Devon Cafe Review: Ruby, Exeter - Fab venue and burgers

After a quick stroll around the RAMM, Exeter (a fantastic free museum) we had an almighty lunch in Ruby, located on the corner next to Northernhay Gardens and in the old Effings cafe.  Also it is conveniently close to Central station and the rest of central Exeter.

The place is named after the local Ruby breed of cows of Devon and is fabulously decorated as a 'modern diner'.  Red leatherette booths, high chairs for takeaways and an upstairs galleried seating area. 1950s music playing and a checked floor.

The manager couldn't have done more for us.  He was so cheerful and on-the-ball.  He explained that Ruby is not a chain (it sort of looks like one, perhaps as it is so professionally branded) and they have taken the best elements of burger joints that they admire particularly ones from London and the environs.  So locally sourced food where possible (the buns are from Emma's bakery in Exeter, the meat is from Devon) which tastes mighty fine.  An updated 50s diner for year 2013 in a hugely spacious room.

 I love the black and white retro menu.  Apparently the waffles and the shakes are amazing but we had no space for them as we overdid the savoury course:

 We chose the 'Sliders' which is a course for £15 of three mini burgers of choice (we each chose a pork, a beef and a vegetarian one) plus two side orders.  This is for hungry people!

The battered red onion rings were astounding as were the 'proper chips', and my partner loved the potato salad and the purple coleslaw.  There was nothing wrong with the 'poppers' (deep fried green peppers stuffed with cream cheese) but they beat us!  The burgers were all great - vegetarians will not be disappointed with the 'Faloumi' Burger (unless they have very small mouths - the burger is very tall) and I think although it was a close run thing, the Classic beefburger was slightly better than the pulled pork.  They were both lovely.

My partner couldn't eat all the sides (after eating five burgers...) so they provided a take away box for the leftover cold salads.  If I recommended Ruby to anyone (and I would certainly), I would advise the waiter service (it's more comfortable and less of a faff than the DIY version) and try the Classic burger with 'proper chips' and a shared waffle or shake.  Apparently the alcoholic shakes ('Hardshakes') are a big hit too.

We went there again in early December 2013 as regular customers and it was brilliant again.  The excellent 'summer' potato salad is replaced by Sweet Potato Wedges temporarily, but that was the main difference.

We were guests of Ruby, but I was free to write a critical review of my choice 

Penge Punch, First of the Month

It's true: I rarely leave Devon and Cornwall.  But for the hottest day of the year, with everyone heading for a bonus day on the beach, I ended up travelling to South London. Craziness.  What a good time I had .  A superb party held to celebrate my dear friends, J and L's 40ths.  J had invented two new cocktails, Penge Punch (in honour of the venue) which was lethal - a stronger version of Long Island Iced Tea (including laminated instruction sheets for novices on how to concoct the tipple - he is so anal organised).

There was also a totally delicious Southern Sangria (Spanish red, lemonade, a healthy dash of fresh lemon and lime juice and tons of ice and fruit).

Needless to say, a good time was had by all.  Hawaiian shirts, fairy lights, paper flowers, cocktail dresses, posh kebab canapes.  I spent a manic hour in the kitchen assisting these two strapping lads and generally dropping things on the floor.

A really great idea.  Wraps containing pre-bbqed meat, veges and condiments had been prepped the day before and our job was to bake them for 15 minutes and then slice them into 2cm slices and serve on trays as kebab canapes.  They were hungrily snapped up.

Later we moved on to genuine live opera singing (M and L were astonishing), a put-together-at-last-minute-band and then dancing, Shisha pipes with apple tobacco and fire baskets in the garden.

And after just a couple of hours sleep (there were about eight kids in the house) we were up and at 'em again.  I'd bought long some fab bacon from Borough Market (my first time at BM - WOW, what a change from Devon farmers' markets) from Sillfield Farm and we cooked up bagels,bacon and more pitchers of Southern Sangria in the sun.  

Finished off with some perfect hangover food made by the resident starlet, H, chocolate dipped peppermint creams.

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Penge Punch Yeehah

Like a cross between long island iced tea and mojito.  Kicks a fair punch

Quanitity makes a large pitcher

300 ml  cointreau

300ml vodka, 
300ml tequila
300ml dark rum and 
300ml white rum

125ml sugar syrup infused with mint

1 litre of Coca Cola

125ml freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice

Loads of ice

TASTE AND ADJUST TIL YUMMY!