Devon, Fish & Seafood Restaurant Guide

Near the quayside of this beautiful Devon estuary town, a rustic bistro (“small, but that only adds to its charm”) which makes a “great place for a celebration dinner” based around “wonderful” locally sourced fish and shellfish. As of 2023, Jack Harvey, who learnt his craft alongside Marcus Wareing, is at the pass, having stepped in for former MasterChef: The Professionals finalist James Checkley.

2023 Review: “We love the Rockfish chain” – and “Exmouth is our favourite”, say fans of Mitch Tonks’s West Country seafood group, which had eight branches as we went to press, with two more (Salcombe and Topsham) about to open, along with an online seafood market and a pioneering canned-fish operation. Despite being a multiple, it offers “top seafood, and the staff seem really passionate about the subject”.

“Right by the beach with lovely sunset views across to Dartmoor” (particularly from the terrace), this is the place to “indulge yourself with a huge seafood platter of fresh crab and oysters”; these days it’s “no longer just a ‘shack’” as of yore (reflected in the prices, a perennial quibble), but is “now serving up a more sophisticated menu” spanning cocktails and roast lobster.

A chalkboard menu lists the day’s “fresh fish”, sourced from nearby Brixham, at the Stacey family’s straightforward harbourside haunt, a fixture of more than 30 years’ standing. There’s an upstairs wine bar open in the evening, with panoramic views over Torbay.

“Mitch Tonks can do no wrong!” according to fans of this well-known west country chef’s harbourside flagship – an understated, Italian-influenced “seafood brasserie” where you “watch the freshest of local catches cooked in front of you on an open grill”. These days it is run by his son Ben, who oversees twice-daily deliveries from nearby Brixham harbour, “all correctly prepared and served with a Devon smile”.

Having been born on the same site that hosted an oyster farm over three decades ago, molluscs (with hot or cold toppings) remain central to the joys of this shack – no exaggeration – where you can dine indoors by the fire or at plastic tables and chairs below a makeshift awning. Also on the menu: quality fish, ranging from monkfish to hake and sole.

“After a swim in the Shoalstone Lido, it’s a delight to eat at this seafood café on the coastal path looking out over the seawater pool” (with further views to the Bay of Torquay) and – as of 2022 – an even more dramatic rooftop terrace where they grill catch and bring it to the table. One regular fan feels it’s “got its mojo back of late”, saying “the menu had veered towards more ambitious dishes the tiny kitchen struggled to deliver, but it’s back doing what it does best – simple cooking of the freshest fish delivered straight from the Brixham Fish Auction (where the owner is a wholesaler)”.