Circa 1924, Exeter: Restaurant Review

Circa 1924 is in Exeter and is directly behind Boots near John Lewis.

We went there on a Thursday evening and it was fabulous!  We parked right outside and had a non-alcoholic cocktail and a beer (Bath Gem) in the very comfortable bar.  The barman obviously knows his stuff.  My non-alcoholic cocktail was delicious and mango-flavoured - I think I necked it within a few minutes rather than sipped it daintily! The waiting staff were all very welcoming, friendly and cheerful.

We browsed the menu whilst drinking our aperitifs in the comfy bar area.

We were taken upstairs to eat the food.  Downstairs the bar area seemed 'new shabby' (if you know what I mean) whereas the upstairs was more inviting: dark and gleaming.  I did wonder why there was a single standard lamp at the far end of the room.

For starters, I had the crab bisque and my husband had the scallop ceviche.  Both were very good but my bisque was tasty, creamy and very good.  The ceviche was fresh tasting and tangy but my bisque was better!(You can see it in the distance in the photo below.)

There were a few other tables seated and enjoying their meals.  We found it the right level of busy-ness.  Not so quiet that you felt like a fool eating there; not so busy that the next table can eavesdrop on your conversation.

Moving on to the main courses, I had the Duck with Pak Choi and Macaroni Cheese (as it was such an unusual combination and I had never even heard of it) and my husband had the Rib-eye
Steak with Bearnaise sauce and triple cooked chips.  He thought the steak was cooked to perfection I was disappointed that the duck didn't have crispy skin - the skin was on the breast and was soggy.  I felt that the sauce was very sweet.  The macaroni cheese (served alongside in a separate dish) was amazing and I loved that.  You can get it as a side order too.

We did have desserts - my 'Lemon tart' was OK but I felt I could have made it myself.  My husband's Chilli Chocolate Torte with homemade Ice Cream - which he felt was very nice - the chilli wasn't overpowering and the tangy citrus sauce stopped it from being cloying. This photo shows the chocolate dessert.

I think this place would be good for a 'date', great for couples and a really good place for groups.   If you chose well (e.g. the crab bisque, the steak, the macaroni cheese) you were rewarded with fabulous food.  My husband also thought that the waitress who served our food was really good

Yesterday I attended the Masterclass on 'Stocks and Sauces' at the Masons Arms, Knowstone.  This is a lovely thatched pub, just off the North Devon Link Road (A361) in a very quiet village location.

There were 6 of us and we enjoyed sitting in the lounge, next to the woodburner, chatting to Sarah, eating her homemade biscuit and having a coffee. It was great to watch Mark Dodson, the Michelin starred chef, work his magic in the kitchen, alongside some very dedicated and professional members of staff.  Mark used to work with Michel Roux at the Waterside Inn, Bray.

I learnt lots of little facts about the basis of making good stocks and sauces.  I think everyone was surprised at how easy the sauces were to make (e.g grain mustard sauce, red berry coulis).  I liked the fact that both savoury and sweet sauces were covered.  I also liked being able to taste the sauces as they were being made.  It was also really interesting to see a commercial kitchen in action.  I think there were 5 chefs in there - it seemed to us to be a small area, but apparently it is comparitively quite a large kitchen.

Pictured below are the veal stock (complete with 4 pigs trotters) and the chicken stock.

At about midday we were ushered through to the dining area for a three course slap up lunch and then coffee with petits fours.  The views of the Devon countryside and Exmoor were stunning.  A big surprise was the ceiling - covered in paintings - a unique touch.  Apparently they have been there approximately 40 years.  The chap who sat opposite me was local and filled us in on some of the local news and we could see his hedge being laid through the window!  There is also a bar area that is separate from the dining area.

During this lunch we were able to sample all the sauces that had been made during the morning's class - I think there were 6 in total - all delicious.  We also got to try out some of Mark's creations: mushroom tartlet, pork loin with vegetables (and mustard sauce) and a panna cotta served with the three sauces that we had seen being made.

I recommend this place as a venue for honing some cookery skills, and also as a place to eat,  It is not local to me (about 50 min drive away) but ideal if you are based in Barnstaple, Tiverton, Dulverton or South Molton.  This might sound awful, but it would be a good place to stop and have a break if you were travelling on the North Devon Link road too.

I was a guest at the cookery class and lunch, and I have written an objective review of the day.

http://www.masonsarmsdevon.co.uk/

Revamped Exeter Pizza Express

 The Pizza Express in Exeter overlooks the Cathedral and is a good building.  We couldn't get into the Torquay one on a Saturday night so went to the Exeter one instead.  It has had a revamp (I have no idea when).  The oversized pepper mills have gone and the 'one flower, one vase' per table also seems to have gone.  I had a soft spot for that.

They have painted the woodwork, put in some new lampshades, paintings and transformed the old seated window areas upstairs.

There were also a party of fancy dress superheroes when we were there which was very entertaining!

This is a photo of the children's dessert!

The children used the vouchers they received for Christmas from their grandparents, we did the usual paying our own way thing.  It is worth remembering that it only costs 25% menu prices if you use Tesco Clubcard vouchers.  £2.50 vouchers translates into £10 at Pizza Express - what a bargain.  Always a good night.

Best Seaside Fish and Chips in Devon?

It was a seriously windy, yet sunny day when we visited Slapton.  We haven't been down that way for a couple of years, but it's a wonderful sweep of sand and an incredibly historic site in terms of what happened during Exercise Tiger in the 2nd World War.  There are also great bird watching opportunities at the Slapton Ley end (the largest freshwater lake in the SW!)  Even as amateurs, we spotted quite a few interesting ones (er...their names escape me!) over the course of fifteen minutes.

At the far western end of the beach is the small village of Torcross.  I had asked the gurus of Twitter where to have lunch in that neck of the woods and the resounding answer was to try the fish and chips at the Start Bay Inn, Torcross.

We visited the Sherman tank memorial and then crossed the road to the pub.  You can't make reservations, the tables are quite crammed in and this Sunday lunchtime it was packed and noisy, but felt very friendly and full of good cheer.  Plenty of locals on all sides.  All four of us ordered the fish and chips.  Three of us ordered the 'small' for £5.70 and greedy husband ordered the 'medium' haddock which was about £1 more.  And mushy peas all round.

We were delighted that the 'small' was tremendous value and actually cheaper than a lot of fish and chip take aways.  The chips were 'fine' - sorry that might be a bit mean.  There was nothing wrong with them, but my heart always belongs to proper home made irregular sized slightly overcooked and preferably crinkle cut chips like my Dad makes.  But these were standard pub-type chips that most people seem to be happy with.  The mushy peas were OK- I doubt if they were home made, but they were good accompaniments.  As for the fish: the haddock was fantastic.  Really super fresh white fish, perfectly cooked in a delectably light batter.  The batter was perfectly crispy, tasty and light.  We were in fish and chip heaven.

My verdict:  certainly the best fried fish I've had in Devon, they could do with stocking Heinz ketchup on the tables (rather than those plastic catering packs of vinegary sauce), and if they could rope in my father to make the chips, then it'd be perfect.

Update, Aug 2015 - Finn McCools on Teignmouth sea front do very good fish and chips - you have the option of taking them away and sitting on the sea front or dining in (good for rubbish weather).

Bristol Lido - A Stolen Day & My New Favourite Place

My husband and I stole a day today.  With children safely at school in South Devon, we headed to Bristol primarily to visit Bristol Lido for lunch, secondarily to stroll around and buy CDs, clothes from Yumi and generally have a day to ourselves.

When you hear lots of good stuff about a place, you just don't want to be disappointed.  A couple of friends had recommended, Tripadvisor has good reviews...I used to go there as a child...we were driving nearly two hours to get there... would it live up to expectations?

The kitchen has an impressive wood-fired oven blazing away, which the chefs really make the most of. 

Our starter was Wood Roast Scallops with Sweet Herb and Garlic Butter.  Mopped up with some hunks of rustic bread - this was heavenly and infused with tarragon.

 My husband had a good dish of tagliatelli with pheasant - very pleasant pheasant, creamy and competent, but he was jealous of my choice for sure. I had Wood Roast Sole with Seville Orange Butter Sauce and Crispy Capers.

 A huge piece of beautifully cooked fish that was crispy, citrusy and had a wonderful and unusual taste - really powerful and not the usual gentle treatment of fish - I loved its boldness.  The waiter was charming and totally on-the-ball.  I asked what the green veg was and they were a form of Italian turnip tops - I had assumed they were sorrel.  They went really well with the fish and capers.  There is an artist at work in this kitchen - they don't just bung things on a plate and hope for the best - they think, taste and actually want the diner to have an 'experience'.  Yes, this is indeed what we want!  I want my tastebuds to tingle and to feel excited by a dish.

I wolfed down the homemade Chocolate and Stout Ice Cream without taking a decent photo - which shows that it was very good.  I couldn't taste the stout - but it was creamy and smooth.

I used to swim here when I was a teenager, OK, I'm not that old, but it did look something like this (only we had colour in the 80s).

The new renovation has made it a wonderful space and the fantastic food is the proverbial 'icing on the cake' - I would  have lurved to have a spa / swim / sauna / massage but that was not on the cards today.  So we had lunch in the upstairs restaurant overlooking the pool.  It's a bit of a voyeuristic experience watching the swimmers.

Now a note on pronunciation.....in Teignmouth where I live, we have an open air pool and we all call it the Lie-doe, but in Bristol it appears they use the more correct Italian Lee-doe.  Lie-doe, Lee-doe?  Who cares?  The food's amazing, it's a great relaxing space and I can't wait to return.  Very soon. Without the children.

Price-wise: lunch is £15 for two courses and £20 for three, and there is also a scrummy sounding tapas menu.  There are 'deals' that include a swim/sauna/hot tub and meal.

Michael Caines Restaurant at Abode Exeter: Amazing Graze

I was drawn to this 'Amazing Graze' menu offer by doing an internet search for my own website and stumbled upon this fantastic offer at Michael Caines' restaurant at Abode, Exeter:  three course lunch for £9.95.  A few days after our trip to Caines' other establishment, Gidleigh Park (more luxurious, more traditionally English country house) we treated ourselves to lunch at Abode overlooking Exeter Cathedral.  After the whopping bill from Gidleigh, we kidded ourselves that eating here would balance out the average of the two meals.

This restaurant is in the hotel (the left hand door half visible in the picture - not the cheaper cafe, MCs next door) and is modern: light and airy with wooden floors and no tablecloths.  The waiting staff were efficient with dealing with a jam-packed dining room.  A slight delay with bringing the bill, but I could hardly blame them as it was so busy.

I chose the confit salmon that I had enjoyed at Gidleigh a few nights previously, just to compare it.  It was not identical, but pretty damn close, and at a fraction of the cost.  My husband had the mushroom risotto - a small portion of deeply flavoured goo.  After this tasty morsel, he wanted to upgrade to five courses for an extra £8, but I wouldn't let him.  Still had to collect the kids from school at 3pm.

The mains were spot-on for lunchtime: seasonal, well-cooked and delicious.  Pollock with a creamy saffron sauce and pork with boulangere potatoes.  Desserts were lovely: glazed lemon tart with lemon confit sorbet (tres tangy) and pistachio nougat glace with chocolate grue.  Yes, we had to ask what 'grue' was - a type of cocoa bean, the waiter informed us.

The petits fours with the coffee were wonderful - two wonderfully large round, sugared fruit jellies that reminded me of the boxed sweets my grandparents used to get at Christmas.  These were passionfruit and apricot flavour served alongside two dinky little chocolate and pistachio madeleines.  These have got me seeking out a mini-madeleine mould on Amazon.  Going to have to mimic them at home.

Since yesterday the price of Amazing Graze has gone up a little.  At £9.95 for three courses, it represented exceptional, unbeatable value for money.  At the new price of £13.50 for three courses it's still highly competitive and for food, service and location like this, it's definitely worth it and recommended.

You can book a table online, which I really liked.  You can see all the times that are available and you get a confirmation email - and you get to see all the special offers - early dining in the evening (be seated by 7pm) also seems good value.