The Cook's Garden

With everyone from corporate types to relaxed locals, the Cook's Garden cleverly suits all comers, offering both butter and olive oil with your bread, and both inside and outside dining. This accommodating approach sets the tone for a comfortable, well-served dining experience, whether it's a burger from the more casual lunch menu in the courtyard overlooking the garden, or dinner at clothed tables in the spacious sweep of the dining room. Dinner kicks off with confit deboned chicken wings in a full-bodied chicken and thyme consomme, or a delicate, beautifully crafted steamed scallop mousse paired with a crisp-fried scallop and a light semillon sauce. Slow-cooked duck maryland was a touch dry, as was a butter-poached dory, frocked up with crisp calamari and saffron mussels. There are plenty of dessert choices but we say go for the light-as-air souffle - mandarin, perhaps, with a dark chocolate ice-cream - which will leave you floating on air.