THE FACTS ABOUT ALISTAIR LITTLE

AL FRESCO - RESTAURANT DE BACON, CAP D'ANTIBES, FRANCE A fish restaurant that serves a staggering bouillabaisse at staggering expense. You're introduced to your fish before it's cooked and the bouillabaisse is so filling you don't need a first or third course. The terrace is lavishly decorated - it's hard to tell whether you're indoors or out - and roofs and walls are put up when it rains. Boulevard de Bacon, 06600 Cap d'Antibes, France (00 33 4 93 61 50 02; www.restaurantdebacon.com). AFFORDABLE - THE ONLY RESTAURANT ON LAKE BOLSENA, ITALY This anonymous fish restaurant perches on stilts above Lake Bolsena - you have to cross a gangplank to reach it. You can watch the fish from your table on the balcony before eating them - I recommend the grilled corregone or eel, both straight out of the lake. The wine is the local Est! Est!! Est!!!, and you are served by a pigtailed waiter who looks like a retired Italian footballer. No telephone. SMART - BRASSERIE LIPP, PARIS A new Alsatian dish is added to the menu about once every 30 years at Brasserie Lipp - nothing changes and you can date all the dishes. I prefer to sit upstairs and eat the Hareng Bismark, which made its first appearance in 1928, or the boiled beef and leeks, washed down with a pichet of its excellent chilled Beaujolais. 151 Boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006 Paris (00 33 1 45 48 53 91; www.brasserie-lipp.fr). TAVOLA TRAITEUR, LONDON 155 Westbourne Grove, London W11 (020 7229 0571)