Impromptu weekend away #2 : Salcombe - Chilli Farm - Home (or is it)

We headed to Salcombe and instead of taking the longer way round we took the back road along part of the Avon estuary.  We didn't know it until we got there but for 3/4 mile this road is tidal - how cool is that!  Luckily we got there at low tide so it was passable albeit very narrow sandwiched between the mud and water on one side and a rock cliff on the other.  The sign at the start of the road warns that it's only passable at certain times - we would have got a pic but there was a vehicle following us. 
We wended our way on up the estuary then cut across country to the Kingsbridge Estuary on which Salcombe nestles and tumbles down the steep valley sides to the water below.

This is a pretty little town; although strangely bereft of 'real' shops - ie it's got highly pricey clothes shops aplenty and some nice but also pricy delis but where does one buy one's bog roll and other such essentials I wonder?!  It seems like you have to have a boat to live here as well - certainly if you want to do your recycling!!

We had a little wander about before turning our minds to where we would rest our heads that night.  Having checked out how much a room in one of the hotels would cost us [£180!!  For 1 night!!] we fetched up outside the council/tourist office [closed] and perused the list of B&B's and pubs they had attached to the board outside - trying to spot the roads on the map also handily affixed to said board.  After a handful of 'no vacancies' we were pointed in the direction of Pengwern; usefully just up the road from our location.  We ended up in their self contained appartment for the night - fantastic view and with the addition of a few essentials for brekkie from the Spar hidden in the depths of the residential area [apparently the only 'real' shop in Salcombe] a snug little place to stay for the night and at £50 for the both of us a fair bit more reasonable than the hotels on the front.  After a quick change we set forth for the evening in search of a couple of fine pints and some supper.

We'd earlier checked out the various menus of places to eat in town and had also picked up a leaflet in the apartment for the new Oyster Shack in Salcombe which had decided us on our eaterie for the night so we decided to try a couple of pints in the local pubs first.

The Kings Arms was the first to be graced by our presence; seemed quite locally but friendly enough.  We didn't stay over long here though as there were no free seats to sit outside admiring the view which is of course what we wanted to do on a warm summers evening away.

A little further up the road is the entrance down some steps to the Ferry Inn - built into the nigh on sheer cliff sides it has a fab view through the windows over the river and once you've purchased your pint you can exit and go down another flight of stairs to the large outdoor seating area immediately adjacent to the water.  There was another bar down here as well.  It's a bit of a hidden gem I'd say with a rather nice sounding specials board and good smelling food.  We had a drink here; were inspected by the pint police (cheeky!) and then thought we'd best move on for dinner.

Well - we traipsed up and down the road (not long) that the Oyster Shack* was supposedly on twice and saw not a hide nor hair of it.  It was all boat sheds, boat shops and one distinctly cheesy looking bar that boasted it was open until midnight and did burgers or something equally unappealing.  Damn.  Back to the centre of town and into our second choice [I think it was 'The Galley'] - a nice but pricey looking menu having caught our [my] eye earlier.  They'd stopped serving - we checked the time - just gone 10pm!  Eek - we hadn't realised it had got so late at all.  They told us to try over the road at the kiddy friendly place I really hadn't wanted to go to [Captain Flints] and told us they thought that or the burger / late opening bar place we'd just turned our noses up at were probably our best bet at that time of night.  Oh well we thought, at least we'd eat and they did some ok sounding pasta dishes even though it was still fairly busy with small people at that time of night.  But no - they didn't want our custom either when we ventured in the door although I can't say I was that saddened - it was more that we were both rather hungry by this point. 

We wandered back along the main road not seeing any positive or open type signs anywhere until I thought I'd try the little bistro up a side alley we'd spotted earlier.  Boatswains [no website of their own - missing a trick there guys!] had some people in still - with a menu with things like wings and potato skins [:-(] etc on but a great looking specials board when we'd checked it out earlier.  I popped in and enquired if they were still serving?  After checking how many we were the very friendly lady said she'd check with the kitchen and returned shortly with the very gladly received news that as they had a table in that had only just started eating it was fine.  She led us upstairs to our own corner table in a window, flanked by a funky metal oil burner and several candles and even brought another couple when she saw it was a litle dark.  The whole place is done out in a tasteful contempory fashion with out being pretentious and the service was super friendly and attentive without making you feel pressured or under the spotlight.  The lady that originally led us in was American - those wings and potato skins were making more sense!  The specials board looked fab and we both chose starters from  it - I had scallops baked in their shells in a parsley and garlic butter and the Chap had grilled squid in some sort of chilli basting.  [I can't remember the exact terminology used.]  Wow - this was seafood of the highest and freshest calibre.  My scallops were to die for - they were sweet and creamy and the flavours were well balanced and complementary.  Chap's squid was equally lovely - and it was a whole one!  I'm afraid there's no pics though because sometimes [just sometimes mind] you have to put the camera away and concentrate on living the moment instead. 
For main I was going to choose a cod dish in a sauce I liked the sound of - it's rare for me to choose something like cod otherwise; but they'd run out of it.  However, the friendly American lady told us of a dish 'off-menu' that she had which was a monkfish tail that'd be big enough for both of us and came in a similar sauce with a bed of spinach as the cod had done.  Well - we were sold both loving monkfish and yes - it was absolutely fab too.  Really really special and the best meal I've had out for some time.  You could taste the freshness of the fish in all the varieties we had; something that's emminently important and can make such a difference to the taste.  That the place was so friendly and welcoming even at that time of night just made it.  [BTW there is no material advantage to me in writing this glowing review in case you were wondering - they're not in the least aware of it and we paid our bill in full already!  This is my honest opinion - as is everything else found here.] 
Having polished off every little scrap of monkfish, spinach, new potatos and sweet potato chips (yummy btw) we decided we really could fit a pudding in - very rare for us as we're both way more savoury people but it was that sort of night.  Incidentally they were more than happy to offer us dessert even though it must have been gone 11pm by then.  I chose the honeycomb ice-cream - creamy and rich with chunks of honeycomb in - very good indeed.  Chap had the baked vanilla cheesecake - also good and very rich.  We eventually left and waddled back up the hill to our appartment for a sound nights rest.  :-D

The next morning I woke early and took a couple of pics of the view from the window at about 5am.  Sadly Chap had parked pretty much bang slap in front of it (!) but you can see how stunning it is overlooking the estuary.
Once we'd actually got up properly, had a leisurely breakfast and paid our bill to the nice people that run the place we took the van down into the town and found a car park so we could have more of a potter about while stuff was open this time.  As it was Fathers' day [yes - this second part of the post has been rather a long time coming!] Chap was thrilled to be allowed to have a wander in a fishing tackle shop.  :-D  In return I was allowed to have a peruse round Gallery 5; a gallery run by a collective of locally based artists I think.  A mixed offering with some painted driftwood pieces in amongst various different painting styles from the different artists.  We had a proper look round the town checking out some of the expensive yet stylish shops - I was especially taken

by these silver plated mussel pickers for eating your moules with - I generally use the empty shells of one.  Something for the chrimble list maybe?  They were in a fab kitchenware shop that was however quite hideously overpriced.  I saw a wood and glass cheeseboard I rather liked - £80odd without the knives!!  They were a further £60odd I think!!  Sheesh.  It being a shop full of lovely lovely kitchen things though there were many items I coveted but as they were well out of what I'm prepared to pay Chap was safe from me managing to clutter up the kitchen any further.
We had a poke about the local wine shop and picked up a bottle of Rosehip Cordial whilst there - which I can now later confirm as refreshing and 'virtuous' feeling [but in a good way] when drunk with sparkling water.

I spotted these and liked the fact that Salcombe has pretty kerbs - my town doesn't manage anything quite this spiffing.  I thought they were pretty cool but then I'm like that.  :-)
We popped into the local Salcombe Dairy's outlet place and had [another] ice-cream.  Chap went for Rum and Raisin with Navy Rum soaked raisins and I had Stem Ginger with real ginger pieces in.  Ooh yum - really peppy and gingery whilst creamy at the same time.  I much preferred it to the Rum and Raisin though that's not a flavour I'd go for anyway - Chap assured me it was delicious!
We decided we'd done Salcombe for the time being and would set a leisurely course home taking in the South Devon Chilli Farm and a spot of lunch en route.  In fact that is where I will leave you as I feel this post is in danger of getting far too long for it's own good and aside from threatening the very fabric of space time with it's sprawling gargantuanness I'm plenty sure you've had enough by now.  [I know I have.]  Stay tuned for the thrilling part 3 - Impromptu weekend - the return!  [That reminds me - the last Harry Potter film is released here today - end of an era or a chance to return to the magic of the printed word?  Whilst firmly being in the 'the book is always better' camp I must admit to a guilty liking of the HP films.  If you go see it let me know if it's any good.]
*The mystery of the missing Oyster Shack - quick google search upon returning home reveals it closed around easter to be replaced with the bar we saw.  Damn.

4 days of foodieness! (Well actually - we did water the allotment too...)

Well, we've had a busy few days here in (mostly) sunny Devon.  As I predicted much cheese was purchased as well as several nice pints of ale consumed; or should I say 'quaffed'  [I loved this sign] at the food festival and now my fridge and freezer are both well stocked with tasty morsels.  [The bloke on the bar seemed so impressed with 3 ladies - Ma, big sis and I - all having pints of real ale he insisted on a pic of us.  Not sure whether that's slightly creepy or flattering!]  Whilst there I purchased a second smaller chopping board for pungent things like garlic.  This is a whacking solid bit of beech wood [really shouldn't have made it the first thing I bought!] and cost me a fiver.  Not bad considering that with a little care I should never need to replace it.  It came from the same people I got my full size oak one from [you'll have seen it in recipe pics] a few years back and is also made from reclaimed wood.  I really have no excuses to get any more now but they are truly things of beauty.

Another purchase I'm rather pleased with is this smoked pepper - ok not even vaguely pretending to be frugal [though you can lift basic food with judicious seasoning as long as you have the options in the cupboard] but it's very tasty without being overwhelming.  Although the bloke on the stall recommended it with things like steak I can announce it goes well with a salmon cream cheese roll for brekkie, garnished with a little sorrel from the allotment.  I think it'd work with eggs as well; with most things if you like the smoked flavour.  I'm a fan anyway!

I'm afraid this is a bit of a short post [I've watering to do] but really - if you're any kind of foodie at all go to one of these shows just so you've had the experience.  You don't have to go mad and buy far too much cheese like I did - virtually every stall has samples to taste and there's something for everyone.  Look up your local show and go now!  We picked up details for a couple of local monthly food fairs / famer's markets whilst we were there and I have now truly set my heart on attending Sturminster Newton Cheese Festival in September.  Oh - and making our own cheese but that's another post...

The Silent Woman - Wareham. A pub not a genuine rarity! :-D

The weekend was spent 'back home' [not sure why I still say that as I've now lived longer away from there than I did there] in Dorset. We had lunch to celebrate little big sis's birthday at the Silent Woman pub just outside Wareham in Coldharbour. [A place which incidentally didn't appear on my road atlas - it's that small.] We've eaten there a couple of times in the last year and a half and the food has always been good. I must admit to being slightly disappointed to see it was the same menu as the last 2 times though but we have always been in the colder months so maybe it's their winter menu...

However, they do have a specials board which always seems to have some good sounding choices on it and this trip was no exception. As well as the various meaty options (beef and guinness pie, some sort of ham hock dish, beef madras, er...) there was a smoked salmon and prawn pasta dish, a mushroom risotto and what caught my eye - *Quorn pieces in a mushroom and brie sauce. As a veggie [or pescatarian to be entirely accurate] I was inordinately pleased to see this and in fact, I can't bring to mind a single other time I've seen a Quorn dish on offer in a pub or restaurant that wasn't specially catering to vegetarians. This made my mind up for me so I really had to choose this. It was a good dish, creamy so somewhat rich - not for those watching the calories. [Mind you if you're eating out you really shouldn't be, at least for that one meal.] The brie flavour came through without being overpowering, which had worried me a little. It was a generous potion and cooked well - Quorn can be ruined if overcooked. Served with a choice of spuds and veg or salad I went for the tarragon saute spuds [not the healthy option again] which were lovely and the stir fried veg which were a little on the greasy side. Overall though a good dish. The others had variously: scallop topped salmon fillet dusted with cajun spices - a hit and the scallops were nice big plump 'uns. This was what I nearly went for had the Quorn not had my allegiance. There was a venison casserole and a lamb casserole (aha - the lamb was the other dish on the specials board). Both went down well also. The final dish of our party was a beef in black bean sauce stir fry with noodles. Said by the Chap to be like stir fry when an English person makes it; apparently the sauce was more of a gravy consistency and the noodles were a bit overdone. Hmm - perhaps they should stick to what they know.

Overall though generally good food, a pretty pub with roaring fires and good Badger beers on tap and the courage to put Quorn on as a main meal choice. Oh and the Silent Woman namesake? In their words:

"Once a smugglers haunt, legend has it that an 'unusual' Landlady (one who talked too much, heaven forbid!) gave away the smugglers' secrets in Wareham market place. Fearful of capture by the ever-present Excise Men, the smugglers silenced her by cutting out her tongue, thus creating that unique phenomenon 'The Silent Woman'. "

Tsk - you can tell a bloke wrote that!!

*Can we assume that after every time I've written 'Quorn' in this post there appears a little 'TM' in the appropriate place. I neither know how to make it 'top-align' [if that's the phrase] nor do I much care. Quorn people - rest assured I have the greatest respect for your product and it's intellectual, market and whatever else integrity. :-)

Phone loss and distress caused thereof

Now the reason we have no lovely photographic images to accompany the last post about Jamie's Italian is in fact twofold. Firstly - the lighting was a little dim - sorry 'mood' - in the restaurant so phone images would have been very poor quality. I in fact had a different image from my Brighton trip to accompany the post. However; my return to Exeter and a night out on Saturday brought the theft/loss of my phone. I'm honestly not sure which as it disappeared from the front pocket of my bag; which suggests theft, but it was ringing up to Sunday arvo, which suggests loss. We re-visited the bar on the Sunday though and rang it and couldn't hear it anywhere so it's now 'black-listed' to prevent use and I have a replacement SIM card on its way.

Now - loss of phone reminds one that whereas we used to memorise many phone numbers now we rely on our handsets to do it. I used mine as my alarm clock too, in common with many. It had a 2gb card in with lots of images on - luckily most of which are on the pc. We have become lazy in our reliance on gadgetry and now - well I am rueing this to a certain extent. Hey ho. Sadly I'll have to go back to the old handset on which the camera is atrocious. The whole reason I bought the lost handset was for the camera which was 5mp and ok in decent light and meant it was always to hand for images for this 'ere blog. [Incidentally it was cack as an actual phone. LG for the record.]

Must get myself back in the habit of carrying my camera at all times - I missed a brilliant picture opportunity on Sunday [that had me reaching for my phantom phone] when we visited the Hourglass for a late afternoon pint. I was trying to see what beers were on pump and my view was obscured by the furry behind of the pub cat! Anyway - sounds like an excuse for a repeat visit to me! This is a gem of a backstreet boozer; the sort you imagine existed in droves in a certain era for the working man to whet his whistle on the way home. This has survived I would say based on it's reputation for great food as it's become quite gastro in it's menu offerings, good beers, friendly and eclectic staff / clientele / interior and a great range of single malts behind the bar. It was several years living here before someone shared the secret with me I know that!

[TBH this picture wasn't taken there but they have served this beer there in the past. Tenuous? Maybe...]

Foodie few days

Shortly before I was off I had my birthday. This sadly (ha) involved me having to visit various spiffing eateries and sample some damn fine meals - oh the hardship! :-D

First up, on the evening of my actual birthday, was the local Port Royal Inn, on the Exe. I had the mussels, in a creamy white wine, Pernod and tarragon sauce. Really beautiful dish, not overfussy but a very generous portion. A well balanced sauce as well as with a cream based one you have to be careful it's not too cloying and heavy. My companion went for the scallops which he proclaimed to be very tasty and enjoyable; with the chorizo adding that extra 'juzsh'. The pub's friendly and welcoming and serves the local Otter Ale as well as the ever popular Yellowhammer from O'Hanlon's. Staff are friendly too and an interesting mix from all over the place judging by the accents. :-)

Second find was more of an accident, though I suppose if we'd actually thought about it we'd have realised that trying to find somewhere serving food at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon in an English seaside town is setting yourself somewhat of a challenge! Having traipsed around Teignmouth [a very nice place for a traipse incidentally] we spied somewhere seeming to offer pizzas. But no - hopes were dashed as the barlady informed us food had finished and commenced again at 6pm. A swift look at the clock however newly informed us that 6 was a mere 10 minutes away (ok - we did have a beer or 2 in between searching for food all afternoon) so after a swift perusal of the evening menu we repaired to a nearby pub for a game of pool before returning ravenous to the aptly named former cinema - Take 2. Well - what a gem! We had an absolutely top evening; fantastic food, great staff and an impressive venue. The chef is Masterchef Barney Mason and he certainly delivers top eatings. We had the marinated olives, flatbread and tapenade to share to pick at as we chose our mains then both went for pasta; myself ordering the linguine with crab and my dining compadre in esurience going for the clam option. They were divine, each very different in style and flavours but packed with both. The crab was creamy with the flavours gently caressing your tastebuds as they took it in turns to come forth to prominence. Very generous with the crabmeat this was a dish to truly savour. It's a rich one so make sure you're hungry or do as we did and share 2 contrasting options.

The clam linguine was a very different creature with the chilli and garlic feisty and upfront in your mouth but still well balanced and not swamping the clams themselves. Now although it sounds odd these 2 very different dishes actually complimented each other rather well we thought; with the chilli cutting through the creaminess of the crab dish every so often as we alternated. [Actually I found a little of the crab linguine stirred in the chilli sauce worked great too but don't tell the chef! ;-) ] Although fairly stuffed by this point I was easily led by my companion into the idea of sharing a cheesboard for afters - come on - it's cheese right?! This came with 4 generous hunks of lovely cheese (cheddar, camembert, stilton and another blue I annoyingly forgot the name of but which was gorgeous), handmade herby crackers, grapes and quince jelly. We ordered port and as they had sold out they rather brilliantly gave us dessert wine for free - what stars! This was the personable portugese front of house chap who made sure we were ok but didn't intrude or make us feel rushed at any point. There was nothing stuffy about the place. All in all I think I have a new fave place - can't recommend it enough - go visit!

The last in the trio of foodery trips was to *HFC's River Cottage Canteen in Axminster. I've wanted to visit and see what it's like for a while so this seemed the ideal excuse to meet up with my ma and sis. Bigger than it looks from the outside the canteen goes back behind the shop frontage quite a way. (There's also a deli in the front section with a good variety of cheese and some cured meats.) The menu is written up on a couple of huge blackboards lowered on some sort of pulley arrangement to be updated each day. Much to my delight there was a Pike and Parsly Soup available as a starter - having watched HFC espouse it's virtues for months I've been itching to try pike. Brilliant green in colour on delivery to the table (thanks to the parsley) this was a smooth soup with added chunks of pike in it. I was much pleased by this as it meant I could try the fish properly; on it's own, as it were. Well - pike is definitely a very flavourful fish but I liked it greatly. It had no 'muddy' tones to it that I could discern and which I think are many people's main concern. A strong tasting fish but a nice one I'd say. Sis agreed with me and even started with the 'I must get some' when I pointed out that I think you're not going to get it in the fishmongers but rather have to catch your own. Ma however wasn't a fan and she does love fish so I guess it's not to everyone's taste but it's always worth trying new things. [I get ever so agitated by people that will calmly stand there going 'eurgh' at some food or drink but then reveal they've never once tried it themselves. How on earth do they think I am going to give any credence whatsoever to their totally uninformed viewpoint?! Imbeciles! Ha - mini rant there!] Next up I had the Smollack Rarebit with chips and cabbage on the side for all to share and the rels both had venison & pork burger. They reported theirs as delish and they looked the part; fat, obviously home-made and bursting from their buns. (The burgers not the rels!) The Smollack Rarebit (=smoked pollack) was v. good. Generous in both size and flavours it was the inspiration for me finally trying rarebit at home as mentioned in my last post. The chips were chunky handcut wedges and the buttered cabbage could have been a meal on it's on such was the size of the portion! All in all we had a thoroughly lovely meal in the informal canteen setting and for a resonable cost too. I had clocked that the menu on the River Cottage site had no prices on which always makes me a little suspicious but it was reasonable at about 5ish quid for the soup and 6-7 for the mains we had. The wine list was however rather steeper but we stuck with the Badger and Otter beers on offer. Good friendly service rounded off the day. You can even browse [and buy] HFC's books on the way out. :-)

A rather longer post than I intended, this one. I'm afraid I failed on the pic front as well being far too busy scoffing than to think to photograph the culinary delights placed before me. Hope you've enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the eating for it; as I mentioned at the start it was a true hardship...

*HFC = Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall

In praise of the gastro pub

Being from a bit of a foodie family I get to visit gastro pubs whenever a birthday crops up, or a visit, or... well you get the point. Frugal it aint! However, there is much to be said for an occasional visit as a treat if you can.

Saturday we visited a new one; The Greyhound Inn in Sydling St Nicholas, a very small, very pretty village in Dorset, for my eldest big sis's b'day. The food was lovely with an extensive fish specials board and another for meat specials. Being unable to memorise the entire thing I photographed it as we were reposing in the sun in the garden. I had the Smoked Haddock Chowder from the starters selection but as a main course, something the pub were more than happy to do. It was gorgeous with mussels in the shell and several good sized scallops in a fantastic flavoured broth with wine and cream in. Yum!! Definitely a pub to add to the list we decided. The staff were friendly and attentive, even thinking to come and warn us a big group were about to order if we wanted to get our orders in first. If visiting I'd think about booking , especially in winter when everyone will be sitting indoors. All in all highly recommended.