I am back, and I will let you know about the canoeing, the aquarium visit, the crabbing and more. But for now I will go with a restaurant review. It was particularly interesting taking a 5 year old (very well behaved) who normally goes to bed at 1915 hours but stayed up for evening meals every night and didn't get to bed until 2200 hrs most nights. In order of excellence/enjoyment:
1) Res Nova - a floating restaurant in the middle of the Dart. We have been trying to get there for years but a succession of disasters (theirs not ours) have meant that we could never get a table. This year we managed and I so wish we had managed before. First sat out on the deck drinking a Pimms in the sun and a lovely evening. Then inside for a lovely meal, including the best ever sticky toffee pudding (of which I only know from one small mouthful, although a very large portion arrived "A" had ordered it and finished it off, I have never seen her eat so much). We told the owner how much "A" enjoyed the meal, he then took "J" and "A" to meet the chef. After which the chef came out and made a carving of a swan out of an apple for "A".
2) Al Fresco - a wonderful cafe. A regular for the locals and a great place for breakfast. Also occassionally does lunch and even dinner but all opening hours can be cancelled if the surf is good. Great atmosphere and a fun place to go. Cinnamon toast (reminds me of school) and speciality. Bacon sarnies which surpass anything experienced elsewhere.
3) Anzacs - another place that has been on the list for a long time. "J"s meal was great, I have to admit my steak wasn't the best, but the friendliness made up for it. All the staff were helpful, the meal wasn't rushed. A good evening out is made up of both good food and a good atmosphere, they scored highly on the second.
4) The Floating Bridge - good food rather let down by service that was in chaos. In some ways the opposite to Anzacs. They couldn't remember which table had ordered what. We ended up with an extra apple juice and I am sure they never found out who it was destined for.
5) RBs - I had an amazing seafood platter as a starter with langoustines, crayfish and crab all in their shell, followed by a lovely lemon sole. "J"s lamb was a bit fatty. "A"s choclate pudding was too chocolatey and she gave up and fell asleep.
6) The Castle Hotel - overpriced for what you get. Used to be good but has gone downhill.
7) The Station - used to do the best cooked breakfasts you could imagine. Times have got hard and now can only claim to be mediocre.
8) Twentyfour - a passable lunch, but only redeemed by "J"s pasta, my savoury pancake was poor. Didn't even stay for coffee and pudding.
And two places we didn't eat but that get minus points. "Sails" says on its blackboard "everyone welcome" whcih turns out not to be true as they only allow children of 10 or over. I wouldn't mind if they were honest, it is the misleading nature of the sign that annoyed me. And "Jan and Freddies", say that they allow children but when asked if a five year old could share a course put me on hold and then came back and said "that would be difficult", which you could understand if Dartmouth had been heaving but things were quiet and we went past on the way back from where we did book in and they had five empty tables.
3 comments:
Yum..that is a good holiday review!!! I love dartmouth..have beem there once or twice myself..had lunch ina very good fish and chip shop I remember once..upstairs over the shop, up a side street..can't remember the name. But yes, friendliness and good service as as important as the food!!!!
I suppose to be "yum" i should have described the meals themselves. But I really do rate atmosphere highly and that is more what I remember from places.
"cinnamon toast - reminds me of school".
now you knew some leftie toe-rag from a comp' would comment on that one didn't you!
deep fried spam fritters and green custard (not necessarily together, but not necessarily separatly!) have to do it for me i'm afraid. :)
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