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This modern Indian restaurant on Bristol's Park Street is a deservedly popular place. Great attention to detail has been taken with the interior to provide something a little different from the classic curry house interior and it certainly seems to be doing the trick. In addition to the classic Indian dishes we all know and love, there are also a few alternatives worthy of your attention. Interesting starters include roasted green pepper filled with a mixture of vegetables and onion seeds, or baked fish with onions, roasted spices and herbs. Main courses range from fillet of salmon cooked with a special blend of spices, herbs and a light sauce, to rezala, a ceremonial dish of lamb cooked with yoghurt and subtly spiced with fresh herbs. Expect to pay around £6 to £13 per main course option.

Reviewed by Linda Buttle

If you're looking to catch a glimpse of Latin life and cuisine this side of the Atlantic, hop right in to any Las Iguanas outlet across the UK. Each eatery is designed differently and brings out diverse flavours and colours - from the stillness of the Argentinean Pampas to the energy of Rio at Carnival time - some outlets are bathed in colour while others are more sober. Don't be surprised if you come across a few life-sized Latinos too.

All the action is centred on the food, a fusion of native Latin American, Indian, Spanish, Portuguese and African influences. Their signature dish called xinxim, Brazilian lime chicken in a creamy crayfish and peanut sauce with rice, fine beans and sweet plantain happens to be football legend Pele's favourite.

The tapas menu served throughout the day offers braised chorizo in Rioja wine with country bread; peri-peri, crisp cassava coated chicken with Brazilian style hot garlic; crayfish marinated with fresh mango, and quesadilla, a chargrilled tortilla filled with portobello mushroom, melted brie dressed with homemade tomato, garlic and coriander salsa.

Argentinean steaks are simply seasoned, flame grilled and served with potato, salad or cassava fries. Traditional fajitas - hot sizzling platters with onions and bell peppers, served with homemade salsa, pickled jalapeños, sour cream, guacamole and warm tortillas can be enjoyed with chicken fillet strips, steak, mushrooms or artichoke and squash.

Latin rhythm in the background and an extensive choice of wine, cocktails, champagne, beer and caipirinha, made from their very own cachaca, Brazil's national drink produced in their own sugarcane plantations  complete the picture.

Desserts such as Ipanema mess, made of creamy mascarpone, natural yoghurt, raspberries, guava preserve and crushed meringue lend the meal a befitting end.

Things seem to move fast at Wagamama - the Asian inspired, noodle restaurant chain that was started in 1992. As soon as you decide what you want to eat, your order is taken via a PDA, and wirelessly networked to the kitchen, so it can be made fresh and served right after. The restaurant chain does not believe in taking reservations, and all customers are seated on a first come, first serve basis. In fact, be aware that most of the tables are long ones and you will often be asked to share them.

The restaurants are modelled on traditional Japanese ramen bars that have been popular for hundreds of years - ramen are Japanese style noodles, served in a meat-based broth, topped with pork, dried seaweed or even corn. Chilli beef ramen, made of noodles in a spicy pork and chicken soup topped with a marinated and grilled sirloin steak and fresh vegetables, is hearty and satisfying.

Apart from ramen, you could opt for the coconut soup based kare noodles or teppan, cooked on a hot, flat griddle. They also offer many rice dishes like katsu curry, chicken fillet deep-fried in panko breadcrumbs, served with a lightly spiced curry sauce and sticky white rice. Vegetarians are definitely not ignored, as they can opt for saien soba, made using whole-wheat noodles in a soup topped with stir-fried vegetables, seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil and garnished with sliced spring onion.

Meat and vegetable dumplings, skewered chicken, deep-fried prawns and raw salads double as both sides and starters. Steamed green soya-beans, called edamame, go well with drinks - hold them up to your mouth and squeeze the succulent beans from the pod. If you've noticed, Wagamama is more about eating healthy food fast and less about the order. Don't be surprised if you're served the main course before the side dish - order isn't important, the aim is, don't wait - just tuck in and share.

Wash down your meal with sake, plum wine or even a Japanese beer. Wind up your meal with coconut reika - three scoops of dairy coconut ice cream topped with a fresh, tangy mango sauce and toasted coconut flakes or the tamarind and chilli Pavlova, with a crunchy meringue base served with a raspberry and tamarind sauce.

At Wagamama, you can also shop for cookbooks, sauces, ramen bowls and t-shirts. The restaurant is all about enjoying genuine, reasonably priced, Pan-Asian cuisine in a sleek but informal setting.

Pitcher and Piano first started in Fulham in 1986, since when it has evolved into one of the UK's favourite bar groups, offering premium drinks, mingled with food that carries its own distinction against a background of different themes, many deriving from the locality, and from what is the whole being of contemporary life in modern bars.

Start with a cocktail, say a bourbon cookie, cosmopolitan or a parson green apple before tackling some food that will vary from pub to pub. There are bar meals, try lime and coriander chicken in Didsbury, or a more formal approach in restaurant style, what about 21 day hung, 10 oz British sirloin steak in Mayfair, with homemade chocolate brownie, vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce in Birmingham. In general the menus are very similar, with plenty of choices all round.

There are now over twenty five branches of Pitcher and Piano where you can be assured of the same decent levels of food and drinks, service and quality. Surely that's better than the lucky dip approach?