This is a chain restaurant found in malls throughout the UK.

The food is very good with toasted paninis, speciality sandwiches and a range of pastas on offer. It’s an ideal place to stop for lunch while out shopping, even if it is in a rather odd, undefined space in the middle of The Royals shopping centre.

They have plenty of highchairs and a kids menu which represents good value.

It used to be fairly unpleasant, especially when you were trying to have lunch with small children, as it seemed to be frequented by every smoker in Southend. And before smokers start jumping and down I’m a smoker too, but I don’t like my young children spending time in a smoky environment. It was really, really bad at Cafe Giardino! Since the smoking ban came in it’s absolutely fine.