Restaurant-Guide.com
hand picked restaurants

Prezzo has been delighting diners for over eight years, and this Italian restaurant chain has since been able to expand throughout large parts of England and Scotland with some 141 outlets.

Interestingly, the company seeks to restore either impressive buildings or ones of local interest. The conversion of the Newbury library and other listed buildings, such as those in Salisbury, Romsey and Mayfair, are all welcome examples of 'new use'. Their trendy and sophisticated décor usually consists of tiled or wooden floors with delicate lights and colourful paintings, along with wooden furniture and sparkling cutlery, creating a setting that is suitable for a relaxed lunch, a family meal or an evening out with friends.

The restaurants are of particular appeal to those who like genuine Italian cuisine, and they use only the best seasonal products, many of which are imported directly from Italy. The menu includes pizza, pasta, risotto, grilled meats, fresh salads and frequently changing specials.

The freshly baked breads, like the garlic bread with mozzarella cheese, are perfect for sharing and give you adequate breathing space to order starters to follow. Crab cakes served with garlic mayonnaise or grilled goat's cheese with plum tomatoes and caramelised onions on foccacia bread with a balsamic glaze set the tone for a hearty meal. Best fun is to order an antipasto platter to share made up from seven well loved Italian nibbles.

Find pastas such as the unusual penne con salmone, with oak-roasted salmon, broccoli and fresh chillies in a red pesto and cream sauce, or firm favourites like spaghetti with meatballs, spaghetti Bolognese, and fusilli al pesto, asparagus spears with field mushrooms and roasted peppers in a basil pesto sauce.

Amongst the special pastas, the pollo mariano, seasoned chicken, pepperoni sausage, roasted peppers and fusilli in tomato sauce, is interesting and different. Italian menus would be incomplete without risotto, like tiger prawns with petits pois in a creamy saffron sauce.

Classic pizzas embrace, among a wide selection, the popular napoletana, topped with yellowfin tuna, tomato, white anchovies, capers, red onion, mozzarella and marinated olives, and the much loved quattro stagioni - pepperoni sausage, prosciutto ham, artichoke, field mushrooms, capers, marinated olives, mozzarella and tomato.

Specials could include the pollo Siciliana, char-grilled chicken breast, prosciutto ham and plum tomato slices, baked with their blend of cheese, only one example from the many tempting offerings that come out from the Prezzo kitchens.

You can accompany the food with a variety of tipples, though for many, Italian food requires Italian wines to be enjoyed to the full, ranging from house wine through Morellino di Scansano and Prosecco to liqueurs and beer, and there is espresso or fresh ground coffee to wind up an enjoyable meal, in company with a glass of grappa or sambuca.

This is Italian food at its attractive best, convincing and bringing together the traditional with the modern twist or two against a background of excellent value.

Prezzo is a lively group and opportunities to improve and update are never left on the table for long. Keep up to date with a quick click on their Website.

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.

A former country house set in beautifully landscaped and spacious grounds in a particularly rural part of Devon. The restaurant is open to guests and non-residents alike, with the Conservatory Restaurant offering a very comfortable roost for lunch or dinner.

The menu is quite traditional and starters might include dressed crab, moules marinière, or the chef's home made smooth chicken liver pate served with a port Cumberland sauce and toasted brioche.

Whoever named the main courses should be given a medal even if only for escaping the customary boring descriptions for well known dishes. Behold then a tasty number labelled "collision of land and sea", presumably 'surf and turf' re-invented? A 10oz sirloin steak cooked to your own specification, topped with King prawns and served on a bed of spinach and oyster mushrooms. Braised belly pork with Stilton makes an interesting combination, and sweet chilli chicken is effectively a supreme, sliced and pan fried.

Puddings offer a zesty lemon cheesecake, Belgian waffles or perhaps a fresh fruit brandy snap basket. A robust wine list shows signs of careful selection. Overall this hotel offers good value, with food skilfully assembled and served in tasteful surroundings.

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.

Situated in Braunton, believed to be Britain's largest village, Wild Thyme embodies a casual character with hordes of people stepping in for breakfast, smoothies, juices and Fairtrade organic coffee and tea.

Whether its huevos Mexicano - three eggs scrambled with a little red onion, tomato and fresh chilli, served with sausages and toast - or a veggie's full English, sometimes all you want is just breakfast, to last throughout the day perhaps. Here at Wild Thyme the most important meal can be had at any time during the day. Good quality ingredients are brought together in the home-cooked dishes section featuring pasta, tapas platter and chilli con carne made with lean beef mince using their indigenous recipe. The colourful salads capture the inherent flavours of crispy lettuce, spinach, creamy Devon Blue, fresh pear, walnuts, tomato and cucumber, dressed with honey mustard.

Watch acai, banana and apple combine to form a supercharged smoothie to rev up your energy levels as you prepare to take on the day.

Every so often one comes across one of those places offering a set meal, no choices, take what comes. What comes is usually excellent and for someone who has fairly catholic tastes there is usually not a problem. Of such an ilk is Halmpstone Manor, a romantic manor house with panelled rooms, set amidst glorious Devon countryside. Dinner comes as a five course event, as does lunch, drawn from a pretty traditional menu, with no choices until the dessert is reached. With house wine at £9.95 and excellent service, a very pleasant evening can be enjoyed in this idyllic spot.

Former customers turning up at the door to enquire about the health of their overdraft will be slightly confused to discover that what was formerly the Bank is now a thriving restaurant. As might be expected, your overdraft would have been comfortably housed in spacious and ornate surroundings, and nothing much has changed in that respect. What has changed is that where you might have queued up for your supply of euros there is now housed a very credible brasserie operation with a wide variety of attractive and well-priced dishes. House wine is £9.75.

Located in superb countryside, much of it owned by the National Trust, the Old Rectory offers a dining experience to recall with pleasure. The dining room itself is as traditional as everything else complete with the longcase clock, the polished wood and the candlelight. Dinner might consist of a smoked salmon mousse, followed by a wild mushroom consommé, then chicken with ginger in a Madeira cream sauce served with a rice pilaf, to precede a dreamy home-made almond ice cream served with raspberries. The fresh-ground coffee is as good as you'll get, not to mention the hand-made chocolates.