Sir Walter Raleigh — Restaurant in East Devon

Last week we had the pleasure of visiting the Sir Walter Raleigh Pub in East Budleigh - a massive thank you to the whole team for a lovely evening.

The Sir Walter Raleigh is a community pub, it's been here in one way or another since the 14th Century - it has been the beating heart of the community for many years. Recently it became the home of award-winning Head Chef Dan Kavanagh who is elevating the food to a new level with a seasonal menu using the amazing produce nearby. With the trend in pubs closing, it was heartening to see a one with such love and support.

Our menu looked like this:

Tori Beetroot Carpaccio (£8.00) 10oz Pork Chop 🥩(£16.95) Chocolate Brownie (£8.95)

Me Cured Salmon (£7.50) Steamed Plaice (£19) Passion Fruit and Pineapple Sundae (£8.50)

Our starters: Dan really took the essence of summer with this light and fresh starter. The salmon was delicately cured, balanced with the beetroot, salad leaves and lime yoghurt - it played with the sharpness of the lime and the smoothness of the fish and was light on the palette and sincerely enjoyable.

Tori chose the Beetroot Carpaccio, which was a creative dish which crafted a varied range of flavours together. The use of Devon blue cheese worked really well with the other ingredients.

For mains it was Steamed Plaice with a summer salsa, courgettes and Jersey new potatoes. This really was fresh, well cooked fish with a buttery summery salad with fresh beans and peas, combined with a good sprinkle of sea salt on the potatoes and garnished with samphire. It was a fitting tribute to the beautiful produce Devon is known for; those tastes resonated through the dish.

My wife had to go for the 10oz Pork Chop - a sumptuous, skilfully cooked piece of tender meat, matched with creamy mashed potato, roasted onions and a peppercorn sauce.

Dan has created a thoughtful, seasonal menu which effortlessly celebrates the provenance of the ingredients that goes into each dish. It covers scope and taste and caters to a wide range of palettes. It is thoroughly worth a visit. The pub benefits the community and by visiting you are supporting it as well. Reservations are recommended. I will see you again...

Oh dear! Not as good as expected it would be. There were 5 of us and we ordered 3 starters which were ok, not bad. However, we ordered 4 Adult dishes and 1 child’s dish. Sirloin and 2 chicken Kiev’s. Our sirloin was extremely small and over cooked and vegetables were so hard you could not cut them. Our 2 Kiev’s were like rock hard chicken torpedo’s, nothing in them (no garlic butter) a sauce on the side but unsure what it was? The child’s chicken goujon’s were over cooked and dry. Once we had eaten most of our meal because we were so hungry. Our small portions of sirloin probably about 4 ounces max, we did then complain and the manageress came over to us who did apologise but went into the kitchen to discuss with chef after pulling a face behind our back to the another member of staff! We finally received a discount for our starters but that was not what we wanted it was just a really nice meal for our anniversary. Our bill was nearly £120 and that was with a discount but for what we received was disgusting! Will definitely not...

Extremely disappointed on having a valid proof of age id the landlord refused to accept it for my son who has learning difficulties. He was rude and humiliated my son and immediately took the drink away. We were going to eat there but left due to his unacceptable behaviour. Worst case scenario he should have held the drink until the food was served. He does not seem to know 16+ Can drink alcohol with a meal. The behaviour of the landlord comes across as active discrimination of my son due to his learning disability. In this day and age we expected better. Fortunately other pubs in the area are not similarly minded. Not likely to be going back until there there...