Contrasts In Vancouver

The Elbow Room (Davies and Seymour) has been recommended to me by a friend. On arrival I felt it lacked the ambience I had expected perhaps because it was not busy, perhaps because the wall decorations were reminiscent of Ellen's Stardust Diner in New York without the singing. However, we were soon enough treated to some engaging and sassy service, a lesson in how to clean your coffee pot with salt and an undeniably excellent breakfast. I was delighted to use Chip & PIN on payment as they have remained stubbornly resistant to this further south whilst being puzzled at the amount of credit card fraud. Go figure as they say round here.

8.5 out of 10 for quality of food

The following morning, Moneypennies closer to our hotel failed to live up to expectations nor come close to Elbow Room for excellence. It became apparent that it is essentially an omelette restaurant but rather than face the embarrassing search for an alternative, we stayed long enough to spot the breakfast special. Promising in print, its main characteristic was dryness. I was genuinely puzzled as to how I would butter my four pieces of toast with the portion provided, the smallest I have ever seen.

1.5 out of 10 - lack of effort

The Rusty Cutter - Bedhampton

The Rusty Cutter is a Beefeater a chain about which it is easy but unfair to be snobbish. I think the substantial Wednesday lunchtime crowd spoke for itself. Admittedly Beefeater is, like the rest, being aggressively competitive, but any recession on this Bedhampton hill was well hidden.

Our waitress was lively and charming at a busy time. The menu was quite stimulating and featured more new items. Apologies were received for a couple of missing ingredients but the food we ordered was very good. Prices are keen.

8.5 out of 10

Ockham Bites

There is a gem near the junction of the M25 and southbound A3. We used to go there very often and only do not do so now because we moved house.

It was a great pleasure to return today and find the service, it's great strength, to be as pleasant as ever.

The food is great and the sylvan setting incomparable. Go.

10 out of 10

Lee Tandoori

Indian restaurants are I feel a matter of personal taste. Everyone has their favourites. People in Ayr and Glasgow prefer theirs to avoid flavouring the food at all. I like something a little more vigorous which does not actually set me on fire and several visits to Lee Tandoori have left me satisfied.

Tonight, Aloo Chat and Chicken Tikka Dhansak were aromatic and spicy with resoundingly satisfying flavour. My boyfriend was surprised that his Chicken Pasanda also contained Chicken Tikka but that little diminished his overall enjoyment of the meal.

For a virtual teetotaller a half of Kingfisher was a guilty pleasure and the nearby sea afterwards an equal pleasure. Fawley looked quite fetching with the sun behind it.

8.5 out of 10

Two Hits And A Miss

I can not be alone in noticing that my grocery bill seems to be getting smaller and that opportunities for great prices seem to be burgeoning. So ridiculously low are some of the prices that one can only infer a poorly concealed panic amongst even our leading retailers although under precisely what circumstances people would stop buying food I can not really imagine.

However, with some sincerely held reservations about the wellbeing of suppliers, I have been no less than delighted with some of our recent purchases both on price and quality. If you are prepared to manage your kitchen to accommodate some slightly short dates there are some stunning bargains on fruit and vegetables.

We bought two corn on the cob (ASDA £1) and they were delicious. We bought three small courgettes (ASDA £1 and reduced to 40p) and they became the centrepiece of an excellent vegetable medley. It is true that my boyfriend improves anything he lays his hands on in the kitchen but these were good quality products.

Much less successful were the Jan Jac dessert products bought in Tesco also for £1. Diifficult to complain about the price but the rice desserts are vanilla puddings which simply happen to have rice in them and are entirely unremarkable. My mother gave a similar verdict on their fruit jellies. Perhaps a less discerning audience of, say, partying five year olds would be perfectly happy.

Elliotts - Hayling Island

On a sunny Sunday we went in spite of any misgivings to the SE end of Hayling Island. I was in fact far more motivated by railway remains than food but the time of day suggested lunch. Mercifully standing out from nearby grim diners, was Elliotts located according to its self penned history available at the tables, in adjacent converted cottages. There is a pleasant restaurant which does not look especially inviting from the outside but is clean and efficiently run inside. Food from an extensive menu is brought by polite, well presented and well spoken waitresses whose attentiveness does not waver during the meal even as the evidently popular venue fills up.

We both chose specials and left satisfied if slightly overwhelmed by the generous portions. Orders were delivered correctly and quickly. You might find this strange to remark upon but it simply does not happen everywhere these days.

The property includes a chip shop which was very busy. Although I did not sample its fare, the fish dishes which were brought to the restaurant looked impressive with crisp golden batter clearly cooked at the correct (high) temperature. Such was the turnover, no piece of fish ever stood long enough to wilt.

It was not haute cuisine nor did it pretend to be and it deserves at least 8.5 out of 10.

Pavillion Cafe - Buxton

As a pre-theatre venue, The Pavillion Cafe was ideal. The menu was very interesting and good value. My partner's Goat's Cheese Risotto was well received though we thought smaller pieces of cheese might have been more appropriate than one large wheel. My Shepherds Pie was tasty and the accompanying vegetables perfect. Banana and toffee cheesecake was not quite as good as it looked - it was beautifully presented, but my lack of enthusiasm was probably as much as anything to do with not really wanting or needing it. I very much liked the sourcing of local products.

Service was provided by some decent and effective young people. I was worried that we might be cutting it a bit fine for the waiting Lucrezia Borgia but they met our every requirement. There is no need to look any further for our next visit to Festival.

9.5 out of 10.