Wednesday 20 June 2012

Devon Cafe Review: Cafe Ode, Shaldon - Sustainable & Stunning

Cafe Ode has opened at the top of the car park on the high point in Shaldon, South Devon, known as The Ness.  The man responsible is Tim Bouget, chef-owner of Ode restaurant just down the road in Shaldon village.  His eco-credentials are very high - he won the national award 2012 for Sustainable Restaurant of the Year (runners up River Cottage and Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons!) and has renovated the old stable buildings in a sympathetic yet ultra-modern way.  

 At the moment there are loads of refectory style benches and tables outside and one table inside (very similar to the ones at Eden Project and Town Mill Bakery, Lyme Regis).  Within a month there will be indoor seating and a huge sunshade over part of the terrace.

 The food and drink is very high quality - wonderful ice creams (the raspberry sorbet is heavenly and so is the butterscotch ice cream) in tasty proper wafer cones but the prices are kept low to keep the customers flowing through.  The food kind of 'rolls out' - there's no fixed menu (maybe there will be later?) but there's a chalkboard where specials appear throughout the day, a bacon and chilli jam bap for elevenses with a square of sticky homemade gingercake, and then a couple of hours later a platter of Devon produce or a salmon and potato salad...and proper fish and chips in the early evening.  

 I haven't yet tried the fish and chips, but I saw the fish guy delivering the (line caught in the Lyme Bay) fish and it looked wonderful.

This place has got to be a top priority for summer dining at any time of the day.  Views, great value, lovely staff, beaches on the doorstep and great food.  Simple really.

Open 10am - 7pm.  Closed Tuesdays

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The excitement in the build up to Ode Cafe opening was justified. Your last two sentences sum it up. Fish 'n' chips overlooking the sea, can't be beaten...

Anonymous said...

Looks fab there, going to have to pay it a visit, thanks for the heads up.
Cheers
Marcus

Anonymous said...

The Guardian features Cafe ODE and other foodie haunts today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2012/aug/10/shaldon-devon-food-revolution

look out for droves of Guardianistas in Shaldon now!

Anonymous said...

Finally tried this new cafe in September. Squatted on a bench outside on a sunny day. Ordered from the window; we all had the fish and chips, which was delicious and brought to the table quite quickly. The drinks menu isn't very clear and we had the draught local ale, which was cloudy, warm and tasted vinegary. My daughter asked if she could order some wine. The waitress warned her that they did not sell it 'in bulk', i.e. by the bottle. We couldn't stop laughing. It made the day.

Anonymous said...

I wish we had found this when we visited Teighnmouth. Looks cool, I will visit on my next shellfish foraging trip.
nice post.

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