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Situated in the thriving Oxfordshire town of Banbury, Veritas Wine Bar and Bistro has brought a new concept of relaxation and pleasure to the town, with food and drink that attracts as well as satisfies in surroundings that are a tribute to good taste and style. No matter whether you are in a state of semi collapse after too much shopping, or looking for the right environment in which to entertain, this is the place for you.

A WiFi connection may strike you as a dubious blessing - once inside Veritas your aim would probably be to stay out of touch, but there are always some for whom it is indispensable.

The role of Veritas as a haven of escape is interpreted in many different ways. They are promoting a fabulous Monday to Friday Working Lunch Specials that change weekly. Wine tastings and dinners are organised regularly so there really is no excuse for not increasing your knowledge of one of life's greatest pleasures. Veritas also holds regular Sunday lunch music festivals.

The food is designed to suit the occasion, whether it be a choice from the lunch menu or the dinner á la carte, as you contemplate the day of rest, a romantic evening, or a family celebration when time matters not.

Dinner service is available from 6pm with a full à la carte menu that might offer haddock fish cakes with baby spinach, poached egg and hollandaise sauce to start, or blue cheese tartlet with red onion marmalade and poached pear.

Mains tread carefully between the traditional course content with choices such as homemade beef lasagne served with garlic bread; mussels with white wine, garlic cream sauce and hand cut chips; lamb shank with red wine sauce, roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables; roast salmon with mussel chowder and potato rosti; pigeon breast with peas in French style, wholegrain mustard sauce, or pan seared scallops with artichoke, pancetta, clam and herb dressing.

If you fancy a nibble with your glass of wine in the evening, enjoy a selection of farmhouse cheeses with chutney, honey roasted figs and oat biscuits, or a charcuterie board of cured meats, gherkins, sun-dried tomatoes and crusty bread.

Bring the meal to a telling close with homemade crème brûlée, or pear and frangipane tart. Is it any wonder that with menus like these, executed with skill and panache, Veritas has become an extremely popular place? To top it all, much of the menu changes monthly so you?ll never get bored!

But the food is only part of the pleasure, and a wine list that would melt the steeliest heart travels the world. It's a spirited gallop through some pleasantly familiar names which appear as though some of the top bottles on offer have been spared traditional mark-ups.

Veritas has an excellent Website that will keep you up to speed with their attractive programme of events and seasonal menu changes, which are de rigueur.

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.

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.

The tranquil village of Wroxton has been endowed with fame and beauty with places like the renowned Wroxton Abbey and plenty of thatched cottages that abound. The village still remains virtually untouched thanks to places like the Wroxton House Hotel, who believe in keeping the charm of the place intact while catering for the needs of the modern traveller. Oak beams and inglenook fireplace at Restaurant 1649 offer distinctive warmth to the place and the cooking lives up to its AA accolade.

The lunchtime menu embraces starters of Charantais melon with a lemon ginger sorbet, and smooth liver parfait with a red onion marmalade before moving on to main courses of boneless chicken leg wrapped in pancetta with an apricot and pork filling on a herb mash, and baked cod fillet with crushed new potato, wilted spinach and pepper salsa.

Bar snacks and sandwiches are available for those looking for a light bite.