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hand picked restaurants

Belushi's believe in living life king size, whether it's their huge drink offers or the massive parties that they host. So stop by at the trendy Fulham venue, relax by the sea at Brighton, or head to Greenwich, the unstoppable East End, or any other outlet, you're assured of an all American bar and restaurant experience and like many of its rivals Belushi's certainly know a thing or two about partying.

No doubt their discount deals are a major draw, but having said that it's important not to overlook the food, and being thoroughly American, burgers are a speciality with typically generous portions. Think big, think Aussie works burger, or choose from some inventive toppings like Cajun, mushroom blue, the BBQ bacon or satay. A closer look at main courses could reveal chilli con carne, sausage and mash, fish and chips and sirloin steak, in addition to fresh salads and sandwiches. Haute cuisine it's not, but for well prepared and well priced classics, it's hard to beat.

Café Fromage's mission in life is to provide well presented cheese dishes to a public amongst who a considerable number are cheese aficionados. And where better to do it than above Paxton and Whitefield's shop in John Street?

The surroundings are comfortable and traditional, the range of dishes sufficiently exciting to make a visit worthwhile, including some of the non-cheese variety. However, this is essentially a place for snacks and light meals, working from a daily changing blackboard menu, accompanied by the encouraging thought that after your meal you can enjoy a browse through the truly incredible range offered downstairs by Paxton and Whitfeld, purveyors of cheese to the discerning for over 200 years.

Whilst the 42 Loch Fyne restaurants have a shared background there is a welcome degree of individuality encouraged throughout the group, which makes for customer interest. If you like wholesome, fresh and reliable seafood caught and reared under carefully controlled conditions, well presented in unfussy surroundings, and you enjoy being well looked after by pleasant staff, Loch Fyne is for you.

There is an increasing awareness of other food staples with an extended choice of meat dishes, but it is the original fare upon which their success was created that prevails. Loch Fyne kippers, a fine bouillabaisse, braden rost, kiln-roasted salmon fillet, and the toothsome oysters on ice, with a selection of accompaniments, all are to be found throughout the various restaurants, as well as Glen Fyne 21 day aged rib-eye steak and Scottish smoked venison. There is invariably a well-travelled wine list available which is sensible, both in content and prices.

Loch Fyne's greatest achievement has been to prove to a sceptical populace that chains or conglomerates can be made to work in the eating-out public's best interests.

The Pump Rooms are a major attraction within the ancient city of Bath. Linked to the site chosen for the public baths by the Romans who were notoriously fussy about personal hygiene (wouldn't you be if you'd walked from Rome to Bath via the Alps?) they were established in the 18th century to enable the fashionable folk of the time to drink three glasses a day from the King's Spring.

Nowadays most people would settle for a pot of tea and the fine napery, the elegant live background music provided by the Pump Room Trio, fresh flowers and table service offered within the Pump Rooms for coffee, lunches and - best of all - afternoon tea. If the ghost of Beau Nash, Bath's Master of Ceremonies for many years at the height of the fashionable years should appear to occupy the spare seat at your table, you should feel highly honoured.