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The Rising Sun Hotel in Lynmouth is the harbour side inn of your dreams with a thatched roof, ancient beams and haphazard wooden floors, and dates from the 14th century. It is steeped in history with oak panelling, crooked ceilings, thick beachstone walls and creaking uneven floorboards. Their modern approach to food in their 1 AA Rosette restaurant is confident and it is clearly presented, with a lot of the raw ingredients produced in the area, like Lynmouth Bay lobster, local game and salmon fished from River Lyn itself.

It was in one of its rooms that R.D. Blackmore wrote several chapters of his West Country classic Lorna Doone. It sits overlooking a tiny picturesque harbour and Lynmouth Bay with its stunning backdrop of the highest hogback cliffs in England, and situated on the edge of the Exmoor National Park, where herds of deer, wild ponies and birds of prey roam free.

As it has grown it has absorbed neighbouring cottages including the one (featured here) in which Shelley and his 16-year old bride Harriet are said to have spent their honeymoon. Shelleys Cottage has lost none of its romance and now consists of a double bedroom with half-tester bed, sitting room, private garden with quite spectacular views and is ideal for those wanting something extra special.

Many of the bedrooms have half-tester beds and were refurbished by international designer Suzanne Lansdell of 'Pour La Maison' in London, combining the latest design fabrics with traditional elegance within a 14th century ambience, assuring their guests of an unforgettable romantic experience.

For starters the choice could consist of: Cornish crab with sweet pepper and mascarpone tortellini; chicken liver and foie gras parfait with homemade piccalilli; Italian tomato bread soup or Parma ham with black figs, rocket leaves, toasted pine nuts and vintage balsamic.

There is a wide range of fish and seafood dishes, such as whole grilled sea bass with tarator, fennel and new potatoes, but you might care to go for the braised pheasant with pancetta and quince and Braunton greens; slow cooked belly pork with pommery mash potato and spinach, or rib eye steak served with a béarnaise sauce and hand cut chips.

The times given are for the service of food in the restaurant, an excellent choice of bar food is available from 12:00 to 15:00 and 19:00 to 21:00; this generally focuses on fresh local fish and game as available, and, according to season may include Lynmouth Bay Lobster salad, Exmoor game casserole, fresh sea bass and other generally 'upmarket' bar food in the region of £7 - £12 per dish.

They offer an extremely enterprising and well put together wine list, of varied international parentage, with many of the choices below £20, and the vast majority under £30; also three dessert wines and a very decent selection of half bottles, over ten in all. More information on residential packages, menus and much more can be viewed on their Website.

This is a hotel with one of the best outlooks in its particular area, at the mouth of the River Dart and handy for the ferry across to Dartmouth. The restaurant, named after a local worthy, John Hauley, Mayor for fourteen years and four times MP for the area. There is a wide choice of menus and local ingredients are to be found on all of them, notably of course from the sea.

Starters include rosettes of Dartmouth smoked salmon, Dartmouth chowder, sautéed king prawns with rum, lime and coriander, or warm red onion tart with a slice of the local Ticklemore goat's cheese.

Main courses are equally forthright and look out for fresh lobster, done Newburg, thermidor or coral, whole lemon sole grilled with butter, char grilled prime fillet of Devon beef, or the redoubtable crab and fish platter, with crab, smoked salmon, smoked mackerel and prawns.

The desserts take no prisoners at all, try the Belgian chocolate and mandarin mousse in a chocolate cup served with raspberry coulis or, should you have the good fortune to be a cheese buff cast an eye over the West Country cheeses, amongst them Cornish Yarg, Sharpham brie, Kingston cheddar and Harbourne blue.

To gain further information, just visit their extremely comprehensive Website.

Chloe's Restaurant is a gift to that part of the population of Plymouth that cares about good food and is arguably the best in the city. French chef Didier Franchet and his fiancée Jo have clearly decided that it is time modern French cuisine came to Plymouth, and few would disagree.

Let's start with the piano, a Waldstein baby grand, where every evening a pianist caresses the strings of the piano and the emotions of the diners with romantic melodies. Such customs as champagne before dinner and a measured approach to the evening are cultivated to the point where every meal at Chloe's is a satisfying memory.

The menu is inspired by Pierre Gagnaire and Alain Ducasse whose experience gleams through an array of dishes chosen from a combination of old favourites and interesting twists on traditional themes. Starters on the carte number around eight and could include mi-cuit of fresh sashimi tuna with homemade avocado tartar, accompanied by sauce vierge, or Chloe's foie gras trilogy.

It's not every restaurant where you would take kindly to the suggestion of rabbit leg as a main dish, but you would here, done moutarde and served with gratin Dauphinois. Fresh local scallops in their shell arrives with diced belly pork and mixed vegetables, whilst vegetarians will rejoice in freshly baked aubergine stuffed with a homemade ratatouille and topped with grated cheese and sauce vierge.

Chloe's can command fish as fresh as anywhere and the roasted back of local lemon sole with seasonal vegetables in a light lemon butter has to be one of the great classic dishes of all time though the cassolette des copains carries fillet of catch of the day set on a bed of salted cod brandade, flash cooked spinach and Hollandaise sauce with a golden grilled finish comes a very close second. Each dish is a symphony of tasteful design and top class ingredients.

Five desserts plus a fine selection of English and French cheeses ranges from a stunning fresh summer fruit salad topped with tangy lemon sorbet quenelle through baked hot cherry clafouti topped with pistachio ice-cream to the most wonderful Chloe's Monte Carlo for chocolate lovers.

Lobster and champagne evenings are held around once a month, the centrepiece of which is grilled lobster with cognac and tarragon sauce, starting with lobster bisque and croustille.

A wine list makes up for its brevity by the skill with which it is chosen, starting with an unoaked Terret from Michael Laroche and moving upwards. A reserve list awaits attention from the discerning wine connoisseur.

Close by is the Theatre Royal and Chloe's opens at 5.30pm for pre theatre dinners, and bless them, they do supper after the show for orders taken between 10.00 and 10.20pm. This place is a great find and the sort of restaurant that cares for its regulars whilst providing a welcome surprise for newcomers.

A friendly Website keeps up to date with events and menu changes.

Set in an historic lakeside country house in South Devon, within easy distance of what their brochure aptly describes as the Maritime City of Plymouth, Kitley House Restaurant has a good deal going for it. The view for instance - with overtones that suggest a sylvan setting miles from anywhere, whilst you dine in the former library with its rich décor of burgundy and gold, with marble columns in each corner of the room. In her introduction Viv Marshal, Kitley House chef says, 'Let me take the pressure off you with my creative cooking, using only local produce...People still eat with their eyes...'

And how right she is. The dinner menu at Kitley ranges over an appealing list of options that includes grilled scallops garnished with peas and broad beans with a smoked saffron and white wine velouté, and goats' cheese and Bramley apple tart with dressed green leaves.

Seared and sliced pigeon breast is served over a beetroot and raspberry relish with parsnip crisps and balsamic syrup, or there's a delicious leek and potato soup drizzled with double cream and curry oil.

For the main event baked duck breast carved over a pineapple and butternut squash chutney is accompanied by rösti potato and French beans. In the opinion of some, sea bass has become almost too familiar but a good deal depends on the company it keeps. At Kitley this means spring onion and citrus mash, sweet pepper, tomato and chilli jam and asparagus spears, giving good lift to this inherently appealing fish. The skill of the kitchen is well shown in the char-grilled sirloin steak with confit potato and a cassoulet of wild mushroom and cherry tomatoes.

A new twist to an old classic is given with the rhubarb and champagne crumble with chunky ginger ice cream.

It is always good to see the dishes of one's youth presented in a way that not only makes them totally edible, which was not always the case, but also has you coming back for more. Take sticky date pudding, or more improbably, creamy rice pudding with a dollop - their words - of strawberry jam.

Sunday lunch is a weekly festival at Kitley House, well worthy of your attendance. With a choice of four main courses, roast sirloin of beef, roast pork, délice of grilled salmon and a vegetarian option, the bread and butter pudding is joined by sherry trifle and sticky toffee pudding.

A concise wine list spans the globe with a good selection available by the glass.

Be sure to visit their attractive and informative Website, showing only too clearly what an appealing place Kitley House is.

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.

When you enter a chain restaurant there is always a sense of déjà vu, yet with the twelve outlets of Giraffe, this may not really be true. Russel and Juliette Joffe and Andrew Jacobs' philosophy behind this group of restaurants is sustaining the driving force of healthy, happy eating, while retaining the difference each location brings. This includes minor variations in the menu too, and explains why the restaurant does not like to be called a chain, but prefers being referred to as a herd. The origin of its quaint name too, is interesting. The giraffe has the largest heart in the animal kingdom, and with its magnificent height is able to perceive things differently. These two features of being different and large hearted sum up the restaurant's proclamation of 'love, eat, live'.

Giraffe offers world food and adds an unusual twist to some familiar dishes. Their breakfast menu has stacked pancakes with bananas and blueberries, warm waffles, ranch styles tostadas and healthy veggie options. Some great starters are a mezze plate with warm naans that offer the best of many cuisines - grilled halloumi, hummus, tzatiki, ratatouille and falafel.  Japanese king fried prawns are a hit, while another bright spot on the menu, is the colourful sunshine antipasti bruschetta, a clever combination of artichokes, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, olives, roasted peppers, red onion and rocket on pesto foccacia. If this long list of ingredients is intriguing, just wait until your palate takes over.

The house's special salad, cheekily called 'more than love', is colourful and has crunchy appeal. The Thai chicken and vermicelli noodle version is an equally enticing starter. For mains, there are plenty of options like roasted corn and chilli bran burritos, tangy turkey enchiladas and the much loved sweet potatoes, asparagus, green beans and broccoli served with organic brown basmati rice. One can also settle for a good old burger and wash it down with interesting smoothies. They also offer world wines and unusual cocktails with catchy names like Bombay flower and pomegranate caipirinha.

The dessert section comprises of not just fruit based healthy desserts, but brilliant stars like Swiss mountain chocolate cheesecake, banana waffle split and rocky road ice cream sundaes, which transport the diner to a state of bliss. The friendly staff, who are carefully hired for their sunny disposition, and children's activities help make these restaurants a very special, happy and healthy treat indeed.

To gain further information, just visit their extremely comprehensive 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.

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.

Café Rouge has over one hundred branches throughout Britain all offering a wide range of dishes drawn from the French cuisine. Slightly less than half their branches are in or close to London. Almost inevitably the décor and design of each restaurant differs from the others, but there is a general curtsy towards La France.

Many restaurants do an excellent breakfast, or shall we say petit dejeuner, at which such delights as scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toasted brioche, croque Madame, croissants and pain au chocolat make welcome appearances, and to their credit the English traditional gets top billing.

An array of small dishes takes in pulled pork pâté with French bread, and spicy beef and lamb sausage with harissa mayonnaise. Salads and pasta feature largely, as do baguettes and croques. Quick dishes, ideal for lunch, include slices of saucisson and cured pork loin with French bread.

Moving on to more serious stuff we find steaks, an 8oz bavette and thin cut rib eye, with a choice of béarnaise or peppercorn sauce. No French menu would be complete without the poulet jaune grille, pan-roasted breast of corn-fed chicken served on a warm taboulé of bulgar wheat and a medley of roasted vegetables with minted crème fraîche, or a steak frites before moving on to the crème brûlée, or the tart tatin. Almost invariably the coffee tastes like coffee should, something that sadly can all too often still not be said of our English restaurants, who depend too much upon technology and too little on the acquisition of a certain flair for this important conclusion to a meal.

By now we all know that the French, despite their distinctive habits when it comes to matters of satisfying the inner man, maintain a miraculous longevity of life. This is generally attributed to a number of causes, of which a measured consumption of decent wine is foremost. Café Rouge, you may be pleased to hear, encourages this with a well-chosen selection of French wines. Their prix fixe lunch and meals for children, both at a very reasonable figure, also offer excellent value.

Their Website will keep you updated on menu changes, news and other competitions and offers from the Café Society.

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.