Restaurant-Guide.com
hand picked restaurants

Part of the Whitbread family, Table Table restaurants aim to bring great value tasty pub food to an ever increasing eating-out public who like well prepared and genuine food served by friendly staff in relaxing surroundings. If that sounds too much like a dream come true be assured that at Table Table they also walk the talk, and are pleased to have the chance to prove it.

Their well located restaurants are spread across a wide range of decors and styles, and all of them share a determination to provide comfort, warmth and relaxation. Their buffet menus for special occasions are remarkable value.

In keeping with modern trends they provide dishes to nibble or share as guests consider the spread of options on a menu that could be described as British with welcome incursions. So as you share long Italian flatbread, and dough balls and dips, or a sharing platter with an imaginative range of finger food starting with garlic and breaded mushrooms, it's time to think about the relative merits of aromatic duck parcels, a prawn cocktail, breaded Camembert or sticky chicken goujons to name but a few.

Many an innocent dish from the past has been hi-jacked in the best possible sense into becoming what is now called a 'pub classic'. Wiltshire cured ham with eggs is served with chunky chips and beef, mushroom and ale pie, or chicken and chips are all familiar with British tables, be they in the dining room or the kitchen. Now they have been added to by chicken fajitas, a sweet red pepper, crème fraiche and fennel tart, a leg of duck slowly cooked and served with a Bramley apple and cider sauce, or chilli con carne with basmati rice, sour cream and guacamole and nachos. So is the humble burger with six enticing toppings.

The point is they, and others, are all here at Table Table, well prepared with quality ingredients, and presented in a way that makes you hungry even if you thought you weren't.

Getting down to the more serious side of the table keep an eye open for the seafood pie, a delightful assembly of things fishy including crayfish, red snapper, prawns and clams. Many of their steaks are 28 days matured, including a 7oz fillet. All steaks are served with watercress, roasted cherry tomatoes, a flat mushroom and chunky chips. A choice from 4 sauces adds the final touch of enjoyment.

Pastas and salads embrace some well known and loved names, but for sheer enjoyment the hot smoked salmon salad takes some beating - flakes of hot smoked salmon mixed with a house salad and soy and ginger sauce. A real winner.

Snacks aplenty cover hot baguettes with the like of grilled pork loin and Bramley apple sauce, sandwiches filled with Cheddar cheese, or prawns and Marie Rose sauce, and jacket potatoes with such temptations as chilli con carne. Add a bowl of chips for only a little extra.

A well travelled wine list offers helpful advice for the uninitiated and there's an impressive choice of draught and bottled beers and lagers. All in all it would appear that Table Table are more than achieving their aims, providing the opportunity for people to eat out enjoyably, with excellent value for money. Long may they continue to do so.

For completely up to date information on menu changes and special offers do make a regular check on their lively Website.

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.

The first Fat Cat Café Bar opened in Bangor, North Wales in 1992 and since then the group has been steadily expanding to meet the demands of the increasingly discerning customer. They run ten café bars in London, the Midlands, Wales and the North West, and are known to maintain high standards in food and service.

In order to remain at the forefront of café bar culture, a number of their sites have been refurbished during the past year. All outlets offer just the right environment to relax - with comfortable leather sofas and private booths. Large projection screens show live sporting events and wi-fi is available free of charge.

Food is served all day, seven days a week and menus change monthly with each outlet playing host to events and offers like ladies nights and set menus. Music policy depends on the time of day, ranging from classic background to uplifting dance at weekend nights.

The breakfast menu offers, among other choices, the typical English Fat Cat breakfast. The all day menu is extensive and has good choices, and is best known for sandwiches that include crispy chicken focaccia, smoked haddock rarebit and lamb tandoori naan.

Amongst the starters, expect to find grilled chorizo salad, potato skins and homemade fishcakes. If you like to keep it simple, the rustic chilli con carne is a good option - you could also add a bowl of nachos to it. Mains could offer beer battered haddock and chips, and favourites like bangers and mash, char-grilled salmon fillet or spinach and black olive gnocchi.

There are popular desserts like chocolate and apricot torte and Italian lemon cake for those wanting to give their meal a sweet end.

A large selection of wines, spirits, bottled products, cocktails and cask conditioned ales makes up their wine menu. The list also mentions liqueur coffees and non-alcoholic beverages.

Recently refurbished, The Lemon Tree is a slice of Continental Italy in the heart of Wrexham. The stunning Grade II listed, neo-gothic building has been transformed to offer style and comfort in a relaxed atmosphere whether visiting for business or holidays in North Wales.

It offers a wide range of menus to suit all, from take-out coffees and muffins in the morning, to a wholesome breakfast. Lunch is a selection of favourite pasta dishes, tasty salads and filled ciabttas.

As the sun goes down, the restaurant transforms into a glamorous place to enjoy a fantastic Prosecco cocktail, an ice cold Continental lager or a wonderful authentic Italian meal. The weekends are not to be outdone and an International style brunch with frittata, Italian style omlettes, savoury and sweet crepes and waffles could be helped along with an Illy coffee.

Oscar's Bar and Restaurant makes fine dining room for this imposing town house cum hotel, which caters for large social functions as well as the smaller and more intimate occasions. From amongst the starters the fresh mussels with white wine, lemon and garlic cream and the Chinese spiced belly pork with hoi sin sauce stand out. Their steaks are memorable and clearly a feature of the dining room but I would be tempted by the medallions of fillet steak supported by a shallot and mushroom tartlet, a vegetable parcel and chateau potatoes. A comparatively well-travelled wine list has clearly had some thought given to it and the house wine at £9.95 a bottle, or by the glass, makes for easy drinking.

Gulab Ali has been in the hospitality industry for twenty-one years before opening Khazana, a dining venue through which he aims to provide authentic Indian cuisine to the Welsh Borders town of Wrexham. A unique and distinctive décor creates a pleasant and welcoming atmosphere and the seating area is furnished with a huge curved sofa set, well cushioned and comfortable, alongside a low table providing a perfect setting to enjoy a relaxed evening with friends.

At Khazana, innovation in the preparation and presentation of food is notable and prawn salad served with lettuce, melon, cucumbers and beetroot or eggs stuffed with spicy chicken served on a bed of green salad feature on the summer menu. Other popular dishes include shami kebab, spiced minced lamb patties covered with a thin omelette, and fish dupiaza, a medium Bengali dish cooked with fresh tomatoes, chopped onions and coriander. You could choose from a list of puddings and ice creams to conclude your 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.