Mariners

If this 110-year-old Belgian gunboat hoisted its flag today, it would be the French tricolore, since Regis Crepy's floating brasserie moored on Neptune Quay in the heart of Ipswich navigates a course through a thoroughly Gallic repertoire. Shipshape, is the only word for the nautical interior of gleaming brass rails, burnished mahogany, and dapper linen-clad tables, but a sunny day could tempt you to man the deck for a perfect alfresco lunch. The food is what good French brasserie cooking should be all about: great ingredients treated simply with well-executed technique. Given the location, fish is a good way to go: a fishcake of salmon, haddock and peppers with sweet hollandaise coriander sauce and a poached egg, perhaps, followed by grilled fillet of sea bass with fennel and Pernod sauce, while carnivores might opt for garlic- and parsley-crusted roast rack of lamb with thyme jus.