cream and porcini paste and tagliatelle with crab, fennel, cherry tomatoes, white wine, garlic and chilli.
 
The Red Lion also offers a range of refreshing salads and pagnotelle Neapolitan sandwiches for a light lunch as well as a breakfast menu.
 
Round off with scrumptious dessert of white chocolate cheesecake with berry compote or raspberry affogato with raspberry sorbet and amaretto liqueur.
 
At the bar enjoy a variety of luxurious cocktails, wines, draught and bottled beers, real ales and spirits.

To gain further information, just visit their extremely comprehensive Website.

Café Rouge has over one hundred branches throughout Britain all offering a wide range of dishes drawn from the French cuisine. Slightly less than half their branches are in or close to London. Almost inevitably the décor and design of each restaurant differs from the others, but there is a general curtsy towards La France.

Many restaurants do an excellent breakfast, or shall we say petit dejeuner, at which such delights as scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toasted brioche, croque Madame, croissants and pain au chocolat make welcome appearances, and to their credit the English traditional gets top billing.

An array of small dishes takes in pulled pork pâté with French bread, and spicy beef and lamb sausage with harissa mayonnaise. Salads and pasta feature largely, as do baguettes and croques. Quick dishes, ideal for lunch, include slices of saucisson and cured pork loin with French bread.

Moving on to more serious stuff we find steaks, an 8oz bavette and thin cut rib eye, with a choice of béarnaise or peppercorn sauce. No French menu would be complete without the poulet jaune grille, pan-roasted breast of corn-fed chicken served on a warm taboulé of bulgar wheat and a medley of roasted vegetables with minted crème fraîche, or a steak frites before moving on to the crème brûlée, or the tart tatin. Almost invariably the coffee tastes like coffee should, something that sadly can all too often still not be said of our English restaurants, who depend too much upon technology and too little on the acquisition of a certain flair for this important conclusion to a meal.

By now we all know that the French, despite their distinctive habits when it comes to matters of satisfying the inner man, maintain a miraculous longevity of life. This is generally attributed to a number of causes, of which a measured consumption of decent wine is foremost. Café Rouge, you may be pleased to hear, encourages this with a well-chosen selection of French wines. Their prix fixe lunch and meals for children, both at a very reasonable figure, also offer excellent value.

Their Website will keep you updated on menu changes, news and other competitions and offers from the Café Society.

Pleasant and inviting, Verandah features in an elegant yet traditionally inspired décor with stunning wall carvings, white Corinthian columns that contrast well with crimson curtains, arced walls and splendid chandeliers. The ambiance is soothing and equally perfect for both a quiet intimate dinner and an informal meal with family and friends.

Head Chef Kirti Rawat has devised a simple and straightforward menu that encompasses a good variety of Indian dishes. Spicy crab cake, grilled minced lamb kebabs with peppers, onions and green herbs and lamb tikka are excellent starters that pave the way for mains such as khorai prawns, prawns cooked with tomato, capsicum and fenugreek and chicken, lamb or vegetables cooked in a precisely spiced curry.

A meal at Verandah is a definite treat for the palate and their exciting flavours of cooking are well worth a try.

Although this building dates back to 1924, this pub site has unswervingly served visitors since the 17th century and has been known by several titles ever since. Now with a name befitting its location at The Green, Martins Pond, it continues to draw in guests from this part of the world and even beyond.

The kitchen excels in some classic pub cooking while being dedicated to local suppliers, so start with a warm aromatic duck salad with cucumber, spring onion and plum sauce. This could be followed by Orkney Island slow roasted half shoulder of lamb with garlic and rosemary in a minted jus, or trio of pork and leek butcher's sausages on a bed of mashed potatoes in rich onion gravy.

The wine list comes courtesy from R&N Chateaux Wines, covering a wide range of bins from the Old and New World, while the well-kept real ales could feature London Pride, Adnams or Abbot Ale.

Eat Fish in Berkhamsted brings all that is great about traditional and international seafood cuisine to the UK; they offer a combination of well sourced, quality food, an informal atmosphere and an interesting array of wines all served efficiently and casually in relaxed surroundings.

The a la carte presents quite an international and traditional selection of dishes ranging from marinated salt cod through to the renowned fish and chips. Indulge yourself with six Isle of Skye oysters, grilled sardines, Isle of Skye mussels or smoked salmon; and those are just their first courses.

The specialities among the mains are their Arbroath smokie linguine and their renowned fish and chips. The menu is designed to give customers a taste of everything Eat Fish is about. Other choices range from Loch Duart salmon and even a slow roasted pork belly, which is in fact taken from their own rare breed pigs that are raised on the owner's farm. Vegetarian options are also available and don't lack in quality at all.

The restaurant is extremely child friendly with plenty of high chairs available and staff encouraging children to find out where the food comes and how it tastes. As all the dishes on the a la carte and dessert menus are made in-house and from fresh, they can scale down in size the majority of dishes on offer.

Eat Fish's ability to be able to 'build' dishes round customers allergies is also well known and appeals to people who may not go out because of fear of what's in certain dishes elsewhere.

The garden built towards the end of summer 2006 offers a sometimes much needed retreat for the business people, who work in the affluent town of Berkhamsted, and is always open when the weather is nice enough.

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.