L’ORANGER

5 St James Street SW 1; tel.: 020 7839 3774; fax: 020 7839 4330 St James's is a popular area for luxury shopping. After shopping where better to stop in for lunch or dinner than L'Oranger, an attractive and elegant restaurant with good food and excellent service. Chef Kemal Benamar offers mainly French cuisine but also dishes such as salted cod and potato tartelette with shallots; canon of lamb with braised fennel. When I dined there I finished with a hazelnut souffle with chocolate sauce and praline ice cream.

LUNDUM’S

119 Old Brompton Road SW7; tel.: 020 7373 7774, fax: 020 7373 4472 London's only Danish restaurant is a good exponent of all that is best with Danish produce and Danish cooking. Fish and shellfish of course: the herring platter is a good example. Here you get marinated, spicy, curried and dill herrings. You can have the salmon gravad (marinated) or smoked or salted or raw as a tartare. You can also have a selection as a mixed platter. Among fish dishes are pan-fried plaice with cranberries, grilled sea bass and oven-baked monkfish Pork fillets in a prune and armagnac sauce is a meat dish I have enjoyed before going on to a creme brulee or Lundum's chocolate mousse. The entire Uindum family headed by Kay Lundum, his wife Connie and their son and daughter make this very much a family enterprise. It is a small but comfortable place, easily reached in South Kensington.

LEVANT

Jason Court, 76 Wigmore Street; tel.: 08 71 3 32 7346 Levant is a real feast for the senses; from the moment you enter this Lebanese restaurant you are treated to the scent of rose petals whilst the eyes can appreciate the eastern influence of the interior design, leaving the ears to enjoy the traditional Middle Eastern music. The extensive menu features all the normal mezze selection and excellent grilled meat dishes with a good value set menu options, particularly at lunchtime. The cover charge is to provide for the generous provision of bread, olives and vegetables. It is also worth noting that they take last orders at midnight.

JOHN BURTON-RACE

The Landmark, 222 Marylebone Road NW1; tel.: 020 7723 7800; fax: 020 7723 4700 The Landmark is a stylish hotel with a remarkable high atrium lobby. It is located away from the centre in Marylebone, opposite the station. Burton-Race's food has to be really excellent to attract enough customers out of the West End to fill the large dining room where he now is — and it is superb. John is now, in my opinion, one of the top ten chefs in Britain. When I dined there with some friends not long ago we had the following tasting menu: tomato consomme scented with coriander, crayfish tails roasted and flamed in cognac and corn-fed squab pigeon roasted with honey.

HAKKASAN

8 Hanway Place; W1T 1HD; Fitzrovia; tel.: 020 7907 1888 Ensconced in a basement on an unassuming blink-and-you'll-miss-it side-street, Hakkasan is the capital's most glamorous, must-visit Chinese restaurant. Walk past the extravagant floral arrangements by the reception to reach the Ling Ling bar at the far side of the restaurant, where you'll find a moodily brooding space lit with flickering candles. Designed by Christian Liaigre, the stained oak bar is decked out with colourful backlit panels and richly embroidered oriental fabrics. There's a complex cocktail list that was put together by legendary London barman Dick Bradsell. It boasts oriental-themed cocktails (around £8 each) made from sake, oriental spirits and fresh exotic fruit. Try Kumquat Javu (Appleton rum, Mandarine Napoleon, Southern Comfort and kumquats) or Plum Sour (Chinese plum brandy, Chivas Regal and sours).