The Vanilla Pod — Restaurant in North Devon

We ate here a few days ago. The first thing to go wrong was our ordered cocktail: a raspberry daquiri. On questioning a staff member (possibly the owner) we were told there was no raspberry in the cocktail, in spite of raspberry being specifically listed as an ingredient on the menu. The drink tasted of chemicals and was rejected. We subsequently learned that cocktails are sometimes made using sachets of flavouring… None of the cocktails had a price against them. Is it even legal not to put prices on a menu? The Specials board listed dressed crab. I love crab so I ordered it. The ‘white’ meat was a light grey and had a curious texture. The same staff member explained that the crab arrived in packets which were often frozen. You kind of expect to get a fresh crab when it is listed on the Specials board. It was rejected. The other food we had was adequate I suppose, but so mundane I cannot even remember what it was. We settled on a reduced bill. We asked our accommodation to remove the Vanilla Pod from its list of recommended eateries. They were apologetic as they thought they already done so, due to...

One of the best food and overall dining experience we had in ages! Everything about this small restaurant was perfect this evening, we will go back for brunch tomorrow. This is a family run place serving fine dining quality and creative food without the price tag or pretentiousness, with a husband and wife team running it all. We tried the mezze, a deliciously delicate and very generous offering, elevating the usual Middle East options to sophisticated nuanced dishes, beautifully balanced in flavour and creaminess. We followed with mains of wild mushroom fried gnocchi while my friend had Hake with tomato confit and almonds. The gnocchi were heavenly, and my friend’s fish cooked to perfection. Then dessert: Homemade pistachio and pomegranate baklava with a shot of espresso was the perfect combination of sweet and bitter, glorious. And the orange & almond cake with burnt orange pieces was to die for! From a vegan and environmentalist standpoint this is as good as it gets, even the toilet paper was ethical. Highly...

We loved this restaurant. Firstly, I appreciated the value of their jasmine green tea, it was in a nice sized teapot and was loose leaf with a strainer. Second, our dinner was fantastic, literally delicious - we haven’t eaten food like that in a long time and both work/study in food sectors. I also recommend the Rosé! Our starters were just as good as the mains, the mushrooms were gorgeous and there were nice colourful salad leaves too. It is a very cosy and modest place where you can sit comfortably for a couple of hours. We also got takeaway sandwiches which we had on the beach, which were delicious and fresh, but note that though the box is secure, the filling is outside the flatbread/pitta. We believed the bread also tasted homemade :) one last thing is the Baklava, I had a feeling it would be good, but it exceeded expectations! I highly recommend. I wish we bought more things to take away… their cookies looked fantastic. Overall, I highly recommend and just wish I lived nearby so that I could try more things...