Exmouth, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“Beautifully presented, interesting modern cuisine” is on the menu at this “Georgian coaching inn, centrally located in a lovely unspoilt historic port in the Exe estuary”, with “a conservatory-style dining room created by an intriguing glass roof over the former carriage yard”. “Seafood and fish is a speciality”, and post-pandemic they also operate a fishmonger’s.

A “lovely” Southernhay restaurant plus basement wine bar that’s handy for Cathedral Yard. The “excellent wine list and menu showcase local producers”, contributing to what is an invariably “reliable” spot.

2021 Review: One of the better pubs in the Exeter area – this well-known gastropub near J29 of the M5 has been in the same hands for over 25 years, and wins praise for its “very reliable cooking” and “a great choice of local beers and ciders”.

Decorated TV chef Simon Hulstone’s longstanding home base on the harbour was the first restaurant in Torquay to gain a Michelin star – an honour it has retained ever since; produce is largely sourced from Hulstone’s 100-acre Brixham farm, feeding into a brilliant value set-lunch (it’s thus tipped as a “superb lunchtime meeting place”) and more elaborate tasting menu.

2023 Review: Landlord James Garnham took over this lovely thatched pub in his boyhood village with his wife Charlie five years ago, building an excellent reputation for its food and hospitality. “We have now visited 3 times in as many weeks – which says it all!”.

A “pretty setting” in a fourteenth-century thatched inn adds to the charms of this restaurant-with-rooms, which is run by the St Austell Brewery, and an easy walk from Branscombe beach. The pub classics and more ambitious dishes achieve “very high standards” (“the lunch menu is particularly good value”) and the “quirky” spot offers a warm welcome too (also to dogs).

A “great location” – an “interesting renovation” of an Elizabethan mansion – contributes to the atmosphere of this Otter Valley outpost of the trendy Pig empire. Increased reports this year of rather “average” cooking (“unmemorable apart from the price”, ouch), though fans insist that, albeit “slightly hit-and-miss”, it’s “generally hit”.

Hugo Guest (ex-of London haunts Sorella and Marksman) grew up in this hilltop Georgian vicarage, when his parents ran it as a B&B; fast-forward to 2020, and he and wife Olive set out to create an English-style ‘agriturismo’ on this 15-acre smallholding in a “delightful location” overlooking the Coly Valley. The victuals are split between casual kitchen suppers (for guests only) and more formal four-course fixed dinners (for all), and both showcase a “high standard of cooking”; stay on for the night to profit from the “excellent” breakfast.