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Surrounded by restaurants and boutiques, Zizzi Bristol Clifton Village offers good value Italian cuisine in a vibrant setting. The contemporary interior, inspired by Bristol's floating harbour and the great Western railway, is perfect for private parties or an intimate dinner. The restaurant is also an ideal place to put your feet up after a busy shopping trip at the nearby Clifton Arcade.

Zizzi is just a short walk from the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge, and close to popular attractions like the Clifton Observatory and Bristol Zoo.

The bustling open kitchen at Zizzi turns out freshly prepared, tasty fare. The extensive à la carte offers distinct sections of antipasti, salads, pizza and calzone, pasta, risottos and mains of seasonally changing meat and fish dishes with a variety of tempting desserts to finish.
 
Zizzi's special antipasti platter has mixed Italian meats with buffalo milk mozzarella, marinated sun-dried tomatoes, mixed olives and red onion focaccia bread. There's also choice of arancini, crispy risotto balls stuffed with mozzarella and peas and served with a tomato chilli sauce as well as gnocchi gorgonzola, potato dumplings in a creamy gorgonzola and spinach sauce seasoned with nutmeg and black pepper, setting the tone for a hearty meal.

For a delicious pasta or risotto choose between penne vodka, king prawns, chilli, peas and Grana Padano in a creamy tomato and vodka sauce; ravioli di capra, goat's cheese and spinach ravioli served with tomato sauce and topped with pesto and pine nuts; zucca e pancetta, pumpkin, pancetta, spinach, sage and Grana Padano topped with mascarpone and rigatoni con pollo e funghi, chicken in a tomato, onion, rosemary and mushroom sauce. Gluten-free pasta is also available on request.

If you prefer a pizza, then you could try Zizzi's speciality pizza rustica, which couples extra thin and crispy bases with a range of toppings such as bufala, buffalo mozzarella with sunblush tomatoes, basil, rocket and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or mare e monti, one half topped with tiger prawn, courgette and mozzarella and the other with spicy sausage, tomato sauce and chilli, all finished off with a rocket and crème fraîche. The carne piccante calzone has marinated chicken, meatballs, Bolognese sauce, mushrooms, chillies, tomato and mozzarella while the clarissa version, has aubergine, and red pepper caponata, olives, goats' cheese, rocket, pine nuts, tomato and mozzarella. Zizzi's calzon'pizzas, half calzone and half pizza, add an interesting twist to the meal.
 
Sumptuous mains include agnello con peperonata, roasted lamb shank served with basil, roasted vegetables and a little pot of potatoes with tomato, red onion and Grana Padano; duck arrosto, slow roasted whole duck leg in a balsamic, olive and pancetta reduction served with Tuscan potatoes and green beans; and sea bass al vino, sea bass pan fried with wine, garlic and baby plum tomatoes and served with herby potatoes.

The scrumptious dessert list offers torta cioccolata with its thick hazelnut chocolate base topped with rich chocolate torte and served with vanilla mascarpone; homemade tiramisu' creamy vanilla pannacotta with fruit compote and torta Zizzi, an almond-based plum and fig tart topped with pistachios and icing sugar and served with gelato.

The wine list is dominated by a range of Italian wines from regions such as Veneto, Lazio, Sicily, Tuscany and Lombardy. Also on offer is an assortment of beers, and spirits as well as a range of soft and hot drinks.

More information can be found on their Website.

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.

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.

Brewer's Fayre restaurants offer a warm welcome to those who want a reliably tasty meal in pleasant surroundings, with plenty of choice, minimal fuss and friendly service. With a reputation going back 25 years they should have a fair chance of doing that, but don't take our word for it. Give them a try and see if you agree that this is how good quality pub food should be served.

Whether it's snacks, grills, pub classics, fish, Sunday roasts or side dishes they think their way through the options, talk to their guests, and then come up with the goods. Not everybody wants a full meal so they've considered the needs of those who want to keep the gap filled and the children contented, perhaps on a journey or a day out.

Hot filled baguettes are always popular be it sausage and red onion or a classic chicken club sandwich. Jacket potatoes are good on their own but filled with mature cheddar cheese and beans they take on a new dimension.

More paced occasions demand a wide menu, perhaps with starters of breaded butterfly prawns, chicken goujons or breaded camembert bites. Grills are there for the hungry and whole rack of meaty BBQ pork ribs served with extra sauce, chips and coleslaw can be very welcome. The days of the mixed grill are back - or did they ever go away - a 4oz rump steak, two pork sausages, and a gammon steak topped with a fried egg served with all the trimmings will remind you if they did.

Salmon and prawn fishcakes are served with buttered new potatoes, tartare sauce and a lightly dressed salad. A combination of sea and land comes with a rump steak, whole grilled chicken breast and breaded breaded butterfly prawns, served with chips and a side salad or garden peas.

The rise of eating out in pubs has brought into our daily lives a whole legion of what might be termed 'pub classics'. Many of them have their roots in what used to be called 'good home cooking' and include such dishes as sausage, egg and chips, beef and ale pie, chicken and mushroom pie and for the very daring a beef lasagne. Well, all of them and many more are on the menu at Brewer's Fayre, supplemented by such new regulars as vegetable Goan chicken curry, pork chop, chilli con carne and grilled chicken and bacon salad.

It has often been said that chicken tikka masala is now the most popular dish in Britain. Some may not really want to believe that, much as they love curry, but travel, population movement and other factors have widened our scope and they are probably pretty keen on fish and chips in Timbuktu.

What is certain is that the great British Sunday roast is exclusive to these islands, though copied maybe elsewhere or in ex-pat outposts. No surprise therefore that it's on the Brewer's Fayre menu. A trade of three roasts with an opportunity to trade up to a mega roast for a modest sum. With it come two Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, fresh seasonal vegetables and that important element - gravy.

A fine list of immensely tempting desserts may well bring the most ardent weight-watcher to their knees. A short but well thought out wine list offers all choices, except champagne, by the glass. Staying the night - check to see if there's a Premier Inn next door - chances are you'll be lucky.

A quick click on their Website is always worth while. The only thing that stays still permanently is the quality which is helped by a changing menu, and some very special offers.

Brewer's Fayre restaurants offer a warm welcome to those who want a reliably tasty meal in pleasant surroundings, with plenty of choice, minimal fuss and friendly service. With a reputation going back 25 years they should have a fair chance of doing that, but don't take our word for it. Give them a try and see if you agree that this is how good quality pub food should be served.

Whether it's snacks, grills, pub classics, fish, Sunday roasts or side dishes they think their way through the options, talk to their guests, and then come up with the goods. Not everybody wants a full meal so they've considered the needs of those who want to keep the gap filled and the children contented, perhaps on a journey or a day out.

Hot filled baguettes are always popular be it sausage and red onion or a classic chicken club sandwich. Jacket potatoes are good on their own but filled with mature cheddar cheese and beans they take on a new dimension.

More paced occasions demand a wide menu, perhaps with starters of breaded butterfly prawns, chicken goujons or breaded camembert bites. Grills are there for the hungry and whole rack of meaty BBQ pork ribs served with extra sauce, chips and coleslaw can be very welcome. The days of the mixed grill are back - or did they ever go away - a 4oz rump steak, two pork sausages, and a gammon steak topped with a fried egg served with all the trimmings will remind you if they did.

Salmon and prawn fishcakes are served with buttered new potatoes, tartare sauce and a lightly dressed salad. A combination of sea and land comes with a rump steak, whole grilled chicken breast and breaded breaded butterfly prawns, served with chips and a side salad or garden peas.

The rise of eating out in pubs has brought into our daily lives a whole legion of what might be termed 'pub classics'. Many of them have their roots in what used to be called 'good home cooking' and include such dishes as sausage, egg and chips, beef and ale pie, chicken and mushroom pie and for the very daring a beef lasagne. Well, all of them and many more are on the menu at Brewer's Fayre, supplemented by such new regulars as vegetable Goan chicken curry, pork chop, chilli con carne and grilled chicken and bacon salad.

It has often been said that chicken tikka masala is now the most popular dish in Britain. Some may not really want to believe that, much as they love curry, but travel, population movement and other factors have widened our scope and they are probably pretty keen on fish and chips in Timbuktu.

What is certain is that the great British Sunday roast is exclusive to these islands, though copied maybe elsewhere or in ex-pat outposts. No surprise therefore that it's on the Brewer's Fayre menu. A trade of three roasts with an opportunity to trade up to a mega roast for a modest sum. With it come two Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, fresh seasonal vegetables and that important element - gravy.

A fine list of immensely tempting desserts may well bring the most ardent weight-watcher to their knees. A short but well thought out wine list offers all choices, except champagne, by the glass. Staying the night - check to see if there's a Premier Inn next door - chances are you'll be lucky.

A quick click on their Website is always worth while. The only thing that stays still permanently is the quality which is helped by a changing menu, and some very special offers.

Dusk markets itself as an upmarket and updated steakhouse, describes itself as 'a restaurant serving steak and more.' Attracting a trendy and lively crowd the concept seems to be working pretty well so far. Whilst steak is definitely the main focus of attention on the menu, vegetarians and fish lovers won't leave disappointed.

House wine costs £11.95 per bottle, whilst mains will set you back anywhere between £11 and £27. By night, Dusk is warm and inviting with a modern, sophisticated look; by day, it's the perfect place to take time out and enjoy a Lavazza coffee or simply relax with a bottle of wine from a well selected wine list.

Recently I had the pleasure of dining at the Firehouse Rotisserie in Anchor Square, Bristol. I had heard much about this hidden gem (all good things) whose ethos is that of an informal, wholesome Californian ilk. All expectations were greatly surpassed by my evening there. The 'Rotisserie' in the name does not do this restaurant justice.

I expected a surfeit of charred meat, a haven for Neanderthals craving blood and protein but no. None of that 'pick your own slab of cow' business to be found. Whilst retaining a Californian flavour, there is a touch of the Mediterranean about it; I daresay this is 'fusion' cuisine without the usual eclectic assembly of incongruous ingredients.

The menu offers a varied selection of starters, with little treasures such as stone baked mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto, which comes on rocket with a treacly aged balsamic to moisten, and the Chinese chicken salad, bound with a spicy sesame dressing and an agreeable inclusion of toasted almonds. Our tipple was a Chilean Merlot, which amply stood up to the intensity of the food, and an Australian Chardonnay, which was a tad over-oaked for my liking but a pleasant drink all the same.

Mains come in a number of ways; brick fired pizzas of original combinations like spicy Baja chicken with avocado, salsa fresca, coriander and sour cream, or Santa Fe barbecue chicken, red onion and coriander (not a pineapple chunk in sight) whilst the rotisserie caters for carnivores with the likes of slow roasted achiote new season lamb with red onion and ancho cabernet gravy.

My friend chose the free range chicken with herbes de Provence with lemon and tarragon aioli. The meat was moist and tender, and the background flavour of basil and marjoram was subtle enough not to overpower. The ambrosial lemon and tarragon aioli was impressive, an ideal sauce in which to baptize the remarkable bird, and our waitress was even willing to give us the recipe.

I chose stone baked Mediterranean sea bass with wild oregano and roasted tomatoes; the kitchen did justice to the noble bass in its cooking; the flesh was firm and not the slightest bit overdone, and the acidity of the tomatoes provided the perfect foil to the oily, oregano-infused juices. My other companion had the chorizo, pepper, chilli caribe and parmesan pizza, which did not fail to impress with its fiery chorizo slices, slightly crisp from the oven, and a generous sprinkling of wafers of parmesan.

Pudding was a daunting prospect, but like soldiers we pushed through the pain and chose strawberry cheesecake (smooth, indulgent, tart, and just plain beautiful) and a dangerously decadent Chocolate Torte 'al Caprese', which was rather like a slice from a giant chocolate truffle, daubed in crème fraiche. Whoever this 'Al Caprese' is I'd like to shake his hand. I digress.

The ambience of the Firehouse is one any restaurant would be pleased to have. The dining room resembles the house of Colombian drug lord (I mean that in a good way); it is a cavernous, white brick affair which has retained a large girder in the ceiling (a hark back to its former days as a lead works), low lit from large wrought-iron chandeliers, with an open kitchen providing a wonderful element of theatre to diners.

It is romantic, relaxing and unpretentious. There is that pleasingly gentle hum of conversation, chit-chat and laughter, and everyone who was eating there genuinely seemed to be happy. This restaurant has achieved that elusive synergy of fine food and good atmosphere, and I believe that this above anything is what makes a restaurant memorable. The Firehouse is a must-see on the Bristol culinary map.

Please note that the E-Mail contact is for enquires only not for bookings.

Moored in Welsh Back with advantageous views of the surrounding swirl of human and water-side activity, this sturdy and historic barge really responds best at night, with the warmth of the woodwork inside and the reflections on the copious amount of glass at their best.

Starters of Andalucian garlic soup with a poached duck egg and truffle oil, or foie gras and savoy cabbage faggot serve to quell the movement that some diners swear they can feel - well after all the place is afloat, but it's heavy and the water on which it floats is flatter than a billiard table. Roast local venison comes with neaps (Swedes to the English), buttered haggis and whiskey jus, and this close to Wales it would be surprising if some Welsh Black was not on the menu - and there it is, served with sardalaise potato, sauté cep and Madeira sauce.

Puddings follow the same inventive line and crème Catalan with roast black figs and maple syrup leads the way, with warm treacle tart and a dollop of Cornish cream not far behind, or for those to whom no day is complete without cheese a plate of Vacherin with water biscuits and pickles is a welcome option.

This is dining with a difference, and whilst it may not be the Venetian canals, it has a charm all of its own, particularly for those seeking a romantic evening afloat.