Exeter and area update

[Marco_Polo]

I  spent yesterday at Dart's Farm tasting ciders with the producer...The Fish Shed is superb....A pint of wheat beer with a pasty at the Bridge Inn...

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Hi Alexia,

Dart's Farm for local and regional food and drink shopping; The Fish Shed for truly superior fish and chips; and The Bridge Inn, without doubt the best pub in the universe: three of my all-time favourite places. I'm glad you liked them as much as we do.

In fact, a few of us from here (eG) have been discussing an informal evening get-together, possibly at La Petite Maison Restaurant, Topsham sometime in late Feb. Do PM any of us if you are interested in joining us. Anyone else, too, of course.

Marc

Edited January 31, 2005 by Marco_Polo (log)

[Alexia]

I  spent yesterday at Dart's Farm tasting ciders with the producer...The Fish Shed is superb....A pint of wheat beer with a pasty at the Bridge Inn...

←

Hi Alexia,

Dart's Farm for local and regional food and drink shopping; The Fish Shed for truly superior fish and chips; and The Bridge Inn, without doubt the best pub in the universe: three of my all-time favourite places. I'm glad you liked them as much as we do.

In fact, a few of us from here (eG) have been discussing an informal evening get-together, possibly at La Petite Maison Restaurant, Topsham sometime in late Feb. Do PM any of us if you are interested in joining us. Anyone else, too, of course.

Marc

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Yes, I'd like to try it.

[Marco_Polo]

We revisited an old favourite for Sunday lunch yesterday that is worth noting: The Rock Inn at Haytor Vale. As any who have visited Dartmoor may know, Haytor is one of the most striking - and easily accessible - of all the many granite tors that are dramatic features of this weird and bleak landscape. I cycle out here from my home on the Exe regularly in warmer weather: the climbs, first over the Haldon Hills, then up from Bovey Tracey to Haytor, are always brutal and painful in the extreme, but the views from the top, on a good day across the gorse-and-heather-covered moor to the wide expanse of Lyme Bay almost to Portland Bill in the eastern distance and down the Teign Valley to Torbay and the so-called English Riviera, are truly outstanding. Most who arrive here (those with any sense at least) are likely to come by car. Park in the lower carpark, then trek up to the rocks and scramble to summit for an even better view over all of Dartmoor and the southwest coast. There are often rockclimbers and abseilers climbing up or bouncing down the sheer granite rock face of this massive natural feature. From the carpark to Haytor is but the merest of walks, ten minutes at most, but it is sufficient - just - to help work up an appetite and enable you to feel virtuously righteous about settling in for your ample Sunday lunch at the Rock Inn. On the other hand, you could arrive earlier and make a decent walk, say around to Hound Tor and back in part over the so-called 'granite tramway' and so truly earn your lunch...

The Rock Inn, located just below Haytor in the sheltered hamlet of Haytor Vale, is a fine, atmospheric old coaching inn dating from 1750, the sort of picture postcard pub we like to bring visitors up to see: a huge open fire in the main bar, good cask-conditioned ales (such as local Dartmoor) and simple but tasty traditional cooking. Yesterday's Sunday roast, for example, was faultless: medium rare and copious slices of tasty beef, clearly carved off a large rib joint, served with Yorkshire pudding, superb crispy roasties, and perfectly cooked (still al dente) veg like green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and a puree of swede flavoured intriguingly with fennel seed. Plus plenty of good gravy and - very important - a quite pungent horseradish. What more do you want? A pint or two of that Dartmoor ale, or perhaps a glass or two of good red wine - the list is interesting and fairly priced. To finish, a selection of traditional English puds - bread and butter pudding with custard, treacle tart, Bakewell, sticky toffee pudding, etc. Nothing groundbreaking; everything well done and satisfying.

Definitely worth a visit. The Rock has rooms so it would make an excellent base for walking on the moor.

Marc

[wgallois]

The Rock Inn sounds a winner Marco; will have to try it.

A few recent food notes from Exeter:

1. Had a slightly taxing meal at Cafe Paradiso in Hotel Barcelona, which reminded me that you have to be a savvy customer if you are to get something from this restaurant. The keys are: do not go as a group of any more than four (the kitchen, by their own admission, is too small and cannot cope with large groups - we waited an hour for mains on Saturday...) and order pizza. The pizzas are great: good crispy bases, quality toppings and very generous, but some of the other dishes are mediocre (we had the house salads at the weekend which were lazily-conceived and -prepared, and over-priced). I still like this place because it has a great feel (the bar is one of Exeter's best too), but you do have to approach it in the right way.

2. Went to the new Wetherspoon's flagship pub, The Meeting House on South Street, last night. The restoration of the old Unitarian chapel is excellent and there is neither music nor smoking. Food was OK. It looked like there was a better choice for non-vegetarians, with lots of locally-sourced meat and fish at reasonable prices. The service was top-notch.

3. There is a reasonably new stall at the Exeter Farmer's Market (Thursdays 9/10-2) selling Ridgewell cheese. This is a soft, mild, cow's-milk cheese with a very appealing sourness. All the cheeses are made that week by the woman who runs the stall. There are various herb, garlic and chilli twists, but the original is the one for me. Devon does not have too many really good soft cheeses, so I'm really pleased about this new addition.

4. Also at the farmer's market are the absolutely superb bags of Oriental salad leaves available from the stall closest to Princesshay. They tend to sell out by 11.

5. Another new, local cheese - available at Devon Country Cheeses in Topsham - is Ogle Shield. This is a seriously stinky, washed-rind affair, with great appeal to those who like their cheeses to possess a farmyard aroma.

6. I hear that the Dinosaur Cafe (on the Clock Tower roundabout in Exeter) is now open until nine in the evenings. This is excellent news as their Turkish dishes and salads are invariably very, very tasty.

Edited February 16, 2005 by wgallois (log)

[Marco_Polo]

A few recent food notes from Exeter...

1. Had a slightly taxing meal at Cafe Paradiso in Hotel Barcelona

2. Went to the new Wetherspoon's flagship pub, The Meeting House on South Street

3. There is a reasonably new stall at the Exeter Farmer's Market (Thursdays 9/10-2) selling Ridgewell cheese. ... Also at the farmer's market are the absolutely superb bags of Oriental salad leaves available from the stall closest to Princesshay. They tend to sell out by 11.

5. Another new, local cheese - available at Devon Country Cheeses in Topsham - is Oglethorpe (sp?).

6. I hear that the Dinosaur Cafe (on the Clock Tower roundabout in Exeter) is now open until nine in the evenings. This is excellent news as their Turkish dishes and salads are invariably very, very tasty.

Many thanks for this very useful update, William. We've experienced similar at the Cafe Paradiso - while the pizzas cooked in the wood fired oven are generally very good, more ambitious foods often disappoint. No matter then: stick to pizzas and simpler foods and enjoy what is undoubtedly one of the more atmospheric and fun venues in Exeter.

As for Tim Martin's new mega-pub on South Street, I've also heard good things about it. I confess, I'm not a great fan of the Imperial (also Weatherspoons) near the university, though we do go from time to time - usually with a group of guys after Thursday evening sports activities. It's horrendously loud and crowded with young students, though the beer is ludicrously cheap (even Champagne is ludicrously cheap - during the summer, I think, they were serving Moet et Chandon n/v by the bottle, properly presented in wine bucket with flûtes for under 20 quid a bottle - we can hardly buy it for that from an off-license). If the Meeting Place is both quieter (or less horrendously loud) and serves half decent food to boot then it will be a useful addition to the city.

Thanks for the tip on the oriental salad leaves at the Exeter Farmer's market. I've got a meeting in Exeter tomorrow morning, so I'll pop around seeing that it's Thursday. This Farmer's Market really does deserve to be supported - the range of stands gets better and better - lots of farm meats, plus of course the incredible dried chilies and chili chocolates from the South Devon Chili Farm - I'll pick up a bag of ajo amarillos tomorrow - my favourite dried chili at the moment.

Country Cheeses has an ever-increasing range of cheeses produced exclusively for them. Gary and Elise Jungheim are absolutely passionate about cheese in all its magnificent variety, and their shops (Topsham and Tavistock) are true cheese lovers meccas - well worth a detour if you are anywhere near them. If you ever drop in on Country Cheeses in Topsham on a Saturday, our son is the handsome young chap who will serve you. Do say hello.

I've heard about the Dinosaur Café - it sounds fun. Have you been to Blue Fish yet - just up the road on Queen Street. Another champagne bar here, sponsored by Veuve Clicquot. Good reports, though it is apparently quite expensive. I think they're linked to a place by the same name in St Ives. Anybody - slacker - know about it?

Incidentally, my wife had a great Times 'Dine with Wine' lunch earlier this week at Michael Caines. This promotion is really one of the best deals around (and available at any number of venues in and around Exeter): 2 courses for a tenner including a glass of Bordeaux wine, or 3 courses for 15 quid. The Royal Clarence Hotel and MC Café Bar are in the midst of a big refurbishment but the latter will reopen later this month.

Another place we've enjoyed recently is the Diggers Arms in Woodbury Salterton - have I mentioned it before? Superior and interesting pub food, good, friendly atmosphere, excellent wines by the glass or bottle, good local cask conditioned ales. Just about everything you want in a country pub not far from Exeter.

Oh and if you are in Woodbury Salterton, another place not to be missed is the Kenniford Farm Shop between Clyst St Mary and Clyst St George - own raised organic pork is simply the best we've ever tasted. Plus a useful little farm shop with lots of goodies from our area.

Don't forget, the Exeter Festival of South West England Food and Drink (what a mouthful of a name) is on again in Exeter's Rougemont Gardens March 18-20.

Marc

[slacker]

I have heard of the Exeter Blue Fish. I knew the owner of the St Ives Blue Fish when I worked for another merchant.

More than that....sorry. That was a few years ago.

[Marco_Polo]

A few recent food notes from Exeter:

4. Also at the farmer's market are the absolutely superb bags of Oriental salad leaves available from the stall closest to Princesshay. They tend to sell out by 11.

William, just back from today's Exeter's Farmers' Market. I managed to get a couple of bags of the oriental salad leaves - bok choi, mizuna, rocket, purslane and other unidentifiable greens. Look incredibly fresh, we'll try them tonight.

Also picked up some live scallops in the shell (dredged from Lyme Bay), a handful of tiny velvet crabs, and, a novelty for me, some skate cheeks - 5 for a pound, quite big and meaty. I took 15 or so and will dredge in cornflour then stir-fry to serve with the leaves wilted in soya and sesame oil.

What else? No ajo amarillo chilies today from the South Devon Chili Farm, and the habaneros Jason had on offer are simply too damn hot for my taste. So I settled instead for some of the incredible chili chocolate to satisfy my capiscum craving. I would have bought a slab of organic belly pork from one of the farm meat stalls, but I was pretty weighed down. Next week...

Has anyone tried Sun Dogs, down towards the bottom of Fore Street. I looked in last night on the way to the Picture House and it looks promising.

[wgallois]

Glad you got some leaves Marco. The composition of the bags varies each week, which must be good.

We've been to Sun Dogs a couple of times and certainly enjoyed it. The food is tasty (Mediterranean/British) and our overall impression was that it is the kind of restaurant which is really striving to do well and to please its customers. On the second occasion I do remember leaving slightly hungry, but that may be more to do with me than the restaurant. We didn't feel it was over-priced.

[Marco_Polo]

We've been to Sun Dogs a couple of times and certainly enjoyed it.

Doh, just re-read the thread, William, and realised you tipped this place some months ago. We'll definitely give it a try, though it's in the 'wrong' end of town which we don't venture to often - perhaps an early meal before going to the movies at the nearby Picture House.

At the risk of banging on too much about Topsham, the best Italian restaurant in the Exeter area is now definitely Il Giardino on Fore Street. Angelo the chef/proprietor is a great guy and he prepares mainly northern Italian foods with a Tuscan accent. They make fresh egg pasta here most days and it is sensational. Well sourced ingredients, including outstanding prosciutto di S. Daniele, superb fish (from The Fish Shed - see above), and a short but fairly priced Italian wine list. I recently had fegato, veal liver pan-fried with sage, supremely simple, delicious. I'm sure there are plenty of vegetarian options, too, William. The wines from Friuli, Angelo's home region, are particularly interesting and good value.

[wgallois]

Will report back on Il Giardino soon Marco! It has been on our must-go list for some time, and your post has convinced us that we should go sooner rather than later. As you may know - though I hope you don't - most of the 'Italian' restaurants in Exeter are grim.

On Friday we went to the Plant cafe for the first time. It's on the Cathedral Green, close to Al Farid and the Thai Orchid. It's usually only open during the day but they will cook dinners for groups of twelve or so in the evening. I'd heard some slightly mixed reports about it as a cafe, but I really enjoyed it as a location for an evening meal. We were a group of twelve, sat round a square table which took up most of the cafe (there were no other customers), with fantastic views of the cathedral by night. The dinner deal is 3 courses for £15 with £3 corkage on wine. I think the menu has to be confirmed in advance. The starter is really an extended graze on three very good types of olive (some very good almond-stuffed ones pleased me), breads with oil, vegetable chips, tortilla chips etc. whilst you drink and wait for all your party to arrive. The mains were various kinds of pie (goat's cheese, mediterranean vegetable) served with either couscous or rosemary-roasted potatoes and some big bowls of mixed leaves and bean sprouts to share. There were a number of choices for pudding, two of which were plum tart and roasted pineapple with coconut, chilli and lime ice-cream.

I really enjoyed all of the food. It was tasty, well-prepared and -balanced. I also felt that the price was very fair given that one was getting the whole place to oneself for the night. It was only at the end of the evening that I realised that the place was vegetarian, and I think it would be a shame if it does get pigeon-holed as a vegetarian cafe. It happens not to serve meat, but it's real selling points are the good food, service and the location.

[Marco_Polo]

Will report back on Il Giardino soon Marco! It has been on our must-go list for some time, and your post has convinced us that we should go sooner rather than later. As you may know - though I hope you don't - most of the 'Italian' restaurants in Exeter are grim.

On Friday we went to the Plant cafe for the first time...

Thanks for another great tip, William. You are much more diligent than me in hunting out and trying new places. I'll try and get to this somtime soon as well as to your other recommendations. It sounds fun for dinner and I love BYOBs.

Speaking of Italians, no, sadly, there are no real Italian restaurants in Exeter (though the longstanding Quo Vadis in Heavitree always had a certain appeal - and I hear it is still going). Franco in Teignmouth runs a good place - he's a competent southern Italian chef and a very nice guy. I think his restaurant is called Il Colliseo.

Incidentally, one other discovery at the Farmer's Market - sensational breads, truly the best I've ever had from anywhere around here (including Otterton Mill). Really chewy, slow-raised, delicious: we had a multiple-grain bread and a big wholemeal loaf (oval shaped). The latter was brilliant, slices cooked over the char-grill, then scraped with garlic and drizzled with new season olio d'oliva extra vergine from Le Marche, seasoned with coarse sel de Guerande and a grind of black pepper. Wow! Can't do this with anything except outstanding bread. I assume you're a regular at this bread stall. Do you remember the name? I wonder where they are located?

[wgallois]

Marco, the bread stall you are talking about is 'Bread of Devon'. I believe they are based on Well Street in Exeter, though I often walk down that road and have never quite worked out where they are located. I've taken a while to reply to your post as I felt the need to get some of their bread and then to go back to Otterton to compare the two.

I had had a couple of breads from Bread of Devon last year and was pretty un-impressed. I seem to remember that the two I had were rye and spelt and my two problems with the breads were their lack of flavour and what seemed to me the high prices they were charging. On your recommendation I have now been back to try the multi-grain loaf which is a much, much better bread. I liked its solidity and taste, though I do still feel that they are over-priced. This may be somewhat harsh as I am comparing their prices with those at Otterton where, for me, you get better bread for about half the price. I went down to Otterton yesterday morning and it was clear that they were struggling to keep up with the demand for the bread (at least on baking day). Still, I was happy to go off on a walk for an hour before coming back to collect two pretty perfect white loaves and a large granary. I adore their white bread, which you put me onto in an earlier post. It has everything that I'd want from a loaf of this style: density, great flour-y taste, crisp edges that taste roasted, and they're also great to look at. Tried the scones for the first time, which are also very good.

[offcentre]

Hi folks - I am staying in Stokenham by Start Bay over easter.

Any recommendations of hidden gems down that way would be most welcome?

[wgallois]

Tried Prezzo, a new pizza/pasta joint situated in what was The Turk's Head on the High Street. It reinforced my opinion that you should only have pizza in pizza places: my Bianca (goat's cheese, asparagus, sun-dried tomato) pizza was just fine, as was my brother's pizza, but of the other dishes only one was good (gnocchi with gorgonzola), and some looked really bad (a bland-looking seafood pasta with not a great deal of seafood and a caesar salad with not much other than leaves with chicken). Exeter now has four such restaurants within five minutes walk of each other (Prezzo, Zizzi, Pizza Express, Ask), all of which seem to be doing good business. The best one can say about this is that all do good pizza and all have done an excellent job of preserving old buildings (the Turk's Head was Dickens' favourite pub in Exeter), but one wishes that people would take a few more risks when opening restaurants in the centre of town.