All the B’s this month! April was blimmin birthday-burger-brownie-brunch-filled. The sun has been out putting us all in a good mood for food. We’ve had great interactions on our socials when we’ve shared this months outings. Now you know where’ we’ve been… where’s your favourite brunch, lunch, dinner stop? Do tell…

Read on for:

• Knights Farm Shop, Ottery St Mary
• Love Brownies, Okehampton
• Meat59, Exeter
• Lympstone Manor, Exmouth
• Margoux, Exeter
• Salumi Bar and Eatery, Plymouth
• Cafe Patisserie Glacerie, Exmouth
• Il Cornichione Pizza Van
• Yamza Food Truck
• Little Oink, Exeter

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Knights Farm Shop

Lauren was #invited to pop into Knights Farm Shop just back of West Hill/Ottery St Mary, to choose some of their own reared meat – including grass fed sheep and cows and their pigs.

She then grabbed a takeaway coffee and enjoyed it in the outdoor area, with a view of the farm and animals and surrounded by almighty bird song.

The farm shop is small but perfectly formed; it has good coffee to takeaway, cakes, their own meat and veg, milk refill, their own jams, alcoholic drinks, cheese plus LOTS of other goodies too. They also do meat and veg boxes. She picked up lamb loin chops, chuck steak and sausages.

The outdoor area is fenced so safe for little ones (there’s 2 or 3 little wooden things of interest for little people), a water butt for thirsty dogs, and sunshine! (OK not always guaranteed…so it’s also partially covered!) Small parking area and bike parking too. It’s pretty popular with passing cyclists. There’s also a country walk from here if you fancy it!

The lamb loin chops were devoured with a yummy dauphinoise potato and some wild garlic pesto she has foraged and made – the chops were super quick under the grill, tender and full of flavour. The chuck steak was used to make Cornish pasties!

Love Brownies

Love Chocolate? Then you’ll Love Brownies! Love Brownies is a Yorkshire born company, who recently opened their doors in Okehampton, on the edge of Dartmoor.

It’s a shop & cafe offering a delicious ‘Dales Kitchen’ (roots from Yorkshire) breakfast & lunch menu and of course their award winning chocolate brownies in a variety of flavours, brownie milkshakes (vegan alternatives).Sue was #invited in for lunch before walking over the moors – it’s on the doorstep to the Granite Way with lots of great walks from there.

She enjoyed the loaded sourdough toasts for lunch. The Avo-cuddle & Smokehouse both tasty & freshly made. Soup, salad & jam packed sandwiches also on the menu. Of course they had to try the brownies. These were delicious. Lots of different flavours to choose from.  Eat straight from the counter or warm with a scoop of Northern Bloc ice cream. You can eat in or takeaway. There is outside seating overlooking the church square and High Street.

Love Brownies is based up in Yorkshire and founded by trained chef and baker Chantal.  They have several cafes nationwide but Okehampton is the first one to open here in the South West.  Their brownies are made to a completely gluten-free recipe and suitable for vegetarians too.

Lympstone Manor

Earlier in April, Lauren was #invited to attend a wonderful celebratory and informative dinner at Lympstone Manor – with not just one but five Relais Chateaux chefs.

Five wonderful courses of seafood and seaweed – a Seaweed Symphony, alongside Lyme Bay Winery matched wines. In support of World Ocean Day (June 8th 2022), Relais & Châteaux, are working alongside UNESCO and Ethic Ocean, committed to raising awareness among consumers and food professionals about the sustainable use of marine resources.

She devoured:

• Seared scallop, artichoke barigoule and sea vegetables – James Coffey of Park Hotel Kenmare
• Roasted Scottish langoustine tail, pepper dulse beurre blanc, samphire and bergamot gel – Calum Innes of Airds Hotel and Restaurant
• Roasted monkfish, poached Conwy mussels, spinach puree, laverbread (made with nori) and beurre blanc came – Gareth Stevenson of Palé Hall
• Fillet of turbot, sea spaghetti, razor clams and Exmoor caviar – Aaron Patterson of Hambleton Hall 
• Apple mousse, caramelised apple gel with agar agar, and green apple sorbet – Michael Caines from Lympstone Manor 

It was a fantastic evening in sumptuous surroundings and with impeccable friendly service. Lympstone Manor hold some exciting events throughout the year and of course you can book to experience the exceptional offering of lunch, afternoon tea or dinner.

It also happened to be around 5 years since Lympstone opened, so Happy Birthday!

Margoux

GO to Margoux! Best…. brunch….ever, in Lauren’s opinion. She was #invited to try their epic food in their new location, having recently moved from their smaller site due to high demand, they are now in their much larger two storey venue in Princesshay Exeter.

Lots of satisfying noises ensued as she dived into:

• Steak, eggs, tenderstem broccoli (well seasoned, perfectly cooked, gorgeous local beef)
• Eggs benedict with 18hr slow cooked ox cheek (high quality muffins, unctuous meat, oozy yolks)
• Buttermilk pancake stack, whipped mascarpone, caramelised banana, miso caramel, crumble (quite frankly insane; the fluffiest pancakes, sticky caramel, buttery crumble)

With downstairs for dining – think cosy leatherette bucket seats, instagram worthy table tops, funky wallpapers and even a piano! Upstairs is a stylish bar with sumptuous rich velvet banquette seating, cool graffiti art, and a terrace with cathedral top views. They have at least 10 cocktails that are available as non alcoholic, with the aim of achieving a choice of alcoholic or non for whole menu soon.. offering something for everyone!

They are an independent, serving homemade, local produce… it’s fresh, full of flavours and texture, absolutely bangin’! It not only looks good but it tastes incredible. Gather your gal pals, meet your mates, book your dream date…

Breakfast/brunch is served Mon-Thurs 10am – 11:30am, and Fri & Sat 9am to 11:30am. There are vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and dairy free options. The other menus are very enticing, and Lauren is already booked to revisit for a delicious dinner with work mates.

Salumi Bar and Eatery

On a day out in Plymouth recently, Lauren headed to Salumi, after hearing and seeing great things about their food offering as well as the lure of live music on Saturday evenings. The restaurant, set on a quirky corner in Plymouth, has an equally quirky interior with seating areas at different heights, funky colours as well as a cute outdoor area with stretch tent covering.

They enjoyed acoustic guitar music, whilst tucking into

• smoked buttermilk fried chicken wings / gochujang sauce / chimichurri tapas
• salt & vinegar doughnuts / smoked mackerel rillette / caviar tapas
• truffled mac ‘n’ cheese tapas
• followed by a large plate of “Porsham Farm” steak burger / pulled brisket / smoked cheddar / BBQ slaw / fries

The wings were so tender with the tartness and freshness from the chimichurri cutting through the sticky spicy sauce. We were inspired by the savoury doughnuts (planning to make some at home!), these were fluffy and a great vessel to spread the smooth rillette on. The mac ‘n cheese was in a generous amount of cheese sauce and the meaty burger was such high quality and really filling. The staff were really efficient, we could see what a tight ship this was and they also added a few personal touches in as it was an anniversary dinner. Lauren wants to go back and try some of their epic looking cocktails, as well as more of the tapas!

Meat59

Fancy biting down on a burgerlicious meat or vegan patty? Well look no further than Meat59. This indie trio of restaurants has finally moved it’s smaller Exeter offering into big-boy Princesshay and has plenty of room for more delicious dining! Well known for high quality, well stacked burgers and loaded fries, it’s still doing what it does best.

Lauren ventured out with her son and enjoyed:

• Truffle shuffle – 6oz Patty, Wild Mushroom, Spinach, Blue Cheese, Red Onion Marmalade, Truffle Mayo
• Alabama Slammer -Southern Spiced Crispy Chicken, M59 Special Mayo, Lettuce, Red Jalapenos, Chilli Cheddar, BBQ Sauce
• Filthy – BBQ sauce, Slow Roast Pulled Pork & Cheddar

With a malty milkshake and low alcohol but high beer flavour Powderkeg green light to wash it all down, they enjoyed people watching out the large windows from their leather booth.

With a weekday lunch club offering burger, fries and drink for £12, the full offering is also excellent value for this mighty independent showing off great care and produce.

Cafe Patisserie Glacerie

Happy 1st Birthday to Cafe Patisserie Glacerie. Sue popped down to celebrate with Michelin Star Chef Michael Caines, Sylvain Peltier and the team. As with all birthday celebrations there was a beautiful cake made by Sylvain Peltier which was delicious. She enjoyed a glass of bubbly to toast the team and she couldn’t resist one of their hand made gelatos in a cone. Salted caramel & apple strudel was a great combo of flavours.  No doubt she’ll be back throughout the summer to work her way through the new flavours and new patisseries!

Located at Sideshore, on Exmouth Seafront, it’s the perfect place to enjoy hot & cold drinks, hand made French patisseries, ice creams & takeaway snacks or just sit & enjoy the stunning views of the beach.

Il Cornicione Neapolitan Pizza

After working in various pizza chains and feeling the yearn to do it even better and for themselves, Il Cornicione was born! Lauren was #invited to Greendale Farm Shop to try some of their fantastic Neapolitan pizzas – it’s all about authentic recipes and style of pizza, dough stretched by hand, thin crust and a light yet chewy crust – the ‘cornicione’.

We enjoyed sitting in one of the pods at Greendales enjoying the animals and evening view at their elevated site in East Devon. Lauren enjoyed one of their specials ‘Bufala Aglio’ – Garlic butter Base, San Marzano Tomato, Parmigiano Reggiano, Buffalo Mozzarella DOP, Fresh Oregano, Garlic Brushed Cornicione. Intended as vegetarian but tweaked with the addition of chicken and nduja. Her son enjoyed ‘Chilli and Chorizo – San Marzano Tomato base, Crushed Chilli Flakes, Fior di Latte Mozzarella, Fresh Chilli, Spanish Iberico Chorizo, Mixed Peppers, Chilli Oil.

It was so delicious! Il Cornicione roam around feeding pizza loving folk all over the place so check out their socials for the next opportunity. It goes without saying that Greendales is an outing in itself thanks to it’s awesome restaurant, fish and meat counter, fresh veg, local produce and more…. seek both out!

Yamza Street Food

Ever heard of the purple people eater? Well this bad boy is the purple people feeder! At the end of April, Lauren ventured out to Sidmouth for the promise of incredibly delicious food from Yamza. On arrival the queue said it all… the secret was out, Sidmouth already knew what was on offer as Ed, a masterchef of GB and private chef to middle eastern royalty, cooked and served food out of his garage in Sidmouth area over lockdown. Now he has wheels and will travel! He’s serving up his delicious down to earth offering with bangin flavours to three areas: Thursdays in Sidmouth, Fridays in Exmouth and Saturdays in Exminster. You’ll find him…follow your nose!

We enjoyed:

• Chicken Shawarma – stuffed fresh home baked pittas with yamza fried chicken, smoky tandoor kebab, butter chicken, trio of chutneys and crispy onion.
• Bowl food including Chinese bbq pork fillet, slow braised and caramelised pork belly teriyaki, katsu kofta, sesame green, sweet chilli salsa, truffle ponzu dressing.
• Full on fries – loaded with sweet and sticky pork belly, cheddar cheese, yamza secret sauce
• Plus a stonking garlic tahini dip! Warning, this is not date food, this is garlicy, spicy, sometimes messy food!

They have a vegan option too which was I tempted by even as a meat eater. Every mouthful was a delight, every bite you get all the layers of flavours – sweet, savoury, spice, texture and those pittas – soft and fluffy, best ever! Top takeaway! Seek them out….

Little Oink

Chris & Tori popped through to visit Little oink which has just opened in Magdalen Road, in the former premises of Meat 59 (which has moved up to Princesshay Exeter).

A cocktail bar that does breakfasts and bar snacks, diners can eat some of the fine produce from the Rusty Pig which is it’s, step-sister location in Ottery St Mary.

It’s exciting to see a new restaurant opening in Exeter as it always is but particularly part of the Rusty Pig family given it’s sterling reputation for food.

They sampled a few bar snacks including immaculately created crunchy pork scratchings with a couple of pints of Utopian Brewing Limited draught lager, also Truffled Nuts and Cheesy Truffle Nuts

2022 © Disclosure – all images, unless otherwise stated are copyright of Dining Devon. For some of our visits we are #invited or products are #gifted, and are noted as such. This means we have been given something complimentary in exchange for our views in the hope of us sharing on our socials. This does not affect our opinions which are not seen or pre approved by venues before we publish or share our experiences.