Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
1
Inn on the Green
This was our first dinner of a week’s stay in Paignton. And it was the only dinner of the week that we had in Paignton - “good” places seemed very limited in number and we found other restaurants in Brixham and Torquay, What this pub had going for it was that we’d had a tiring drive and it was close to where we were staying . We didn’t have high expectations and they were met.
A steak and ale pie was a “proper” pie – not a stew with a puff pastry lid but pastry top, bottom and sides, enclosing long cooked meat. It was served with carrots, c hips and, with a major plus point, a separate jug of gravy, in case the pie filling wasn’t moist enough. It was but I’m not one to refuse gravy. Pizza Margherita did what it said on the tin. Crisp base, none too shabby tomato sauce, a few slivers of tomato as topping and cheese.
Job done.
6 Likes
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
2
Paignton Pier - ice cream
We’d been for dinner across the road at the Inn on the Green and hadn’t fancied any of their desserts. We reckoned there’s bound to be somewhere amongst the bright lights of the pier that’s selling ice cream, And so there was. It’s from Marshfield Farm in nearby Wiltshire and is made with their own organic milk offering something like 20 flavours. Blackcurrant and clotted cream seemed not only seasonal but local. And it was a cracking ice cream.
6 Likes
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
3
Paignton Pier Chippy Co.
If you’re going to the seaside, you’ve got to have fish & chips. There may even still be a law requiring it. But, even If not, it’s a smart idea for lunch. And this is as smart a place (or is that plaice) as it gets round here. Not least as all the fish is from sustainable sources, certified by the Marine Stewardship Council. They take that sort of thing seriously - their website saying the know the actual boats that landed their fish and the actual farms where their potatoes come from.
They have a few booths inside but there are impossible for folk of, ahem, certain proportions. We were about to give up when one of the even fewer tables outside became free.
You order at the takeaway counter and wait for your number to be called to collect., There was a quite a wait, but this was a Sunday on a bank holiday weekend and Paignton was much busier than when I was last here in 2013. Food was very good – a generous portion of cod, perfectly flaky fish in a crisp batter and more chips than either of us could finish. And good chips at that.
Happy you got away for a break. I haven’t been to Paignton, yet.
Had a nice day trip to Exmoor and another day trip to Budleigh Salterton almost a decade ago, using Exeter as my base. Very nice fish and chips, with table service in a little cafe, in Budleigh Salterton. http://www.budleighfishandchips.co.uk/
I realize good fish and chips are relatively easy to find along the coast in Devon, as well as closer to Cheshire!
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
5
Paignton itself is a bit run down as a town, but we found a lovely apartment literally across the road from the beach. So we jut used it a a base.
