We went once to the previous restaurant on this site, before it closed last year. It wasn't bad, but they only opened three evenings a week. "There isn't enough trade to justify any more" the proprietor complained. I can see their point, but if you turn up on spec to eat at some new place and find it closed, how likely are you to get out a pen and paper and make a note of which three evenings it is open ? Even if you do, how likely are you to retain that bit of paper ? Even if you do, how likely are you to...well, you catch my drift.

What you have to do when starting a new restaurant is simply to open every day. In a small town like Ottery, this will mean at first that some days there will be no customers. The new people are a young couple from Eastern Europe (Roberta and Husnu) who realise it is going to take time and they open for lunch and dinner every day. Regardless. Lunch is now well established - two courses for under a fiver - and every time I walked by they had plenty of customers. Dinner is taking longer to get going, and the three of us were the only customers one weekday evening in early January. But out in the country, after Christmas when everyone is broke and/or dieting and the restaurant has not been open long, that's how it is. After substantial starters, I had a glorious, slow cooked Lamb Shank, S had a huge Steack Frites and E had Grilled Trout. With desserts and a bottle of wine, the bill came to about 80 quid.

It's a nice room, cheerful service, good cooking and a real change from the nasty pub grub which often is the only choice in Britain outside the cities. If you find yourself in East Devon, give them a try, especially as the once excellent Seasons, in Ottery St Mary has changed hands and dropped its standards. Approved DM January 2005