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The restaurant within The Russell Court Hotel in Bournemouth delivers a menu of traditional British dishes with international influences. With an emphasis on using fresh ingredients, sourced locally wherever possible, the restaurant is equally popular with hotel guests, local diners and holidaymakers. Close to many of the local attractions and beaches, the restaurant is the perfect location for a quick lunch or a more leisurely evening meal and diners can enjoy a drink in the hotel bar before or after their meal.

The restaurant is open for breakfast everyday and offers a range of dishes from lighter continental pastries to a hearty full English breakfast with tea, coffee and fruit juices. The all-day menu also includes a range of sandwiches, while the lunch and dinner menus are more formal and include a range vegetarian, meat and seafood dishes.

The hotel also offers a number of fixed price meal deals and a Sunday lunch menu that serves a traditional roast dinner with all the trimmings.

With five years in the fish and chip trade already behind them, father and son team Peter and Fred Capel bought the premises at 10 Seamoor Road, Westbourne in January 1989. There had been a fish and chip shop at this address since 1968 - as little had changed in the intervening 20 years, a major refurbishment was called for!

The refurbished shop opened on April 3rd 1989. The Capels' formula of offering great food with friendly service in pleasant surroundings proved an overnight success. Many fish and chip shops already offered good food, but none did so with quite the panache and emphasis on quality that Fred brought from his early years as a professional chef at some of London's finest establishments. This winning combination has remained the cornerstone of Chez Fred's success ever since.

Still in their first year of trading, Chez Fred scooped the coveted "Best Fish and Chip Shop in the South West / Southern England" title, as well as being runners-up in the "Best in Britain" award in the Seafish Industry Authority's prestigious competition, in 1991 Chez Fred were crowned, and therefore retired from the competition, as Best Fish and Chip Shop in Great Britain.

Chez Fred do not take restaurant bookings, as they work on a first come first served basis.

Well located for visiting clergy, bellringers and congregations with business at the nearby Priory Church, Splinters offers a range of eating spaces, including a bistro fitted out in 1960's pine and a more sophisticated area known as the Blue Room. Chef Patron Paul Putt and Head Chef Jamie Hyde use a combination of the old and new and combine their experiences and dexterity at the stoves to come up with unusual combinations as well as more familiar dishes that seldom fail to please.

Choices could include cream of leek and potato soup, flaked smoked haddock and chives, or foie gras, corn-fed chicken and wild mushroom terrine with plum and apple chutney. This could be followed by beef fillet with wild mushroom ragoût, potato and celeriac mash and red wine sauce, and desserts of Splinters death-defying triple chocolate mousse topped with meringue, orange and ginger syrup. The wine list has a reasonably-priced house selection, available by the glass and bottle.

Amazing views are a part of Sotanos's charm; whether it's the location on Broad Street in Lyme Regis, on the World Heritage Jurassic Coast, or the interior filled with heart-warming Spanish colours. Although the name literally translates to basement the whole place comes alive through the attractive display of bright hues and inventive knick-knacks.

The menu eschews the concept of a three course meal and there is plenty of tapas eating happening here. The regularly changing carte is helpfully divided into seafood, vegetables, meat and poultry, so one minute you could be nibbling on mussels in white wine garlic and parsley and next it could be a roasted aubergine with pomegranate seeds, olive oil puree and pita bread. Moroccan lamb tagine, Spanish Serrano ham and marinated grilled pork, chicken and lamb skewers all come together in the meat section.

From Thursday to Saturday night Sotanos pays tribute to that great dish of Spain, the paella, and also offers a selection of delicious cocktails.

You cannot help but notice genuine happiness on the faces of all of Adam and Eve's staff. Their wholesome dishes help bring a smile to the faces of customers too. Shelves filled with teapots and tea cosies, which line the walls, make the atmosphere warmer, and they sell a selection of items, putting excitement back into dull old shopping for food.

A daily and seasonally changing menu provides good value for money and vegetarian, vegan dairy and gluten free options are also available. Those who love the aroma of a bakery and who don't, can rejoice in the goodness of their fresh cakes and bread. Choices include vine-ripened tomatoes on toast, steaming hot porridge with fruits and honey, and made to order sandwiches and salads.

A range of teas, coffees, smoothies, juices as well as wine, beer and cider add to the variety. A take away and catering service means customers can avail themselves of their services for parties and picnics.

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.

Undoubtedly one of the best Chinese restaurants in Bournemouth. The cuisine is Peking and Szechuan and there is clear evidence of more than just ordinary care in the preparation of the food, which is cheerfully served by staff who have the wit to know that it may be just another night for them but for their customers it is special. It is often not appreciated that Peking cuisine was created in the Imperial Kitchens and now serves as the premier style of food in China. Certainly in the transition from China to Dorset it has not suffered, though if you prefer something spicier and more salt-baked the Szechuan is there to delight you.

With splendid views across Swanage Bay and Peveril Point, the Grand Hotel, with its new chef and new menu continues to offer well selected local produce and innovative food. There is a somewhat ponderous, but well travelled wine list with house wine at £9.95.