Shish

If the furthest you'd go for a good feed is to the fridge and back, it's probably time to think seriously about broadening your gastronomic horizons. Your first port of call might be Shish. Inspired by the ancient Silk Road, the chefs at Shish have travelled the 5,000 miles from Rome to China, and have brought the very best from the East back to Blighty. Then they've stuck it on a skewer - or Shish - and cooked it to perfection before your eyes. While a menu spanning a whole continent might seem a little too adventurous for some, the Shish approach is to guide you firmly through their world of flavours, giving you the chance to sample some interesting and new tastes without getting lost on the way. First steps are taken with hot and cold mezzes from as far afield as Afghanistan and Lebanon, placing very varied dishes next to each other in bite-sized mosaics of taste and texture. The main courses get to the meat of the issue with an emphasis on, well, meat. Again, the Gods of flavour have been invoked, and have blessed Shish with an abundance of tasty dishes. From hearty Persian koftas, via a fish special of Turkish tilapia, to tender Indonesian Satay chicken, eating here seems as if half the world has come to pay homage at your table. The attention to simple details is impressive and effective; using thigh meat in the chicken dishes gives them an edge in taste you wouldn't find for the same price somewhere else. Desserts made in-house are your final destination, and will leave you wishing you didn't have to go home; the basil and strawberry sorbet alone is worth the journey to Shish. All this comes to you at prices that might have been poached from Wagamama, though the conveyor-belt approach to getting customers in and out has happily been left far behind. Eat here, and you'll wonder why Marco Polo ever bothered coming back from his travels.

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