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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.

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.

Amberley Castle is a magnificent luxury hotel in West Sussex, perfectly embodying the general notion of such an extremely English edifice, with its sprawling grounds and beautiful rooms. A visit there affords many pleasures, particularly if you are fond of tennis, croquet and golf or other simpler pursuits like strolling through the manicured gardens or walking by the lake. Their excellent restaurant with its fresh and seasonal cuisine is also a huge draw, where fine dining in the magnificent Queen's Room is elevated to another level altogether.

From the modern British kitchen, you can expect starters of braised pig cheek, noodles, and poached duck egg. Further down, choices for main course lie between the lemon sole in warm muscat jelly and gently spiced wild venison with ale pie. The cinnamon cream with caramelised pear for dessert brings the meal to a delicious end and the diverse wine list offers a number of interesting options.

The Cedar Room Restaurant was refurbished in April 1997 incorporating the old style panelling with the new décor and was so named due to an old Cedar Tree, which was positioned right outside the Restaurant. It was apparently one of the oldest Cedar Trees in England but unfortunately it is no longer standing. You can still see where it was on the front lawn outside the windows of the Restaurant.

Over 200 years ago the 10th Duke of Norfolk built this hotel and called it the Norfolk Arms. Whether it was to accommodate less favoured guests from the Castle, or as a commercial enterprise does not matter overmuch; it has now become a popular and comfortable watering hole in which the Arundel Society for the Prosecution of Thieves and Felons still holds its annual dinner. This sounds like a body of men (and probably nowadays, women) who know a good meal when they see one and it will come as no surprise to hear that traditional English cooking is well to the fore. A wine list which benefits from the passing of time offers interesting choices.

The historic town of Arundel has many delights to offer, the latest of which is the Arundel House Restaurant and Rooms, providing luxury accommodation and seasonal relaxed dining in the heart of West Sussex, surrounded by some of the finest countryside that England has to show. Combining chic with comfort, the restaurant makes enlightened use of the fine local ingredients to produce dishes that celebrate the good things of life given by nature and refined by man.

In 2004 Arundel House was given a major refurbishment, money that has since proved to be exceptionally well spent, resulting in the kind of facilities that are normally only encountered in a large luxury hotel, rather than a restaurant with rooms. With Goodwood just down the road Arundel House is a much sought after port of call, and the nearby Castle, ancestral home of the Dukes of Norfolk, and the magnificent Cathedral combine to surround the hotel with the cloak of history.

It has often been said of a top flight restaurant that to eat there was an experience rather than a meal. I can think of few places of which this could be better said than the restaurant at Arundel House. An aperitif, the Royale, is offered to assist contemplation of the menu, and as you absorb the flavours of raspberries and champagne, surely two of the most luxurious tastes unimaginable, the day retreats and a panorama of indulgence takes its place. Lest you should quail before such pleasure, Billy Lewis-Bowker and Luke Hackman, the proprietors, offer a little advice. But who in their right mind wishes to pass up even a brisk trot through such a menu?

Poached salmon arrives at table clad in a herb blanket set on a gaspacho coulis, with dill crème fraiche. Local crustaceans provide the main body of the tiane of crab and crayfish tail, carefully layered with tomato and spicy guacamole, served with melba toast. Or there may be a charlotte of local courgette stuffed with a red pepper mousse and served with a piquant beetroot carpaccio.

The local woods are alive with roe deer which have provided tasty dishes for Castle and Town alike over the centuries. A saddle of roebuck, served pink on sweet potato mash with wilted spinach and pine nuts, is well set off with a port wine reduction. The roasted breast of duck, carved over a duck confit rosti with savoy cabbage and pancetta, is finished with a delightful nutmeg cream.

Since indulgence is the keynote at Arundel House a dessert of chocolate mocha tart with chocolate brownie ice cream would not seem out of place, but just in case the diet police have been assaulting your conscience see of they will settle for chilled lemon and fresh elderflower soufflé with lemon sorbet. If, however, you plead hard of hearing, just consider the Arundel House assiette, where all five of Luke's labours of love are assembled in miniature. And then there's cheese...but that is a matter between you and what's left of your conscience. Just let me warn you that the choice of port is a temptation beyond fair play, never mind the French alternative with which they seek to intrigue you.

The Wine list here is the work of the Four Walls Wine Company, at Chilgrove. To describe it as a fine list is to finish on a note of understatement, which in all the circumstances would be unforgivable - it is a masterpiece, but then this is nothing less than one would expect to find at somewhere with so much going for it as Arundel House.

The George and Dragon Inn is a unique pub and restaurant, truly independent with a style that denotes its 300 year old history. The venue is an excellent destination for walkers or people who fancy a drive and enjoy the rural beauty of the South Downs. During the last 30 years it has developed from an English pub renowned for serving the classic English pint, to what could be described as a 'gastropub'. More simply, it is a traditional pub that serves excellent food.

The menus present a slice of British rustic cooking, that is sometimes infused with a slight twist from around the world. The aim is to keep the bill of fare seasonal and where possible, source products locally.

The range of real ales reflects a taste of West Sussex. Arundel Breweries' wide range of beers is always available, supported by one guest ale from the surrounding counties.