Rick Stein at Bannisters

Its cliff-top setting and celebrity-chef cachet have made this a must-do destination, despite interiors and lighting erring towards the bland (so book a table on the deck, dine early and enjoy the light playing on the ocean). Youngish waiters offer chirpy, well-meaning service, although, considering Stein's enthusiastic notes on the extensive wine list, it seems remiss not to pour wine by the glass at the table. Naturally, quality seafood stars, from battered barra with fat chips and mushy peas to lobster thermidor. Elsewhere are enjoyable oddities such as an entree of oysters charentaise, served on ice with an accompanying dish of nicely granular spicy sausages. A plump lobster raviolo comes over-doused in beurre blanc; likewise, a sweet, tender fillet of grilled mahi mahi. Spicing is gentle in an Indonesian seafood curry, the ling, mahi mahi, squid and king prawns delicately cooked in the soupy sauce. For dessert, a lemon posset is pleasantly old-school - a little like Bannisters itself.