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With quality food, friendly staff, quick service and excellent value for money, Nando's is a great place to eat. Don't expect identikit, pre-fab restaurant interiors which are usually a staple of the larger chains; each restaurant is tailored to its local surroundings and customers, offering up a unique restaurant experience to go with the equally unique taste of legendary, Portuguese, Peri-Peri chicken.

Your peri-peri chicken, when the chips are down so to speak, is a fresh A grade chicken that has never seen the inside of a freezer, but having made the supreme sacrifice is butterfly-cut, marinated for 24 hours in a secret brew called - you've guessed - peri-peri, and is then cooked to your choice over an open flame.

There are, of course, many variations on this broad theme, numerous plays on words such as Nando's experi-perience, peri-peri good reasons why you should eat at a Nando's' and all one hopes is that for their sake chicken never goes out of fashion. New Nando's are opening all the time, peri-peri quickly in fact, the spicy bastes become hotter and more daring, and the full platter offers a whole chicken, large chips or spicy rice and Nando's salad or coleslaw.

Since chickens are vegetarian it seems logical you can order veggie or bean burgers and patties, and still feel the heat from the peppers. All in all, Nando's is hotly recommended for those occasions when you have a large following of permanently hungry children, or adults even, to keep happy - the only thing taken really seriously is the quality of those peri-peri good chickens.

Nando's is a place for bright people who love to laugh and love to eat, and is guaranteed to spice up your taste buds. Their fun approach to life means that when you visit Nando's you can fully relax without the airs and graces associated with more starchy dining out.

For the location of your nearest Nando's restaurant and a host of details about menus, parties and drinks, a click on their Website will reveal a Pandora's box of information.

Built circa 1800 to satisfy the thirst of the hot forge workers who were making all the heavy anchor chains for the British Navy, and  the passing canal workers on their way with to Cardiff with full loads of coal and iron ore, business at the Bunch of Grapes was brisk with male dominated ale consumption. Now tastefully and sympathetically refurbished the venue offers a warm relaxed atmosphere both in the public bar and the restaurant where the emphasis is on locally sourced foods, beers and ciders.

At the bar you can spot a blackboard that lists daily specials or you can choose from a regular menu that includes a sumptuous 6oz beef burger which uses homemade foccacia bun and melted cheese, bacon and hand cut chips. The bill of fare for supper proposes tempting choices such as char grilled Breconshire sirloin steak, hand-trimmed with confit shallot and sauté potato and slow braised shank of lamb.

The bark of a cinnamon tree is remarkable for its intense flavour and is an indispensable spice in South Asian kitchens; likewise much attention is also lavished on this vital condiment at its namesake restaurants in Treforest and Pontcana, and a buffet and takeaway location in Bridgend. In fact it's more than just cinnamon; their time-tested recipes are built around an impressive blend of aromatic spices and ingredients.

Although customary Indian fare is prominently featured, it's interesting to notice dishes like aag utt pakheeza - flaming ostrich steaks marinated in fresh herbs and spices, grilled in a tandoor and served sizzling in brandy flame, bringing a whiff of novelty to proceedings. So do braised turkey fillets with spicy mushroom bhuna and sometimes its wise to pay heed to what the chef's have to say in the section devoted to their recommended dishes like the fairly hot Goa green chicken and peshawari king prawns.

Buffets certainly make for interesting eating especially at Cinnamon Tree with a spread of over 20 dishes capturing flavours of the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent.

It does not seem too many years ago that the Rhondda Valley was one of those places which people avoided like the plague. Now it is marketed as a place of lush greenery and spectacular views which, unlike some marketing claims is absolutely true. How quickly Nature reclaims its own.

All of this would not be possible if it was not for the collapse of the coal industry, which has left behind it some wonderful sites that lend themselves well to new purposes. Enter the Heritage Park Hotel, and in particular the Loft, its restaurant built in part from old timbers saved from a former warehouse in Cardiff Docks.

From what might be termed a pretty traditional menu, there are 7 starter choices with crispy whitebait salad and terrine of ham hock and wild mushrooms amongst them, followed by steamed red snapper with fresh, wok greens and oyster dressing, or Hungarian beef goulash with ciabatta.

Peaches bound in banana cream, and steamed ginger pudding could hardly make a bigger contrast, and some very Welsh cheeses, two of which turned out to be pleasantly provincial, make an interesting diversion.

Helpings are generous, and the dishes are by no means without merit. Good use has been made of local produce, in which they take an obvious pride. And yes, the grass really is as green as they say it is.

Alfreds Bar and Grill, an open-plan, spacious restaurant offering Mediterranean cuisine with a lounge bar, large atrium and conservatory, is an ideal place for a quick lunch, a romantic evening or a quiet dinner with family and friends.

The menu offers a large selection of fish and exotic meats catering to every palate. At lunch you could try Nova Scotia with thinly sliced gravalax, ground pepper and honey mustard dressing. You could start your dinner with steamed mussels, leek and cream and wild boar, rum and ginger pate. The main course could include chicken cacciatore, Thai chili cakes and chateaubriand steak. You could end your meal with chocolate crush with crushed walnut, hazelnut, chocolate and ice-cream and black forest with cherries, krish, dark chocolate and whipped cream.

The bar offers a varied and extensive selection of Old and New world wines.