Dining Devon

15/10/2026

🍕 A little appreciation post for ember pizza 🍕

If you're in or around Exeter and haven't yet tracked down the dark green Ember Pizza van, you're missing out.

This award-winning, family-run business are members of Food Drink Devon and have built an incredible reputation for serving some of the best wood-fired pizzas you'll find anywhere. We first discovered them a couple of years ago when they started appearing at our favourite pub, The Bridge Inn in Topsham, and we've been regular customers ever since.

What I love most is how much passion they bring to what they do. They clearly care about their customers, take real pride in their food and genuinely love what they do. It shows in every single pizza.

The pizzas themselves are phenomenal. They're generously sized, loaded with quality toppings, and the specials are always imaginative, exciting and absolutely delicious. Every visit brings something new to try.

And can we talk about the crusts? They're always beautifully cooked, satisfyingly chunky and far too good to leave behind. My top tip: always order a dip. You'll thank me later when you're dunking those last bits of crust and wondering why you don't do it every time.

I thought these photos deserved sharing because Ember Pizza are, quite simply, the best pizzas around.

And that's coming from a serious pizza lover. 🍕❤️

09/10/2026

Our latest blog - Coldharbour Field Kitchen: A Farm to Fork venue - perfect morning, noon and night, for all seasons in East Devon.


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There's something pretty special about a visit to Coldharbour Field Kitchen in East Devon, an independently owned field to fork relaxed cafe/restaurant in East Devon, which also has a small farm shop. Whether you're stopping by for breakfast, lunch, a homemade cake and hot chocolate, a traditional S...

05/10/2026

🍇☀️ 🍃 On Saturday, we joined Sandridge Barton W**es for their final grape harvest of the year.

After an exceptional summer, almost the entire crop had already been picked, with just the Chardonnay grapes left for our booked community harvest. In fact, had it not been for our visit, the whole harvest would have been completed in September, a record for the vineyard.

With perfect autumn sunshine overhead, and Just a gentle breeze, around 40 of us set to work harvesting the Chardonnay grapes before heading into the w**ery to see some of the fruit being processed.

Our reward? A delicious burger, a well-earned glass of w**e, and an afternoon spent relaxing in the sunny courtyard with live music - plus a bottle of 2023 vintage to take home 🍔🥂🎶

As if that wasn't enough, I couldn't resist extending the day with a w**e tasting flight, the perfect way to celebrate a fantastic harvest and a memorable day at the vineyard. Thanks to Head W**emanker Duncan Schwab and Vineyard Manager Alex for the informative and well organised day.

Sandridge Barton produce some fantastic classic English w**es, from crisp still whites to award-winning sparkling w**es, all focused on expressing the unique character of the Dart Valley.

They use a minimal-intervention approach throughout their w**emaking, letting the grapes and vineyard do the talking.

Their experimental "Don't Feed The Ponies" range (I love the Billy rosé!) takes things a step further, featuring small-batch w**es made with techniques such as skin-contact fermentation, carbonic maceration and unfiltered sparkling styles. These low-intervention w**es are all about creativity, texture and showcasing a wilder side of English w**emaking.

**e **e **eLovers 🍇🍷

17/09/2026

Coffee & Cake! Our Sue will be baking the cakes on the BBQ's. The delicious Voyager Coffee bringing the coffee beans! From 5pm this Friday 😀

27/08/2026

We popped through Baobab Deli on Fore Street in , and it's exactly the kind of place you want tucked into a city centre. Relaxed, unfussy, properly welcoming.

The counter alone is worth the visit. Fresh bakes, hearty salads, plenty to grab for a takeaway lunch if you're passing through.

Then there's the ambient shelves, packed with world flavours, snacks and treats from every corner of the globe. Honestly, you could cater an entire dinner party from there alone.

But it was the stuffed pittas on social media that caught our eye and we didn't have room to ask to try one this time. Which just means we'll be back.

Independent, local, and doing good honest food without any pretence about it. Exeter's better for having places like this. ❤️ Baobab Deli Exeter

26/08/2026

🚨New restaurant🚨

£70,000 INVESTMENT BRINGS POPULAR TAPAS RESTAURANT TO EXMOUTH

Devon restaurant expands to the coast with new 40-cover site and new jobs created

Popular Exeter tapas restaurant Calvo Loco Tapas Bar is opening a second site in Exmouth following a £70,000 investment.

The restaurant, which has built a loyal following at its original site, is taking over the former W**e Hub at 32 The Strand in the town and opens later this month. The new restaurant has created six new jobs so far, with more on the horizon.

The expansion follows significant growth for the business, with revenue at the Exeter restaurant, which opened seven years ago, doubling over the past two years. The original restaurant is regularly fully booked and is currently trading at a turnover of more than £700,000 a year.
Owner Mikey Betts said Exmouth had been a natural choice for the second Calvo Loco, with customers already travelling from the town and surrounding area to visit the Exeter restaurant. He also has a commitment to using local suppliers.

He said: “We’re really particular about where our ingredients come from. If the best version of something comes from Spain, we’ll source it from Spain. If we can get something just as good or better here in Devon, particularly fresh produce, meat or seafood, we’ll use local suppliers. It’s about choosing the best ingredient for the dish rather than sourcing from somewhere simply because it sounds good on a menu.”
He continued: “Exmouth has a brilliant mix of local residents and visitors, a growing food and drink scene and a real buzz throughout the summer, while still having a strong year-round community. When the opportunity came up for a site right in the heart of the town, we felt it was too good to pass up.

“It’s significantly bigger than Exeter, which gives us the opportunity to take everything people love about Calvo Loco - great tapas, cocktails, music and a lively, informal atmosphere - and see what we can do with it on a larger scale.

“We don’t want Exmouth to feel like a copy of Exeter. We want it to have the same Calvo Loco personality but become its own restaurant and a genuine part of the Exmouth community.”

SPANISH TAPAS WITH A DEVON TWIST

Calvo Loco - which means ‘crazy bald man’, a name inherited from its previous owner - specialises in authentic Spanish-inspired tapas. The Exmouth restaurant’s coastal location will play a particular role in the menu, with locally sourced seafood expected to feature regularly on the specials board.

Existing suppliers include Baily & Sons butchers in Torquay and Kingfisher at Brixham Fish Market, while the team also hopes to develop new relationships with Exmouth producers and businesses.

“It would be crazy to open a Spanish restaurant this close to the Devon coast and not make the most of the seafood available to us,” said Mikey.

“The Spanish side gives us the flavours, techniques and specialist ingredients that make the food authentic, while Devon gives us access to brilliant fresh produce, meat and particularly seafood.

“The idea is Spanish cooking with the best ingredients we can get our hands on, whether they’ve travelled from Andalucía or a few miles down the Devon coast.”
Calvo Loco favourites, including patatas bravas, gambas al ajillo, meatballs and aubergine fritters, will all feature in Exmouth, alongside new specials. The team is also developing whole fish and sharing dishes, including a surf and turf platter of picanha steak and grilled octopus.
A new set-price Taste of Spain experience is also planned, allowing diners to leave the choice of tapas to the kitchen, with optional w**e pairings and sherry flights.

SIX NEW JOBS CREATED

Six jobs have already been created at the Exmouth restaurant, with further recruitment expected as the business grows.

The new kitchen will be led by chefs Kayne Smale and Winston Fearnley, with several members of the existing Calvo Loco team also working across the two restaurants.
Mikey said: “Calvo Loco is all about great food without any of the formality. It’s lively and a little bit chaotic in the best possible way – tables full of tapas, cocktails flowing, good music playing and a real buzz around the room.
“We want people to come in for a quick bite and end up staying for the evening.”

Despite Exmouth’s popularity with tourists, the business says developing a loyal year-round local following will be central to the new restaurant’s success.

Mikey added: “We’d much rather become somebody’s favourite neighbourhood restaurant that they visit throughout the year than somewhere that’s only busy for a few months every summer.

“If, a year from now, we have Exmouth regulars who know the team, the team know them and people think of Calvo Loco as one of their favourite places in town, we’ll consider that a success.”

The new 40-cover restaurant will initially welcome walk-ins from 20 August, ahead of an official launch on 27 August, with bookings opening from 28 August.

Calvo Loco Exmouth will initially open Wednesday to Sunday from midday until late, with the potential to extend to seven days a week. Plans for outdoor seating are also being developed, subject to licensing approval.

(Photos: Calvo Loco)