Top five restaurants with terraces

Plateau

Canada Place, Canada Square, Canary Wharf, E14 (020-7715 7100). Mon-Sat (Sat dinner only) £90 ****

Chef Tim Tolley has worked with Jean-Georges Vongerichten in New York and came to Sir Terence Conran's Docklands restaurant from Vong in Knightsbridge (now Boxwood Cafe). Cleverly and imaginatively he has managed to recreate the frisson of pleasure that Oriental spicing can bring to dishes by other means. That horrible phrase 'with a twist' is not the method, it is more just creating delightful and enhancing surprises like the lemon puree which accompanies spit-roast blackleg chicken served with aligot potatoes (with cheese) or the mushroom broth that is the medium for monkfish spiritedly grilled a la plancha. The physical allure of the restaurant, bar and grill which look out over a Gotham City-like vista is increased by terraces, one at each end, where barbecues operate when the weather suits. 'Holy Smoke!' Robin might say to Batman - they filmed him here - let's have the bavette steak with onion marmalade.

Santini

29 Ebury Street, SW1 (020-7730 4094). Mon-Sun (Sat & Sun dinner only) £120

After 20 years, Gino Santin has retired and handed over the reins of his northern Italian restaurant to his daughter Laura. Far from instigating wacky new practises, sensible Laura, who lived in Milan for several years, is returning traditional dishes to the menu and encouraging culinary simplification which lets the worth of ingredients shine through. Pasta, soup and risotto is the longest chapter on the menu and fresh pappardelle with artichoke sauce looks set to become the signature dish, while cappellini with fresh tomato and basil is the sort of assembly which, carefully made, demonstrates congenial homogeneity. To mark the fresh way forward there has been a change of decor with emphasis on the terrace which seats 40. Umbrellas, heaters, olive trees and fairy lights deal with the vagaries of temperature that mark an English summer. Exuberant pricing has been somewhat ameliorated. Compare the veal chop (£17.50) to that at Cipriani (£27).

Smith's Of Smithfield

Top Floor, 67-77 Charterhouse Street, EC1 (020-7251 7950). Mon-Sun (Sat dinner only) £110

When Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recently launched his masterful River Cottage Meat Book (Hodder & Stoughton, £25), he did it on the terrace of the top floor of Smith's which, fittingly, overlooks the meat market. A barbecue was in operation and, since chef/proprietor John Torode is a charcoal-grill wizard, I imagine it could be organised (at a price) for other events or meals. Provenance and breeding are two concerns of the menu - crab and cattle come complete with their home addresses. Steaks cut from well-hung, rarebreed beef are judged by steak aficionados - who often take the shape of boisterous City boys - to be some of the best in town. Although ingredients celebrate their British identity, Torode's Australian background means that dishes such as lobster omelette with Oriental spices also make an appearance. The City skyline viewed from the terrace delivers one of those falling-in-lovewith-London moments.

Cafe Spice Namaste

16 Prescot Street, E1 (020-7488 9242). Mon-Sat (Sat dinner only) £70

Indian food is ideal hot-weather food and what is a tandoor but an upside-down version of the beehive clay oven which is beginning to rival the barbecue as a means of cooking and entertaining outdoors? Bearing this in mind, Cyrus Todiwala, aka the Svengali Of Spice, has opened The Ginger Garden as an adjunct to his restless, colourful, trailblazing Whitechapel restaurant. The tropically planted garden, accessible via its own entrance in Magdalen Passage, has its own tandoor. A mosaic-encrusted bar offers beers, wines, cocktails and Champagnes. Meals are served at the usual times but during the summer a range of Bombay snacks are also available in the garden between 3pm-6pm. Cyrus is a Parsee, a fact which is reflected on the menu in dishes like the classic lamb dhansak which clarifies this item so often traduced elsewhere. Fish and shellfish are also given more than usually careful attention.

Spoon+ At Sanderson

50 Berners Street, W1 (020-7300 1400). Mon-Sun £140

I once ate an exquisite lunch at Spoon+ but I must admit that I was in the company of its creator, multi-starred superchef Alain Ducasse. He wasn't cooking so the kitchen must be able to walk the walk, but it is more usual to hear grumbles about this expensive restaurant with its unique selling point - or gimmick as it sometimes called - of mixing and matching the main ingredient with a variety of garnishes. In fact, it is invariably wiser to go down the well-trodden, suggested route when considering the various options. Care is taken in providing healthy ingredients like sprouted grains and pulses and there is a sort of ethereal glamour attached to the chapel of rest decor in the dining room. To take advantage of the sexy interior courtyard you can opt for SpoonSum small plates at lunchtime or TeaSpoon in the afternoon.

Prices estimate the average cost of a meal for two with wine