In Praise of The Salcombe Coffee Company

In the past I have been critical of The Salcombe Coffee Company. I would just like to make amends by saying I was totally wrong! The new opening hours are excellent, the coffee seems to have changed and is now unrivalled in Salcombe, although the Marine does a decent coffee as long as you steer clear of the bog standard filter coffee.

I have also been critical of the owner who I claimed was "miserable", well I am happy to say he isn't the leasst bit miserable and I very much enjoyed my morning chat with him when I collected my pre-sail coffee during the regatta weeks.

I also have to admit their bacon sandwich is hard to beat and the kids "Pirate Boxes" are superb!

All in all I spent a fortune in there over the regatta weeks and happily so!

Salcombe Restaurant Review...

This Easter I managed to visit 2 of Salcombe’s restaurants; The Galley and Dusters.

The Galley:
I have to say I was surprised on many accounts! The interior is pretty basic but pleasant, unless that is you can get a window seat as I did. This transforms the entire experience. Even though it was dark the moon was shining over from East Portlemouth church across the water, lighting up whitestrand pontoon and the few moored boats that are on the water in March, and seemed to end when it reached my table! It was perfect!

The food whilst not being outstanding was pretty good. I had crab linguine followed by monk fish. The crab was landed at Salcombe and the fish at Plymouth so all very local. The linguine was average and could have done with a bit more taste but the monk fish was very good and worth every penny of the quite reasonable £17:95.

All in all 2 starters, 2 mains, 1 desert and a few glasses of wine was £63, a perfectly acceptable price for the food and view. Although I have to say had I been sat in the corridor part of the restaurant I would not have been impressed! Definitely worth a visit but check when you book that you are not going to be sat in the corridor.

Dusters:
Overall I was very disappointed with Dusters. Back in the heyday of “Dusters Bistro”, when it was owned and run by Mike Hicks, it was unthinkable that you didn’t go at least once on a Sunday night during the summer! The jazz was great, the lights low, the food simple but perfect bistro food, the whole placed buzzed with a relaxed but energetic atmosphere, the bottles of Sol flowed and the napkins were actual Dusters hence the name "Dusters" Bistro….

So back to the present…first of all let me just say the jazz was superb! Harry seems to get better with age! However it was more mainstream jazz and not the ragtime that Harry used to belt out at Dusters. I much prefer the new music but not at Dusters, it needs that energy and punch and not to blend quietly into the background as the new stuff does. Harry used to perform by the door and the music would carry out into fore street, now he is pushed to the back of the restaurant like he is just another part of the place and not the main attraction.

The atmosphere was awful, the lights were too bright and the tableware too silver service, which the actual service was far from! We waited an age for our starters, at least an hour and then we waited so long for our deserts that they had switched the coffee machine off! I was stunned……it was also more expensive than the Galley by at least 20%. The steak was £22……what’s the mark-up on that!

The food was good but not memorable; I had Spinach Risotto and Sea Bass for my main but I can’t actually remember what my starter was or my dessert for that matter. Although I do seem to remember that the ice cream on the menu said "Dusters home made ice cream" but the waitress seemed to think it was actually Salcombe Dairy! The risotto was above average and I have to say cooked perfectly and the sea bass was as sea bass always is, brilliantly tasty.

The wine list was a total joke, one bottle of wine form 5 different countries and the wines were at best average.

So all in all it was pretty disappointing to say the least and I wont be rushing back. Dusters needs to decide if it’s a posh restaurant or a bistro type restaurant, at present it is stuck in middle somewhere. This is a real shame as it has the prime location for a restaurant. If only someone had a video of Dusters how it used to be they could learn a thing or 2.

Celebrity Chefs for Salcombe and Kingsbridge

Rumour has it that not only is Gary Rhodes gong to return to the Marine Hotel, Salcombe after it's imminent reincarnation but that John Burton Race is about to take over the Crabshell! Add to this rumours that Gordon Ramsey is to reopen the New Angel in Dartmouth, previously run by John Burton Race, and it seems Devon has an influx of celebrity chefs on its hands!

Salcombe's own McCann Story!

Will the Madeline McCann mystery ever be solved? Did they do it? Who knows....

Salcombe had it's very pwn McCann style mystery back in 1975 when John Allen killed his wife and 2 kids supposedly to start a new life and move in with his lover Eunice Yabsley, the then owner of The Galley restaurant. No-one ever found the bodies but Allen was convicted of their murders 27 years later. Local folklore has it that he dumped their bodies at sea but it was never proved...

The Oyster Shack

This is the first season for the Salcombe Oyster Shack after the success of the Bigbury based one. First mutterings are of an over priced but nice restaurant....I did hear that the seafood platter was £80 a head!!!! YES!! I KNOW!! You only pay £80 a head for the taster menu at Ramsey's Claridges!!!!

I haven't been so I will reserve my judgement, although I suspect it is already fully booked for most of the summer holiday season...if any of you have been please let us know.