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The owners of Bathampton Mill believe there's no better way to relax than to enjoy good company, great food and drink alongside the water. They provide diners with a stylish and modern dining experience with fresh food and warm hospitality. With log fires and cosy corners, guests can spend some indulgent time at the Mill and are encouraged to apply selective thought to everyday life.

One can relax outside on their beer garden benches that accommodate more than two hundred or dine al fresco. The wine list has an even balance of New and Old World wines with a variety of styles to choose from different beers as well as several wines available by the glass. The choices are simple, built round tempting steaks, spit roasted meats, seafood, salads and pastas.

To set the right note of fashionable sociability there are sharing plates, antipasti of dolcelatte, Italian meats, marinated vegetables and warm stone-baked flatbreads, or Mediterranean mezze of hummus, roasted vegetables, fregola, tzatziki, feta, spinach and ricotta pâté with flatbreads.

Amongst the appetisers there is always freshly made soup; the like of lamb koftas with mint yoghurt, kohlrabi, cumin and carrot salad, or gambas with rocket, garlic aioli and rustic bread are also to be found. Look, too, for scallops in the specials section.

The salads which offer dishes such as prawn and avocado, pecans, mango and bacon with orange and pomegranate vinaigrette are well received.

These days no self-respecting gastropub can afford to be without its pizza range; expect to find a classic margherita of pomodoro, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and basil, the rustica with roasted Mediterranean vegetables, goats' cheese and cherry tomatoes, or the piccante with pepperoni, chorizo, tomato and jalapeños.

Pastas include linguini, tiger prawns, crab, chorizo, chilli, tomato and white wine, and tagliatelle, slow cooked Bolognaise and parmesan. For the big event there is always a spit chicken with lemon, garlic, thyme and frites. The battered haddock with frites, tartare sauce and minted mushy peas is popular, a sign of the times and improving taste in eating. The roast rump of lamb with sauce soubise, asparagus, pancetta, button onions and baby potatoes is worth trying too. For hearty eaters there are rib eye and fillet steaks or blackened cod fillet, egg noodles, pak choi, mango and chilli salsa.

A wide range of supporting dishes includes carrot, cumin, orange and chilli salad, and cabbage, leeks and peas. For desserts choose between a treacle tart with crème fraiche or sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream. There is also a selection of cheeses to set the buffs alight.

More information, including full menus, is available on their Website. Please note that the E-Mail Contact is for enquiries only, not for bookings.

The first Browns opened at Brighton in 1973 with one simple guiding belief, that classic food, well delivered in a stylish environment, would be a recipe for success. The only thing that has changed since then is the number of Browns, now running at fourteen, of which six are in London, all prospering with the same theme.

Some of their buildings are particularly legendary in style, sometimes listed and always interesting. The premises at Bath, immediately opposite the Abbey are, almost inevitably, Georgian, and once housed a Police Station and a Magistrate's Court.

The main menu, available throughout the day, starts with appetisers, designed for sharing, with antipasti of Italian meat, vegetarian or seafood. Try the flatbreads with a range of interesting toppings.

In amongst the thirteen starters expect to come across smoked duck, crisp noodle and cashew nut salad with red peppers, tumeric cauliflower, spring onions and a sherry vinaigrette. The fish and salad choices include fish and chips tempura battered cod with minted mushy peas and tartar sauce and pan-fried butterflied tiger prawns tossed with linguine in a tomato, coriander and chorizo sauce.

The same theme of comfortable food, well-cooked and presented, continues throughout the mains course with roast chicken breast in sour dough bread with baby spinach, tomato and mayonnaise, served with seasoned chips, and steak frites 6oz prime sirloin, served with a lemon, parsley and peppercorn butter.

The chalkboard carries a list of the day's specials, but every day except Sunday is Browns's afternoon tea day, served from 2 to 5.30 pm; and on Sundays it offers a choice of three roasts. It would be hard to find a dessert much more English than lemon tartlet and hot chocolate brownie, or profiteroles with a warm chocolate sauce, which also has good appeal.

By the way their breakfast and brunch menu is just one of the best and they also do a very nifty pre-theatre supper, no matter whether you are going there or not.

The wine list is masterful and not over long, sometimes a great relief to those who find it difficult to navigate their way through an interesting list. Many bottles are available by the glass and each group of wines is helpfully classified under headings such as white, red and rose with a reserve selection, house recommendations, New and Old World.

Browns at Bath are well able to deal with groups, and have special menus to look after their particular interests. Click on their excellent Website for further details and menu changes.

Located in the heart of the beautiful city of Bath, the Tramshed offers a wide range of modern British dishes and contemporary Mediterranean fare in stunning surroundings. Housed, as the name would suggest, in a beautifully renovated tram shed, the decor includes a witty nod to the building's heritage with brightly painted tram wheels on the wall and large sofas in the shape of tram cars.

Close to the city centre and the stunning Royal Crescent, the Tramshed is also just a short walk from the Assembly Rooms and Pulteney Bridge. A seasonal menu delivers on the promise of fresh local produce, attracting locals and weary tourists alike.

Delicious starter of chermoula and fennel crusted squid with rocket, pineapple and spring onion salsa or smoked salmon with citrus ponzo dressing and fennel and herb salad whets the appetite. If you are with family and friends you could, alternatively, try the tasty sharing plates of Mediterranean mezze, baby back ribs or rustic breads.

Guests with hearty appetites will be delighted at The Tramshed's mains selection which includes spit roast maple gammon, Brussel sprout and parmesan gratin; spit roast chicken with lemon, garlic and thyme or pork fillet with pancetta, potato and apple croquette. Steak lovers will be pleased to note the presence of such favourites as rib eye steak with horseradish and parsley butter and chips and fillet steak garni with watercress, confit tomato, grilled mushroom and hand-cut jenga chips.

The burger selection offers a classic burger with gherkin, mustard mayo, cheese, relish and chips with bacon or chorizo and a black and blue burger with dolcette and mushrooms. Choice of pasta or a stone-baked pizza offers smoked haddock macaroni and a fruit de mer pizza with tuna, prawns, anchovies and pineapple salsa.

To kick start the day, the breakfast menu offers a traditional English breakfast, eggs Benedict, bacon sandwich or smoked salmon and scrambled egg accompanied by sourdough or wholegrain toast, English muffins or Danish pastries. For a healthy start there's choice of granola with cranberry and apricot, Greek yoghurt and honey, porridge with banana, cinnamon and almond and grapefruit with ginger sugar and mint. Tea, coffee or juice completes the selection.

Delectable desserts of apple and blackcurrant crumble with vanilla custard, choux bun with espresso and chocolate sauce and white chocolate crème brûlée satisfy the sweetest tooth.

The Tram Shed takes its wine seriously and the fine selection on offer reflects this. Take your pick from a range of Mediterranean whites and reds as well as a sprinkling of examples from the rest of the world. This includes an Airen from Spain, a Sangiovese from Italy, a Rothschild Bordeaux, a South African Chenin Blanc, a Chilean Chardonnay and a Merlot from California. There's also a variety of aperitifs, disgestifs and non-alcoholic drinks to suit all tastes. They also offer a fabulous wine club, with regular tastings throughout the year to friends of the restaurant.

In a city full of fine restaurants such as Bath what helps set the Tramshed apart is the unwavering commitment to its customers. There's no tacky happy hour here, instead Sparkling Thursday offers a complementary glass of Pimms Royale and discounted bubbly all day.

More information can be found on their Website.

This is certainly the grandest, and probably the best, Indian restaurant in Bath. In a massively gracious room that would do credit to a Livery Company, Eastern Eye serves Indian delicacies from Bengal and Northern India. Although they do not always tell the whole tale such is the range of Awards given to Eastern Eye that there can be no doubt about its credibility and expertise. Eastern Eye has been awarded 'Restaurant of the Year 2011' by Les Routiers and English Curry Awards 'Restaurant of the Year South West 2011'.

For a start the range of dishes is truly amazing, so much so that for the confused there is a standard set meal on offer at £19.95, plus service. Whilst it may, in certain circumstances be safer to remain with the familiar many will prefer to plumb the infinite shades of the new, the feared and the imponderable. All dishes hail from Bengal and include an impressive list of the much loved balti, starting with vegetable balti and topping out with a fine king prawn massalla balti.

There are those who believe that starters are an unnecessary part of an Indian meal, but for those who don't share this philosophy a generous array of stimulative treats are there to please. To take but one the chicken hariyali is marinated with traditional Nepali herbs and spices before being cooked over the tandoori oven.

Tandoori dishes are dry, come with salad and are made to order - truly boutique eating. The tandoori mixed thali carrries a selection of tandoori chicken, chicken chandan, lamb sula and sheek kebab. Amongst the seven or so specials move very carefully, but do not lightly ignore the chicken or lamb nowabdar from Northern India, a mild dish with a delicately spiced sauce made from roasted cashew nuts and fennel seeds before being combined with a spiced butter sauce, cream and peeled tomatoes.

All the well regarded curry dishes are there, lamb rogan josh, chicken or lamb dhansak, a sweet and sour curry cooked with lentils and spices, and plain basic lamb or chicken curry the strength of which can be tuned to any notch on the scale for a modest 40p extra leaving you to wonder what an extra £1.20s worth might achieve. If the favourite dish of the Brits is indeed chicken tikka massala from Kashmir it is perhaps closely pursued by a meat or chicken jalfrezi, a hot spicy dish powered by fresh chilli, tomato and green peppers

For £85.00 four people can dine nobly off king prawn butterfly, chicken chandan, specially prepared lamb and chicken dishes, noor mahal special biriany with nuts and dried fruit, mixed vegetables, nans, popadoms, chutney, dessert and coffee.

If anyone is in any doubt about the rapport between cooking from the sub-continent and wines from pretty well anywhere let them come to The Eastern Eye for a short course in rapprochement, with wines that would comfortably grace the list of the above average British restaurant and are singularly well annotated.

There is a well laid out Website which will give the wider picture with just one click.

Occupying what was the Green Park Station booking office, the Green Park Brasserie has one of the most relaxing locations in Bath. Inside the atmosphere is warm and welcoming and the two al fresco areas provide a choice of aspects. At the rear of the main restaurant is an area furnished with a mixture of comfortable sofas with matching coffee tables and wooden tables with upright seating perfect for eating and laptop browsing. At the front of the restaurant are more tables and chairs, with bench style seating which provides not just an area for smokers but an ideal location for people-watching.

There is an obvious and successful promotion of local produce visible in their tempting and varied menus. With specific menus designed for their morning clientele, early diners, groups and private parties well complimented by their strong à la carte menu for the full dining experience, they achieve what many independent restaurants strive for - high quality, variety and exceptional value. And if you are looking for a bargain then it is impossible to argue with their 'Early Diner' menu which offers two courses for £9.95 or three courses for £12.50 if you order before 7pm and is ideal for those pre-theatre or cinema diners.

You can even peruse the menus on their website before you go just to get the taste buds going. For added pleasure you could fit in a serving of one of the delicious flavours of Marshfield Ice Cream, frequently seen in some of the best restaurants in the South West.

The hard part is making a selection from their menus, perhaps you will be swayed by the organic mushroom, cherry tomato and smoked cheddar tartlet with salad garnish as your starter and maybe follow this with black treacle belly pork with crushed butter beans and Somerset cider apple sauce accompanied by a side order of gratin dauphinoise or matchstick chips. Fishcakes, beef burger and sirloin steak can be seen on their regularly updated carte. You can even ask them to arrange set menus for your private function.

A strong dedication to jazz runs through the restaurant with four evenings of live jazz with duos, trios and quintets from Wednesdays through Saturdays. Although diners have seating preference there is no entry fee charged and 'just drinkers' are always welcome. The music is never intrusive and is an enjoyable accompaniment to a relaxed evening out. The Brasserie has an excellent range of wines by the glass as well as by the bottle and for beer lovers they serve local favourite Butcombe beer alongside draught Budvar and some of the best bottled beers.

It is even possible to hire the entire venue for your own special celebration and is now a popular choice for wedding receptions which can be easily accommodated in the main restaurant. You can even make use of a marquee or just use the function room upstairs.

There is an Internet Café in a quiet area called the library, a welcome touch of modernity in a city that justifiably lays claim to some of the finest architecture in Britain and was a great favourite with the Romans, who knew a good thing when they saw it. All in all The Braz has to be one of the best things to happen to modern Bath. Perhaps that is why they won the Bath Life Award 2009 as Best Restaurant.

To book online or find out more about all the facilities, including information on weddings and Christmas parties, at this marvellous venue, then a visit to the Website is recommended.

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.

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.

Strada describes itself as 'a group of stylish, contemporary Italian restaurants, serving good quality, simple and freshly prepared dishes'. The statement sums up what this group of around seventy restaurants offers to people looking for good Italian food. The first outlet opened in Battersea in 1999 and their clientele has been increasing steadily ever since.

Though Strada has grown into a fair sized group, each outlet retains the feel of being a local neighbourhood Italian restaurant. The menu includes pastas, risottos, salads, and fish dishes, but they are best known for their quality pizzas.

They present authentic Italian dishes in contemporary surroundings and aim to use only the freshest and finest ingredients, such as Luganica sausages, Parma ham and buffalo mozzarella, imported from Italy to provide exactly the kind of rustic, traditional dishes one would expect to find travelling around its regions.

A meal could kick off with zuppa vongole e fregola, a traditional clam soup with Sardinian fregola pasta grains, wine, chilli and parsley, served with bread, or the delicious sautéed king prawns with garlic, white wine, chilli, and lemon butter served with your choice of bread.

Move on to their creamy risotto verdure, freshly grilled asparagus, broad beans, peas, spring onions, zucchini, green beans, white wine and mint, finished with baby spinach leaves. Or you could opt for the healthier, tagliolini nero granchio, black cuttlefish ink pasta with crab, courgette, red and yellow peppers, spring onion, and a hint of chilli and parsley. A real treat for the taste buds comes in the form of the bistecca manzo, a 10oz rosemary-marinated char-grilled, rib-eye steak with fries and fresh rocket.

A range of pizzas, all spun by hand, is an integral feature of each restaurant. They include the rossa, with spicy southern Italian salami, roasted red peppers, chilli, caramelised onion, garlic, fresh oregano, tomato and mozzarella. Nor are vegetarians are overlooked, and can be found tucking into dishes such as fiorentina, made of spinach cooked with garlic, nutmeg and black pepper with mozzarella, parmesan, tomato and an egg.

For those wanting to satisfy their sweet tooth, there is torroncino affogato, an iced nougat semi freddo with a shot of espresso to pour over, or a classic Italian tiramisu and, as you might expect coffee to round off the meal.

A wine list consisting of purely regional Italian wines, beers and liqueurs, all carefully chosen to complement the menu comes as no surprise and in addition, every table receives a complimentary bottle of purified water.

For further details including their latest news, menus and deals, and to find a Strada nearest to you, their Website certainly warrants a visit.

Should you feel an American moment coming on, get straight into the mood at a TGI Friday's. First thought of in New York in 1965, introduced to Birmingham, UK in 1986, they now, like so many other American concepts, are to be found on a global basis and have 48 outlets in the UK alone. According to Newsweek and The Saturday Evening Post, the opening of the first Friday's restaurant heralded the dawn of the singles age.

In many ways, TGIs are more representative of the American approach to eating out than some of their imitators. Their food is fresh, the portions generous and the cocktail list exhaustive. They also tend to represent the all-American classlessness that can produce a meal at any time, for any social group, for any reason, under the same roof, without a problem.

So what's on offer? The quick answer is, it depends rather on where you are, as menus do vary from one restaurant to another, but the essential message stays the same - American grub, fella! Appetizers - no starters please - could include Jack Daniel's wings, chicken wings coated in Jack Daniel's sweet 'n' smoky glaze, or spinach and artichoke hearts coated in a rich and creamy cheese sauce, served with crisp corn tortillas.

For a group assault try the Times Square big share, more of Jack Daniel's wings, cheese and bacon skins to the very brim, with crispy breaded mozzarella dippers and served with a battery of accoutrements.

The steaks are awesome, topping out with a 12oz rib eye. A range of burgers, ribs, chicken, fish, sandwiches, fajitas, salads and pasta embraces virtually every known twist in the repertoire of American cuisine. Chocolate fudge fixation perhaps sums up best, but by no means exclusively, the TGI approach to desserts.

From a list of over 500 cocktails, all mixed with exuberant charm, let's take just one. You thought Long Island Iced Tea was something polite Americans sipped after some gentle sailing? Think again. Vodka, gin, rum and orange liqueur, topped up with Coke, spin and pour. The popular drink was in fact, invented by TGIF. As with all cocktails you can choose between regular or ultimate, no questions asked. Beer, wine and soft drinks cover enormous range and they also offer good coffee.

It is not important which outlet of TGIF you visit, for if you enjoy the American style of eating, just look out for red and white stripes and you are likely to be happy.

To locate a Friday's nearest to you and get the world famous Friday feeling on any day of the week 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.