Ode

21 Fore St, Shaldon, Teignmouth, Devon

From the outside it looks a bit like a teashop. Even when you’re inside, so friendly are your fellow diners that you’re instantly reminded you’re not in the city any more. Not that the food backs this up. This is fine cuisine with a bind to local produce that’s bordering on obsessive. The assistant chef himself hunted and shot the fallow deer in nearby Haldon Forest (then helped serve it with blackberries, runner beans and caramelized rosemary shallots); fishermen pop in to see if the sea bass they’ve just caught are up to scratch, and the sweet South Devon crab probably once shared the same postcode as the restaurant (said crab now shares a plate with the sea bass, along with basil quinoa, warm tomato, coriander and citrus olive oil – a treat for anyone). It’s not hard to see why this local restaurant with big ambition picked up a Good Food Guide award for ‘best use of local produce’. Chef-owner Tim Bouget has created a menu that is effectively Devon on a plate, but he also infuses his own touches, namely some Asian zing that adds to his dishes without detracting from the raw ingredients. Ode is a genuinely class act.