The good British roast dinner, is there anything better than sitting down to one on a Sunday? I have taken pride in my home cooked roasts for years, but sometimes it's nice to enjoy a roast that has been cooked by someone other than me! Devon is full of wonderful restaurants offering carvery or plated roasts, with lots of fresh local produce. I have often had difficulty in finding where is best to go, so decided to start the hunt to find 'Devon's Best Roast Dinner'.
A little while ago I went on the search for 'Exeter's Best Breakfast', and crowned my very worthy winner, The Daisy Cafe. I scored each venue based on the food, service and atmosphere to crown my winner. I put a shutout on Social Media to hear some of my reader's recommendations, and set about the task of trying them all out- who said that blogging is hard work!
What makes the 'perfect roast dinner' for me?
Succulent meat, lots of fresh veggies, crispy roasted potatoes, thick meaty gravy and a perfect Yorkshire pudding/stuffing etc. It needs to have the correct balance between meat and vegetables, plenty of potatoes and enough gravy for every mouthful.
Check out my other Roast Dinner Reviews here
Check out my other Roast Dinner Reviews here
One of the most popular suggestions from my readers was The Oddfellows in Exeter. The Oddfellows is a quirky British themed Gastro Pub who also champion locally sourced ethical produce and expertly crafted food and drink. Lot's of people mentioned their epic Yorkshire puddings, a real favourite of mine, and we couldn't wait to give them a go. They have already won a 'Taste of the West Gold Award'
Based in the top of town, just down from John Lewis, it's a perfect little treasure tucked away in town. It looks pretty small on the outside, but once you're inside it's spacious and full of quirky decor. There is a cocktail speakeasy bar upstairs and a nice outside area too. They take their food and drink very seriously, even down to using local gins in their cocktails.
The smell when we walked in was simply incredible and I knew that we were in for a treat immediately. We started off by sharing a starter of butternut squash and sweet potato soup. It was so full of flavour and super creamy. The bread was really fresh and a perfect complement to the soup- a really enjoyable starter to get our appetites going.
Next was the main event! I chose the topside of local beef and my boyfriend went with the leg of lamb. For me, we were presented with a perfect roast dinner. There was just the right amount of all the vegetables, baby carrots, roasted onions, a broccoli cheese, green beans, spinach and crispy, tasty roast potatoes. I had some deliciously nose tingling horseradish sauce to crown the beef off. The gravy was just the right thickness, and there was enough to satisfy every mouthful.
The gravy was rich and had just the right amount poured over it. The beef rare and had the glorious pink in the middle. The lamb was 'melt in the mouth' succulent. I especially loved the giant Yorkshire pudding, which was both pleasing to the eyes and taste buds.
This had all the classic components of a roast dinner, and will be a very hard roast dinner to beat in my series 'Devon's Best Roast'
Food ***** Service ***** Atmosphere ****
The Oddfellows roast is on every Sunday, Exeter. Where is your favourite roast dinner? Let me know in the comments!
Check out my other Roast Dinner Reviews here
The Oddfellows roast is on every Sunday, Exeter. Where is your favourite roast dinner? Let me know in the comments!
Check out my other Roast Dinner Reviews here
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