Black Dog Tea Room — Restaurant in East Devon

We are foodies and remember when Rod and Sonia opened their tea room, goodness, something like 12+ years ago. Anyway, what a delight to return and rediscover this gem of a place!

Nestled on the road between Uplyme and Lyme Regis, one could easlily miss the retro 30s style sign and scoot past, but if you did, you would be missing out, for this is no ordinary café.

Firstly, it's all about the food. All home-made, and the flavours are superb. This is down to Rod's undeniable genius in the kitchen and his use of only the finest fresh ingredients. Every mouthful bursts with flavour and had me saying 'wow' between each moreish mouthful. The stars of the show have to be Rod's focaccia platter and the muhammara and melted goats cheese cheddar on homemade sourdough - the latter being nothing short of spectacular.

Add to this the most perfect and spotless indoor seating area, a delightful sheltered cottage garden setting, Sonia's unique sense of humour, and friendly staff, the Black Dog tea room is by far the best eatery in the area. It's doggo friendly too!

Whether a local or visitor, evade the Lyme crowds and stop here for lunch. You won't be disappointed. Oh, and did I mention there is offroad and ample roadside free parking? Our only tip would be to avoid school pickup time, as roadside parking can be tricky, but even then, I would still fight my way to the door!

Why no pictures of the food? Quite simply because I was not expecting it to be quite so good and scoffed the lot before thinking, 'doh!' so, apologies, you will just have to try it for yourself.

The only problem with this review is that Google won't let me give six stars. So here they are:...

I have passed THE BLACK DOG many times but never taken the time to visit. I dropped in for a morning cuppa, quite by chance the other day and was very surprised to discover the wide range of quality goodies they have there. I am very fussy where I eat. I believe in the saying, "Don't Eat From The Hands Of Strangers " and will usually only take tea or coffee (after a cup inspection) The Black Dog Staff clearly take commercial and personal hygiene seriously because the place is spotless. On my first visit I had tea and then I went for the Lemon Sponge, a new recipe they say, delicious, and I don't often eat cake. I saw the chef working out back, a serious man who clearly took pride in his work. I soon got the impression, this was a safe place to eat. I went back the following day, this time with my little dog in tow. I wanted to try out the lunch menu and ordered the cheese on toast with mushrooms and tomatoes. Yes, they are 'dog friendly'. There are lawns out back with loads of seating from which you can admire the views. On a rainy day there are plenty seats inside. I had lunch on the back lawn, more than i could eat in one go. The mushrooms and the tomatoes were fresh, not the usual tinned stuff. There are very few places where I would feel confident enough to eat - so when I put The Black Dog at the top of my 'eat out' list, you can be sure it has to be top notch.

Oh! and you must try that lemon...

What a lovely place to find near the end of a walk from Lyme Regis back up to Hook Farm in Uplyme. Luckily for us we were allowed in, having the requisite number of black dogs with us! (Not entirely essential but they got lots of fuss and biscuits!) A beautiful garden to sit in and really friendly service. The food was delicious, home cooked including a warming soup, home made rolls filled to the brim with brie and bacon and a rarebit with warm cherry tomatoes. Although we had bought cake elsewhere for later we succumbed to warm scones, cream and blackcurrant jam and tiffin. Very glad we did too! Will most certainly be back. Can't recommend highly enough. In this difficult time for cafes and the like, when you find an especially...