Bites

Even if it's not full-on rock'n'roll, get in the groove, and under the stars, at cool restaurants where you can eat outside

Embassy

Discover what's cooking at Cookham Dean without leaving town. Chef Garry Hollihead and Mark Fuller's London restaurant offers a smooth, creamy interior and the chance to eat in the not quite fresh air outside. Tables can be booked on the terrace on the street, sheltered by bushes, shaded by a canopy. Lunch is £16.95 for two courses. Dinner dishes like steamed lobster, spring veg and miso broth are more like £20.

29 Old Burlington Street, London W1 (020-7437 9933)

Lickfold Inn

This ancient pub has owners in the music biz, but they've laid off the leopardskin and kept the character intact and the real ales on tap. With earthy paint colours and pleasing pine furniture there's more style here than your average country hostelry, though. Friday's barbecue night, any other time you can eat anything from foie gras boudin to sausage and mash for around £25 a head with wine. Tables outside can be booked.

Lickfold, West Sussex (01798 861285)

Seven Dials

One of the best places to eat in Brighton, a city that doesn't rock as much on the food front as it should. After an alfresco summer meal of chilled almond gazpacho, and sardines with chorizo and rocket salad on the sunny herby outside terrace you'll leave feeling as warm as the reviewers and regulars. Come the evening it's a cool venue for good food too. Lunch for as little as £12.50, dinner £23.50.

1-3 Buckingham Place, Brighton (01273 885555)

Thackeray's

A cool new venue. In Tunbridge Wells? In the writer's old home? The 17th-century townhouse has been restored with style, the kitchen's in the hands of the former chef of London's groovy St Martins Lane hotel. His cooking's expertly worked, modish French - classically based with contemporary flair then, like the restaurant itself. Lunch is a steal at £12.50 for three courses, and 40 diners can eat outside under a canopy.

85 London Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent (01892 511921)