Quick bites: Food & Drink news

IF IT ever stops raining, we'll all be a-barbecue-ing like the true Brits we are.

A far better way to enjoy this most variable of al fresco experiences, though, is to let someone else do it for you: and if your surroundings are the lush and slightly decadent Roof Gardens in Kensington, you're into a whole other dimension.

Barbecues are being organised in the alluring and atmospheric Tudor Gardens on Saturday nights during summer months: £45 a head buys you dishes such as whole seabass with Pico di Gallo and leg of lamb steak marinated with chilli and lemongrass, and entrance into the private members' club is included. Beats the living daylights out of a black pork link in a bun.

The Tudor Gardens, The Roof Gardens, 99 Kensington High Street W8. Tel: 020 7937 7994. Tube: High Street Kensington

ANYONE LOOKING to blot out a little reality might consider heading for Cafe Pacifico or La Perla , where they're holding their annual Margarita festival. Running for three weeks from today, it's an opportunity to explore beyond your basic entry level-Cuervo (although there's the Especial, based on Cuervo Gold, for 'novices').

Try exotica such as a Breakfast Margarita with added pink grapefruit or, if you're minted, a Coleccion Margarita made from rare 1800 Coleccion Anejo Tequila at £100 a shot (your name on a plaque behind the bar might help to alleviate the lightness of your wallet).

La Perla : branches in Charlotte Street, Maiden Lane and Fulham Road.
Cafe Pacifico : 5 Langley Street WC2. Tel: 020 7379 7728

ARGUABLY THE capital's best-kept culinary secret has to be the ongoing deal at Incognico , the elegantly understated Shaftesbury Avenue outpost of legendary culinary capo Nico Ladenis.

Just £12.50 buys you two courses at lunch or between 5.30pm and 7.30pm (ideal for this theatre-laden area). Chef Darren Bunn, late of the Mirabelle , offers dishes such as fresh gnocchi dressed with brilliantly green pesto and crisped, musky pancetta or seared cod on a bed of tomato and mussels.

Perfect service, starched napery, an air of luxury - and all for only a couple of quid more than a set lunch at establishments such as Cafè Flo. Unmissable.

Incognico , 117 Shaftesbury Avenue WC1. Tel: 020 7836 8866. Tube: Leicester Square