The menu states that the seafood has been driven from Looe in Cornwall that very day and I imagine a bleary-eyed Cornishman belting his Vauxhall Astra up the M4 at dawn with a glum-faced turbot sat in the back. Is this good for the Criterion’s carbon footprint? Is it good for the turbot?

It’s a bit Jewish is Harry’s, not Kosher you understand, but the accent is there. Bit of an institution too; apparently it’s been here since 1948 but has since evolved into a New York Deli style place, somewhat dismaying its older customers but luring in the kind of people who want fast-food without added chav.

The last time I dined in Chez Bruce I had an absolute horrid time, we had been stuck upstairs in Siberia on my birthday with a waiter who informed us it was his last day and didn’t really care. Fast forward five years, another birthday and a decision that it was time to go back. After all you don’t keep your stars for that long with crap service and the cheese board was still tempting after all those years.

There still may be just a whisper of game left if you’re quick. Two very different establishments this season, with opposing cuisines, have been in on the act of serving the furred and the feathered. Anita Pati gives them both a shot.

Sitting between Clapham Common and Clapham North Underground Stations, The Loft is a substantial Bar and Restaurant, which, as you might imagine, is on the upper floor of a building containing other businesses and produces some seriously good food up there.

White linen, pink roses, scent of lilies, a light, spring-like interior, cream banquettes and tawny fawn furnishings within an understated exterior. And the service is unobtrusive and discreet, perfect for MPs with private lives and open wallets.

The intention is there and the cooking by co-owner Laurence Glayzer, who has a fine pedigree of French cooking in top places, is assured. I spotted sous chefs from other London French restaurants by the door enjoying a late evening snack and I think that should tell you all you need to know about Brasserie St Jacques.

Occupying the corner plot of Dorset Street and Manchester Street in Marylebone, Hardy’s is an establishment that boasts some character: there is external seating, and you enter through the main bar area which is both substantial and well set out. It is a wine bar/brasserie with some good dishes on offer, it’s worth trying.

Waldo’s is named after the architect of the great fountain in Cliveden house’s driveway, Thomas Waldo Story. It’s not perhaps the best of names to have chosen – I keep thinking of Nando’s – but this is seriously fine dining.

Tucked away in the money-laden back streets of Mayfair, Tamarind restaurant is by no means the new kid on the block. Established over 15 years ago, despite losing their Michelin star earlier this year, they still remain the original culinary big-hitter of Anglo-Indian cuisine.