This charming riverside restaurant is a local favourite with its shabby-chic décor, inventive cocktails and generous portions of delicious, homemade food.

The Venue
Nestled in the heart of well-to-do Chiswick, Annie’s is a popular restaurant in west London, with an envious location by the Thames. Resembling a cosy yet glamorous living room, the restaurant is a home-from-home decorated with gilded mirrors, fairy lights, cushions, candles and chandeliers. Annie’s is split over two floors, ensuring that although cosy, the polished wooden tables aren’t squashed together and the restaurant doesn’t feel over-crowded. An outside section is also available for warmer days, and although it's great for those who smoke, it doesn't lend itself to great views, given that they're merely of the road.

The Atmosphere
Service is speedy and with a smile, and the furnishings and opulent interior create an intimate, romantic atmosphere perfect for dinner with your beau. With red velvet curtains and roses, this is certainly the place for a date, though Annie’s prides itself on being family friendly, so it’s not out of the ordinary to be sitting alongside children if you go for the popular Sunday lunches.

The Food
Whether you're visiting for brunch, lunch or dinner, Annie's has a variety of European dishes peppering the menu, with an array of vegetarian, meat and seafood starters and main courses from which to choose. Specialising in cheese-based dishes, appetisers include baked camembert for sharing, a roquefort, chicory, poached pear and candied walnut dish, a buffalo mozzarella salad, and a halloumi, roast squash, fig and caramelised shallot salad with sweet, understated flavours that beautifully complement each other. Other options include perfectly cooked crispy calamari with a spicy wasabi aioli and Moroccan spiced meatballs, baba ganoush and flatbread, with all appetisers falling between six and nine pounds.

Main courses include the more traditional beer battered haddock, a cheese and bacon beef burger and the fragrant fish pie (£13.95), which could be improved by taking it out the oven a little earlier to keep more moisture. The char-grilled lamb and goat's cheeseburger (£11.95) is juicy and tender, with the cheese managing to avoid overpowering the dish completely. Some quirky alternative dishes include salmon caesar salad (£13.95) and Annie’s posh chicken kebab, served with guacamole and chilli sauce (£14.95).

If you can make room for the tempting homemade desserts (all at £5.95), the moist and decadent sticky toffee pudding is recommended, as is Annie’s rich banoffee pie. A less successful option is the salted caramel crème brulèe , which is reminiscent of toffee flavoured Angel Delight. Nonetheless, other desserts such as chocolate and ginger brownie served with white chocolate ice cream, and the blueberry cheesecake with honeycomb ice cream both look delicious.

The Drink
Well known for its cocktail menu (most come in at around £7), Annie’s offers drinks that are delicious and well thought out. The Chocolate orange Martini is the house cocktail, and blends smooth chocolate alcohol and orange juice (with bits) for a perfectly balanced drink that tastes similar to an alcoholic jaffa cake. Other cocktails include Cosmos and Margaritas, along with more inventive offers such as a spiced pear and apple Martini, Annie’s Blush Royale (mixed with crystalised rose petals) and Diamond Fizz for those after something even more decadent. The helpful bar staff are also happy to mix up any other cocktail of your choice, should you request it. Wines are also served by bottle or by glass for a reasonable price, which the staff are more than happy to recommend, depending on your chosen dish.

The Last Word
Welcoming, beautifully decorated and serving delicious food and drink, this is one restaurant definitely worth travelling slightly further out for.

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