Do Wagamama go in this list too? And Masala Zone? Pizza Express and Strada are both longstanding brands so maybe they aren't part of this new restaurant movement.

I find it interesting that after eschewing the European notion of no chains, family run businesses we embraced the U.S. faceless franchises with open arms, even though (according to the yanks) we managed to make the food taste terrible and we don't really seem to have the right attitude to customer service to make it work.

So now it seems we have the rise of the faceless franchise that actually does provide really good food. I like it. Giraffe and Las Iguanas have both really impressed me with their food, though the latter is better value. I wonder if this is a peculiarly British thing?