For those of you who are familiar with GBK, Clink Street is the chain’s 50th outlet and rather different from the norm for a few reasons, the most striking of which is that it offers full restaurant service, rather than ordering and paying at a counter, which is how it works everywhere else.

One thing I will say to the detriment of this undoubtedly enchanting restaurant is that if they ever want anyone to order pudding they might want to consider cutting the main courses in half. A couple of bottles of the excellent Cannonau Riserva were the only other things we managed past our lips that night.

Ask the average person their experience of Turkish food and they will probably say ‘kebab’, that tasty post-cocktail treat that falls apart when you bite into it, leaving your salad on the pavement and both ears full of chili sauce. The Kebab house, with its elephant’s leg slowly spinning on a spit, rules the suburban multi-cultural high street.

The service here was careful, polished and exacting, we couldn’t find fault with that. And the food – with a few exceptions – was pretty much the same. As long as the mighty Princess of Shoreditch keeps an eye on the salt and other demons, we’re sure the punters will keep coming.

This huge venue opened at the beginning of October this year and boasts three separate bars, as well as the Terrace restaurant. The Terrace menu is currently priced at £25 for three courses, which is excellent value.

Tantalising our taste buds since 1990, Chutney Mary is a stalwart of the Kensington and Chelsea culinary scene. Sister restaurant to Veeraswamy, Britain’s oldest Indian restaurant (Est.1926), this is most definitely not your local curry house.

Opened just a month ago, the unfortunately-named Bangalore Express in its hidden location belies its fab quality. This mid-priced, 80s-decor Indian restaurant is a real find if you can find it, but no one seems to have located it quite yet.

Locale Balham is one of a chain of five Italian restaurants around London, the Balham restaurant, on the corner of Balham High Road and Ritherdon Road has a modern but comfortable feel with well spaced tables. It is a good local restaurant, as the name suggests.

Some critics have had a pop at Caleya’s decoration and style, but I rather like it. Bright and modern and with chairs that boast extra wide seats, presumably for extra wide bums, it’s friendly and cheerful but is also a tale of bi-polar cooking. Starters and desserts of true genius, mains of less than perfection.

On the drive to Borde Hill gardens, through tree-branch tunnels, I spied the aftermath of a great many game birds, spread on tarmac. Morbidly, I found the sight mildly appetising. Rather than irrational bloodlust, I interpreted this as impatience to sample the speciality at destination, ‘Jeremy’s’, a family-run restaurant known for its game…