Bites: Inland Suffolk

Froize Inn, The Street, Chillesford, Suffolk (01394 450282) Tue-Sun lunch and dinner. First impressions of a smart but not remarkable pub would be short of the mark, for this has a reputation for exceptional food, especially fantastic fish caught only a few miles away. There could be cod from Orford cooked Italian style, sea trout, Dover sole, haddock, skate and lobsters. And sizzling beef for those who must have meat. Main courses served by French staff are £10-£18. Bar snacks from £7 are along the lines of cod and chips and fish pie. Desserts: summer pudding, ginger and pear crÿme brûlée or spotted dick.

Froize Inn, The Street, Chillesford, Suffolk (01394 450282) Tue-Sun lunch and dinner. First impressions of a smart but not remarkable pub would be short of the mark, for this has a reputation for exceptional food, especially fantastic fish caught only a few miles away. There could be cod from Orford cooked Italian style, sea trout, Dover sole, haddock, skate and lobsters. And sizzling beef for those who must have meat. Main courses served by French staff are £10-£18. Bar snacks from £7 are along the lines of cod and chips and fish pie. Desserts: summer pudding, ginger and pear crÿme brûlée or spotted dick.

Theobald's Restaurant, 68 High Street, Ixworth (01359 231707) Tue-Sat lunch and dinner, Sun lunch. A Suffolk standard-bearer of long standing, it draws customers from a wide radius for meals that keep the quality coming from pre-dinner nibbles to petits fours. In between, dishes are dextrous and impressive for their variety. Deep-fried lamb's sweetbreads with thyme-flavoured noodles, or grilled sardines on plum tomatoes to start with; then red mullet with steamed scallops, prawns and clams with saffron risotto, or spring lamb on candied aubergines with rosemary sauce, for example. Lunch is around £15 for two courses (Sunday lunch £18.95), dinner double that.

The White Hart Inn, 11 High Street, Nayland near Colchester (01206 263382) Tue-Sun lunch and dinner. A mâitre d' and all French staff, a 15th-century inn in a gorgeous village, and the owner is Michel Roux. But it's not unduly expensive, with starters for £6, mains around £14. Cooking is distinguished by attention to detail. Past successes have included mussels with roquefort sauce, twice-baked goat's cheese soufflé, confit of rabbit, wood pigeon with choucroute and juniper berry jus and and beef tournedos. Desserts are typically French.

De La Pole Arms, Church Road, Wingfield (01379 384545) Bar food daily lunch 12-2pm and dinner 7-9pm (9.30pm Fri, Sat). The inn is ancient, but was sympathetically refurbished four years ago as a showcase for beers from local and laudable St Peter's Brewery. St Peter's best bitter (£1.90 a pint), wheat beer, and fruit beers as diverse as grapefruit or elderberry are accordingly tip-top. Bar food - brought to the table - majors on fish from Lowestoft, with halibut crumble the most expensive at £9.95. On Friday and Saturday night and Sunday lunch three course meals are also served in a restaurant for around £20 a head.

The Captain's Table, 3 Quay Street, Woodbridge, Suffolk (01394 383145) Tue-Sat lunch and dinner, Sun lunch. The Captain launched a couple of years ago, and quickly generated a swell for its inexpensive, straightforward good food served without fuss by T-shirted staff. Smoked haddock and salmon fishcake with lemon butter sauce, and duck confit with red cabbage are perennials by popular demand. Lunch ranges from snacky starters such as crab samosas (£5), through salads, to grilled tuna with mango salsa (£7.50). Dinner cranks up a couple of gears for gravadlax, lamb shank (£9.50) or skate wing (£8.95), but spaghetti Bolognaise, too, for £5.95. Keen as mustard all round.