Where do you go for lunch on Mother's Day when your husband has forgotten to book a table on one of the busiest eating out days of the year?

"I thought we'd just wander about town and find somewhere," he said nonchalantly, the reality slowly dawning on him as he mentally prepared himself for a day in the doghouse. A quick call to Branca at 10am confirmed our worst fears.

"We open at 12 noon and are fully booked until 3pm," we were told.

"Oh!" him-indoors managed.

So after a quick sulk, I hit upon a cunning plan. If you haven't booked, go somewhere where you can't book, but just get there early.

Off we sped to St Clement's and walked over the bridge up the High Street to Quod. At noon, it was already heaving with a wonderful variety of ultra cool mini-breakers staying in The Old Bank Hotel, families, grannies and new parents. Kids were everywhere, but blended in perfectly.

The meeter-and-greeter took one look at our one-year-old and whisked us off to a table at the back with all the other messy and noisy eaters, which is as it should be.

So discreetly was it done that we weren't aware of this at the time, and it was only on gong to the loo that I noticed that older and better behaved children had been allocated different sections of the restaurant depending on their age. Very clever.

Quod is very cool and contemporary, with massive windows overlooking the High Street. It's full of light and funky art, and great for people watching.

Owned by Jeremy Mogford, it's what Browns was in the 80s before he sold it - busy, sexy and fun.

And the food covers everything from brunch to tea. As it was a Sunday lunchtime, we could only marvel at the enormous plates of food going out - steaks worthy of Asterix and Obelix, huge roasts with giant Yorkshire puddings and succulent pizzas on square wooden boards.

A gorgeous and hugely efficient waitress arrived with some bread and peppery olive oil and took our order. I know it must seem that all I ever do is eat pizza at the moment, but with small children you have limited time available, and besides they looked so good!

What did you have?

The hot chorizo and the marguerita pizzas with some glasses of house red, a rocket and parmesan salad and a bowl of French fries - comfort food.

What did you think?

The meals arrived quickly and we soon got stuck in. With large dashes of chilli oil to moisten them up, mine was tasty, if rather plain.

Mr In The Doghouse' was disappointed with the chorizo on his, which was cut into large chunks and rather unsuitable for pizza, so he removed it all and left it on the side of the plate.

The pizzas looked better than they tasted on their rustic boards, but overall we had a lovely meal and really enjoyed ourselves, him-indoors surreptitiously throwing off his doghouse chains with each new mouthful.

As the one-year-old got restless we hurriedly ordered coffees and the bill and were out in the sunshine 15 minutes later, only £35 worse off. We had managed it.

A lovely family lunch had gone without a hitch despite its tremulous beginnings. Quod must take all the credit for making it such a special occasion.

Verdict: A must-have entry for any address book, or forgetful husband/father/son - vital in all culinary emergencies.

The bill: Pizza Marguerita £6.25 Pizza Chorizo Hot £8.95 Rocket and parmesan salad £3.25 Chips £2.95 Glass house red £3.30 Two Americano coffees £4 Two Cokes £3.30 Latte coffee £2.25 Total: £34.25