catlily

The classic place is Rules in Covent Garden, which is definitely an experience - the ambience certainly meets your Dickensian criteria - you could imagine the Pickwick lot dining there when they were feeling flush, after a night at the theatre. They have a very extensive menu, based around roast meat, have all the game in season etc. I have yet to have a bad meal there, but honesty compells me to add that I do know people who have had not been so lucky.

As much as I agree with the advice above, it is hard to cut down on portions and specific books can be helpful. When I wanted to lose weight a few years ago and hit a brick wall, I got a lot of inspiration from a British book by Ruth Watson, Fat Girl Slim. Interesting recipes with advice on how to add and detract calories, plus lots of advice on how to snack sensibly etc. The snacking is important - stresses the necessity to eat small amounts, regularly, because that way you don't have drops in blood sugar levels and are less likely to feel hungry and have cravings. Anyway, it's truly a diet book for people who love food and love cooking.

I'm assuming you'll go to the Tobago Cays, because they are pretty essential in terms of spectacular snorkelling and diving. If you are, I would recommend an evening on Happy Island - it's basically a sand bank off Union Island, which has been built up with conch shells. The guy who owns it will pick you up from the jetty, serve you with killer rum punches while he cooks dinner (usually lobster or somesuch grilled over a wood fire, simple but delicious). You can relax for as long as you like in the hammocks, before he takes you back to Union Island - definitely a good experience. If you are going further north, up to Bequia - well the drinking scene is very lively there, particularly around Port Elizabeth, but I would say the best and most interesting restaurant is Fernando's Hideaway. It's West Indian, a limited menu (perhaps 3-4 choices of mains), but very, very good, mainly due to the interesting side dishes. They don't open every night, and get extremely busy (booking essential), so you'd probably have to share a table, but that usually works out well. I've always been disappointed by anything with pretensions to fine dining in the Grenadines, but have no experience of Grenada, which is where you are more likely to find something good along those lines. I have a feeling Gary Rhodes has a restaurant there.