1 Adam and Eve, Bishopsgate, Norwich, NR3 1RZ Tel: 01603 667423
Golden oldie, as it were, and feels like it, what with settles, panels, tiles and a snug. Parts date back to 1249. No matter, the business within is a bit more up to date. They even welcome kids. Class Adnams, Greene King IPA and Theakston's OP on the pumps (plus guest beers), Addlestone's cider and proper wines. And the food? I thought you'd never ask. Everything from chunky soups (cheese and ale with pastry thatching) to weighty puds (spicy bread and butter) by way of substantial main/single dishes (sausage casserole). For quick biters, however, there are sandwiches, baps and French breads filled with all manner of goodies.
2 The Angel Inn, Hetton, North Yorks, BD23 6LT Tel: 01756 730263
An institution in every sense of the word (the inn is 400 years old) except in spirit - it is in no way fossilised. Top notch, lively cooking in modern European idiom (tomato tart, roast loin of lamb with sun-dried tomatoes, grilled squid salad) from a talented kitchen. There is a tremendous wine list, with plenty of seriously classy numbers available by the glass. There is also a selection of good beers while the service has similar attention to detail. The place generates a rollicking, confident style. Rolling dales around you to work up an appetite. Bar snacks, bar meals, or the full restaurant monty. What more could you want?
3 Bar Moosh, 1-3 Station Road, Cambridge, CB1 2JB Tel: 01223 360268
Moosh is in a little run of eateries close to the station. Large and cheerfully ramshackle, it throbs with world music. A long list of cocktails are in the £4-£5 range. Fashionable mass-market beers on tap, Courage Directors on the hand pump and a wine list that is more than a gesture. Serious cheeses signal gastro-intent. There's substantial grub too: brioches stuffed with cheese or wild mushrooms; fresh mussels with parsley, garlic and chilli or ginger coriander and saffron; big salads. And spotted dick and treacle roly poly with custard among the puds.
4 Cedar Farm Cafe, Back Lane, Mawdesley, Lancashire, L40 3SY Tel: 01704 823396
Cedar Farm is a working pig farm with craft workshops and studios, a gallery, clothes shop, aroma room, deli, and espresso bar. The cafe, which is also licensed, has been open for 10 years, and is renowned for its soup. This comes in starter-sized portions with flavours such as celeriac and cider or butternut squash with lime and ginger, and main-course sizes, which are deliciously gloopier. There are pasta dishes, bagels and wraps available too, and nothing costs more than £5.50. Puddings are hearty and toe-warming, of the poached plums and bread-and- butter pudding variety.
5 Harts, Standard Court, Park Row, Nottingham, NJ1 6GN Tel: 0115-911 0666
Tasty and tasteful. As smart as anything in London and elegant with it. Staff are clued up and well trained and Mark Gough's cooking is spot-on and stylish. Graduate of Raymond Blanc academy, so the food is light but not slight, with distinct flavours and plenty of them. Prices range from £9.90 for two courses and £13.40 for three at lunchtime. There is a sample menu of mushroom soup or Italian salad, followed by Hart's fish cakes or roast pork filled with rosti potatoes and caramelised apples. This is rounded off by chocolate marquise or fromage frais with strawberry juice. Decent wines available by the glass.
6 The Kitchen Bar, 16-18 Victoria Square, Belfast, BT1 4QA Tel: 028-9032 4901
The unique, splendid realm of Pat Catney, and other members of the Catney clan. One of the finest eateries and drinkeries of its kind in the world. Not exactly a gastro-pub, but the Ulster fry (distinguishing feature , three kinds of fried bread: potato bread, soda bread, and farls, all made by Mother Catney) is an Everest among breakfasts, not least because of superb sausages and bacon. Other notables include Paddy's pizza (a slab of soda bread with a slice of boiled gammon, Coleraine cheddar and tomatoes; eggs optional) and Irish stew with beef. Excellent stouts plus a real ale.
7 Ming, 35-36 Greek Street, London W1 Tel: 020-77734 2721
There is a calm, elegant, soothing and well-mannered atmosphere compared with the more in-your-face style and service you get round the corner in Gerrard Street and Lisle Street. The food is as good as you'll get in any of the usual favourites in the area, however, and better than most. You can spend more than £15 a head on Tibetan garlic lamb, double-braised pork hot-pot and peppered salmon, but it does a high-value lunch at £10 that includes Mr Edward's pork (a Chinese classic), Empress beef and aubergine in spiced salt. It is worth pointing out that the intelligent wine list is also intelligently priced.
8 The Patio Restaurant, 13 Swinegate Court East, York, YO1 8AJ Tel: 01904 627879
A hidden gem in a rather too real sense: by the time you've actually located Patio you might actually have worked up a sufficient appetite. A bright, stripped-wood interior is the setting for a menu blending northern British and Mediterranean. More than acceptable starters include delectable pates and deep-fried Camembert (£2.95 to £4.95). The highlight of the main courses, at £6.95, is the seasoned Cumberland bangers with onions, gravy and a memorable creamy mash. Also starring is loin of lamb stuffed with garlic in a redcurrant and rosemary sauce, at £8.95.
9 Carmela's, 28 George Street, Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, GL6 OAG Tel: 01453 834802
Nailsworth is something of a gourmet focal point, what with a top-class fishmongers and delicatessen, two decent butchers, an organic greengrocer and Carmela's. There are two Carmela's really, both warm and cosy: lunchtime Carmela's, which is a cheapskate classic; and the evening Carmela's, which is a bit fancier but doesn't quite skate in on price. But the cooking has the same vigour and colour and generous approach to portion control. There's a bit of the chicken liver pate and avocado and prawns variety (very superior versions, it has to be said), but inspiration comes from all over - meze, charcuterie, big gloopy salads, chicken stuffed with three cheeses and tarragon, mackerel with red onion marmalade, veggie options and top-of-the-range chips. Superior cooking and a tasty wine list.
10 Cellar Gascon, 59 West Smithfield, London EC1 Tel: 020-7600 7561
Rather more laid-back than the parent Club Gascon next door. Very charming staff serve up a kind of Gascon mezze. Order any number of small dishes of charcuterie of all shapes and sizes, including cold andouillette and hams, duck and goose liver in various guises, and black pudding, as well as piperade and salt cod among the meat offerings. Breads are very healthy. As there is an inspiring wine list which explores the lesser known corners of French vins du pays, a seductive array of armagnacs and a decent line in cigars, you may be tempted to linger longer and spend more than the regulation £15.
11 The Cooked Meat Shop, Bath Market, Bath, BA2 4AW Tel: 01225 425 640
Bath chaps, pigs' tails, chitterlings, brawn, hazlet, The Cooked Meat Shop is a tiny museum of Britain's lost charcuterie heritage. It's not much to look at, but never mind the presentation, taste the quality. Of course, there's stuff to pick up and take home, such as serious steak and kidney pies, but there's also stuff to eat on the hoof. There's a big range of pasties: Jamaican (99p), Cornish (99p) and spinach and feta (£1.09) for the vegetarian. There are jumbo sausage rolls and handy-sized pork pies (49p). While you're at it, explore the other delights of Bath Market and help keep a traditional food centre in business.
12 Exceed, 65 South Methven Street, Perth, PN1 5NX Tel: 01738-621189
Exceed has been open just over a year, and it, er, exceeds, expectations. Top-notch local materials sourced with attention to detail and cooked with respect and skill. The menu is as substantial as the helpings. There are salmon rillettes with avocado relish, duck confit with pecorino garlic mash and rocket oil, smoked haddock chowder, mushroom risotto cakes, pork with mozzarella crumble and gazpacho sauce and chicken with roast apple.
13 Eyre Bros, 35 Charlotte Road, London, EC2 Tel: 020-7739 5345
Brought to you by David Eyre, ex-chef of the legendary gastro-pub, The Eagle, this tiny sandwich bar on one of Shoreditch's most fashionable streets starts out with plenty of credibility. Top-notch lunch fodder with hefty sandwiches (rare beef and fresh horseradish, pork loin, and so on, on crusty home-baked bread, all at £4), fresh soups and salads (£3) and Med-inspired bigger dishes for £6-£7. The staff are decked out in chef's whites to add that extra dash of professionalism and class, helped along by the well-thumbed collection of cookbooks stacked behind the counter. A quick bite out of necessity; its four stools don't make for a leisurely lunch.
14 Fryer's Delight, 19 Theobald Road, London, WC1 Tel: 020-7405 4114
This is the real thing. The smell of hot beef-dripping tells the full story. Beef dripping is the original and finest frying medium for fish and chips. It seems to bring out an inherent sweetness in potatoes and adds a warm gloss of turf to the poor man's surf. First-class fresh fish with a generous sense of portion control, chips like railway sleepers, serious pickled gherkins, leatherette banquette seats, formica-topped tables, steamed-up windows, service as brisk and unsentimental as you like. The classic chippie.
15 The Gallery, 256 Brixton Hill, London, SW2 Tel: 0208-671 8311
A Portguese stunner serving some of the heftiest, heartiest, most mouth-filling, rib-sticking food in London. You (and at least two others) could eat yourself to a standstill for £27.50 on cataplana (a kind of sealed pot that looks like a metal ball) of salt cod with clams and prawns in the restaurant at the back with its idiosyncratic decor. Or you can take away a bit of chicken, ribs or lamb grilled over the flames and doused in peri-peri or jedungo sauce for under a fiver. It's your call.
16 The Gallery Restaurant and Millsy's Cafe Bar, 20 Earlsdon Street, Coventry, CV5, 6EG Tel: 0247-671 3222
This former newsagent's in the prosperous suburb of Earlsdon is a classy joint where it's just possible to tuck away a two-course dinner for £15, including Cajun spiced fishcakes, avocado salsa and cucumber relish; mille feuille of aubergine, red pepper and forest mushrooms with a garlic and herb cream sauce, at £4.95 each. For dyed-in-the-wool guzzlers there are the light lunchtime meals in the cafe-bar downstairs. Choices range from bangers and mash with onion gravy to bruschetta with caramelised smoked haddock, Delicious house wines are from £8.95 a bottle.
17 The George & Dragon, High Street, Rowde, Wiltshire, SN10 2PN Tel: 01380 723053
One of the first, one of the best gastro-pubs. Both pub and gastro bits are happily balanced. Small, crepuscular, warm and wooden just beyond Devizes in lovely, leafy Wiltshire. No fancy trimmings. Food out of the top drawer by Tim Withers. Fish a major item, and fresh enough to show up many a pricier gaff. Handled with real flair. Classics and contemporary European dishes good enough for a celebratory number, or simply to fill up at lunch. Bona puddings. Brilliant beer and proper wines.
18 Harry Ramsden's, White Cross, Guiseley, Leeds, LS20 8LZ Tel: 01943 874641
You can find them everywhere now, from Inverness to Jeddah, not to mention at the odd airport and motorway service station. But the original should be a mecca for every serious lover of cod in batter with chips. Chips come included in the price these days, and cod, well that's £5.50 for a fillet and £7.65 for a special. But cod is a luxury item now, don't you know. Still the best British street food, especially when fried in beef dripping, doused in vinegar and topped with mushy peas.
19 Ichiban Noodle Cafe, 50 Queen Street, Glasgow, G1 3EN Tel: 0141-204 4200
Noodles - cheap, cheerful, copious and child-friendly. Ichiban doles out oodles of noodles to a constant stream of eager eaters aged from six months to 66 years with ease and calm. It doesn't just do those huge steaming bowls of soba, ramen and udon noodles swimming in broth. If you're up for something a bit more recherché, try the 11 variations on a sushi theme, from omelette to octopus, or bento boxes of sushi, dumplings and tempura, and miso soup. Organic wine, Kirin and Asahi beers, and sencha tea for non-boozers. Lunch/dinner £5.50.
20 Jamfish, 28-32 Greenwood Street, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 1RZ Tel: 0161-928 6677.
The open-plan kitchen delivers dainties through to full meals (£2.95-£11.95), from salads and sandwiches to dishes with style and substance. Try lamb carpaccio with Swiss chard; smoked haddock and oyster mushroom risotto; or calves liver and kidney with pancetta. A North African edge catches the eye: look out for Tunisian fish soup with harissa butter and tabouna bread and Moroccan tagine with dried figs and preserved lemons. Kids' menu includes sweetcorn and feta cheese, omelette with sauteed potatoes. Conveniently split into bar, lounge and restaurant areas.
21 Kambi's, 107 Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2AA. Tel: 01273 327934
It's hard to love Western Road but it does, however, boast Kambi's, a Lebanese BYOB restaurant with a takeaway counter to satisfy the quickest and pickiest of quick biters. Starters include arayess (minced lamb with parsley, grilled in Lebanese bread and marinated in olive oil) and sawdadajaj (fried chicken liver with lemon). Veggies should go straight for the specialist main courses for makdous bitinjan (baby aubergine stuffed with walnuts, spices, garlic and marinated in olive oil), tabbouleh, hummus, kabis (Lebanese pickles) and warakinab (stuffed vine leaves). All at under £3 a shot. Chargrilling is a speciality, but only, natch, for meaties.
22 Lettonie, 35 Kelston Road, Bath, Somerset, BA1 3QH Tel: 01225 446676
There are no lengths to which the Guzzler will not go in search of a bargain, even if it means taking in a double Michelin-starred restaurant. But as Lettonie is prepared to show such daring - a two-course autumn menu for £15 (although, with extras, that could swell) - then so must we. Housed in a Georgian pile, it has a proper (without being stuffy) dining room, with proper waiting staff and a proper complement of appetisers and extras. A "fish and chips" starter came with pert plaice chunks and impossibly thin crisped potato, and an impeccable tartare sauce.
23 Mandola, 139-141 Westbourne Grove, London, W11 Tel: 020-7229 4734
Every neighbourhood should have a Sudanese restaurant, as the food is much more interesting and varied than some other highly touted national nosh. It sort of sits happily between the lightness and spice of North Africa and the greater heft of Ottoman and Turkish food, what with salata aswad (a splendid aubergine goo), salata daqua (a salad of white cabbage in peanut sauce), chicken halla in a potent tomato sauce, and date mousse. The interior bounces with colour, toned down by subtle lighting at night. Service can be seductively languid. Very popular. Booking essential.
24 Markwick's, 43 Corn Street, Bristol, Avon Tel: 0117 926 2658
Ever wanted to break into a bank vault? It's a rather elegant experience, and you eat pretty damn well into the bargain if you make it to Markwick's (previous incarnation: bank vault). Stephen Markwick has been doling out the helpings for any number of years, and very good helpings they are too: guinea fowl with lentils and Savoy cabbage, salmon in pastry with currants and ginger. Many organic ingredients. Sadly, only lunch (£14.50) just scrapes in, but it's worth spending much more.
25 Mims, 63 East Barnet Road, Barnet, Herts, EN4 8RN Tel: 020-8449 2974
Mims is an oddity, and no mistake. It stands in a row of shops, quietly minding its own business and going about its own business with charm and determination. One of the best-value meals in the country, not because it is cheap (although it limbos comfortably under the £15-a-head criteria; it charges £10.50 for a two-course lunch, and £14 for a two-course dinner) but because the food is serious, classy, generous and definitely tasty. The cooking stands firmly in the European mainstream, with impeccably fresh ingredients blended deftly and distinctively.
26 The Narrows, 8-10 Shore Road, Portaferry, County Down, BT22 Tel: 028-4272 8148
Three years ago, the Narrows restaurant shouldered its way into the sleepy coastal village of Portaferry, banged all its saucepans and loudly declared itself the best place to eat in the county. And at the prices chef Danny Millar charges, it's difficult to argue. The late 70s rustic-French-canteen-effect dining room is horrible, but the food - locally caught seafood, Mourne lamb - beats the decor into submission. Cheapskaters are advised to go for the Lunch Bowl Special (£5.95), which could be cod and chips one day, chicken with basil mash the next and who knows what tomorrow.
27 Patio, 5 Goldhawk Road, London W12 Tel: 020-8743 5194
One of London's great restaurants, although you could walk past it a dozen times and not see it. Three courses are £9.90 including vodka and an unmatched warmth of welcome, charm of service, and sense of the pleasure of life. The borscht is one of the most sublime soups you will ever eat. The pierogi (little ravioli) are exemplary. And the puds, as Mr Charles Campion put it, are "high octane". Rather like the vodka.
28 Pot of Beer, 36 New Mount Street, Manchester, M4 4DE Tel 0161-834 8579
Not all is as it seems. Tucked away on a back street just beyond the fringes of the city centre, towards the Boddingtons brewery and within sight of Strangeways, this apparently typical Manchester pub disguises a kitchen brimful of Polish goodies. Under the watchful eye of the Polish White Eagle, real ales rub shoulders with Zywiec beer and a selection of vodkas. Pass on the sandwiches, jacket potatoes and chips. Go straight to mouth-filling, heart-warming borscht (beetroot soup), sledzie (pickled herrings), bigos (pork and sauerkraut), kielbasa (grilled sausage), wedliny (cooked meats), placki (fried potato cakes), flaki (tripe), golabki (stuffed cabbage) and pierogi (large ravioli stuffed with cheese or meat), all for less than £5. Place your order by phone.
29 The Riverside Inn, Aymestrey, Herefordshire, HR6 9ST Tel: 01568 708440
Escape from high-profile gastro-capital Ludlow just down the road to where the River Lugg gurgles, popping with trout, fringed with bluebells and wild garlic in season. Real fires burn in real grates and real food is served with real beer from the nearby Woodhampton Brewery. Much local produce on show, lamb, beef and cheeses included, and vegetables, salads and herbs are homegrown. Cooking changes according to season and is rooted in European classics, for example seafood risotto, squid in red wine, venison with stuffed cabbage and Hereford rump with scoundrel's sauce.
30 Sausage & Mash Cafe, 268 Portobello Road, London W10 Tel: 020-8968 8898
All the world loves a sausage. The S&M does them in style - comfort food for the day before, the morning after, and right now this minute. There's a gallery of about eight broad-shouldered bangers including a decent veggie option, plus six kinds of mash and five gravies. Presentation is a high art form - dishes (troughs) arrive with everything together - a mountain of creamy, monster mash with sausages jammed in at angles and gravy everywhere. It is a bit of a canteen - benches, smoke and noise. Not a trace of subtlety or sophistication. Great for groups or losing yourself in a crowd. Wine if you want or need it.
31 St John, 26 St John Street, London EC1 Tel: 020-7251 0848
All right, I know St John is a pukka restaurant, shortlisted for top honours in the Moët et Chandon London restaurant awards and all that. But people forget that it does admirable Guzzler-priced bar meals - lamb and green sauce sandwich, brawn, trotter and mash, Welsh rarebit, dripping toast, cold duck breast and pickled damsons, celeriac and boiled egg, Eccles cake and Lancashire cheese. There's more for the unreconstructed carnivore than the epicurean veggie, but it's all very good stuff, and is around the £5-£8 mark. Serious bread, brilliant beers, proper wines. Why can't more restaurants do something as intelligent?
32 Tampopo, Albert Square, Manchester, M2 5PF Tel: 0161-819 1966
Manchester's first and finest noodle bar has gone from strength to strength in its short lifetime. This minimalist basement restaurant promotes a contemporary approach to dining with a flexible menu which is an extensive cruise around southeast Asia, calling at Japan, Thailand and Malaysia among others. The astute management encourages customers to turn up on spec, only taking bookings for parties of six, but they work this policy well so you never wait long. Tampopo also has aspirations for greater things, as its recent catering for a Texas after-show party at Manchester's DKNY store showed.
33 Tas, 33 The Cut, London SE1 Tel: 020-7928 1444
Winner of the Time Out vegetarian award this year, although it caters just as adequately for carnivores. A large, smart, light, bright place with open-plan grill and understandably busy. For Turkophiles, the cooking is Anatolian in origin. The large, a la carte menu covers everything from kirmizi mercimek corbeasi, or red lentil soup to you, to dil baligi, grilled Dover sole, by way of patlicanli, grilled aubergine with tomato and peppers, and bobrek izgara, grilled lamb kidney, oregano and cumin. Set menus from £6.45 to £17.95 (for two people) provides the easy way in. Flavours fresh, fearless and forthright. Cheerful service. Try one of the Turkish wines on the list.
34 Valvona & Crolla, 19 Elm Row, Edinburgh, EH7 4AA Tel: 0131-556 6066
Why can't there be more places like this? Light, bright, open space at the back of the best food shop in Britain. Cheerful, capable service and, very importantly for some, terrifically child-friendly. Tremendous Italian wines by the glass. And some of the best Italian food anywhere. This is home cooking at its best. It may be pizza, pasta, antipasti, soups, salads and meaty or fishy dishes of the day but it is Italian home cooking based on first-class ingredients handled with true understanding and generosity. This place beats the pants off far fancier restaurants every time. Make sure you go early. It gets extremely busy.
35 The Village Bakery, Melmerby, Cumbria, CA10 1HE Tel: 01768 881515
It's an unlikely spot to find a top-notch bakery, teahouse, modest eatery. Behind it looms the long, smooth buttress of the north Pennines. Around it sprawls the village of Melmerby (with the bustling Shepherd's Arms dispensing Jennings beers and decent pub grub). The bakery is, however, the star turn. It has cracking bread, with French and Russian rye the specialities, cruiserweight pasties, indecently seductive florentines and other biscuity goodies if you have to dash. It's also in the market for breakfast, snacks, soups, sandwiches, light lunches, teas and a few more substantial dishes, all made according to strict organic principles.
36 Wee Curry Shop, 7 Buccleuch Street, Glasgow, G3 6SJ Tel: 0141-353 0777
A little bit of back-street Calcutta or Bombay - tiny restaurant, rickety tables, functional oilskin tablecloths, with the odd choice touch of tartan curtains, halogen spots, and prints of Indian women in saris. The proximity of the open-plan kitchen means you watch your food being cooked before you eat - cookery demo and lunch rolled in to one. The basics are properly looked to - grade A rice, top-hole puris, ace parathas and keep room for karahis and chilli garlic chicken. Veggies are more variable. The bills are on a par with the space, and the food comes flying to the table.
37 Ruchi, 42 Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16 Tel: 020-7923 4564
There's no shortage of Indian restaurants in N16, and some are seriously classy. Bright, new and very pink, Ruchi is firmly in the classy class despite being less than £15 a head. The team graduated from nearby Rasa, specialising in southern India's seafood and vegetarian cuisine, so coconut, curry leaves and tamarind are much in evidence. Spicing is fresh and considerate, rather than searing. Pumpkin with sweet potato and spinach, squid stuffed with vegetables, coconut and herbs, and chembu curry, made with eddoes, all hit the spot. Outstanding breads and charmingly chummy service. Take away if you must.
38 Sushi-Hiro, 1 Station Parade, Uxbridge Road, London, W3 Tel: 020-8896 3175
Oasis of civilised calm in hectic Ealing/Acton border country. Almost meditative tranquillity of light, bright, clean-cut, pine and white interior. Fresh sushi and sashimi jewel-like in carefully ordered selections. Fish bought daily from Billingsgate. Nigiri and chirashi options, and fancier stuff still a la carte. Reaches from bog-standard mackerel, salmon and prawn through squirmaceous eel, squid and octopus to exotic sea urchin, flying fish and abalone. Impeccable pickles. Generous wasabi and gari. Free green at end of meal. Cash only.
39 Village Restaurant and Ramson's Enoteca, 18 Market Place, Ramsbottom, Lancashire, BLO 9HTO Tel: 01706 825070
Inspirational novelty; Brit/Italian on two floors. Downstairs you'll find the delights of Italy with bruschette, cured meats and Italian artisan cheeses. Upstairs are trad-Brit favourites - potted shrimps, organic trout, cold roasts and salads. Earlybird menus (two courses, £7.25; three courses, £9.75) offer cold minestrone, mortadella with goat's cheese and balsamic onions, stir-fry of Goosnargh chicken and duckling, then Robbiola cheese, washed down with something from a distinctly Italian wine list. Follow up with espresso and imported grappa.
40 Yummi Yummi Noodle Bar, 8 Station Parade, Uxbridge Road, Ealing Common, London W5 Tel: 020-8992 2848
How can you resist the name? It's new. It's bright. It's clean. It's friendly. And it serves noodles (soup noodles, wok noodles, bowl noodles, Japanese udon noodles, Singaporean rice noodles, Chinese egg noodles) with shredded chicken, barbecued lemon grass chicken, stir-fired beef, prawns and pork and fish cakes with a hint of curry, with prawns, scallops, squid and vegetables. Spring rolls (Vietnamese, Chinese); dumplings, bean crepes or satay to start. All appetisers £1-£3.20. All noodle dishes £5.50-£6.80.All cooked to order. All fine, fresh, fab flavours.
