Restaurant Twenty Seven by Jamie Rogers — Restaurant in South Hams

The restaurant is in the middle of the town amidst other restaurants but is very different from them.

We were seated downstairs with a direct view into the kitchen via the glass in the kitchen door which allowed us to see the waiters, the kitchen staff and a few times during the night the chef, Jamie Rogers, himself.

We opted for the Taste of Summer Tasting Menu and it was a good choice as it demonstrated some of the innovation which has made this chef famous.

We began with Canapés, these were a Start Bay crab arancini, a foie gras Mr Whippy, a Creedy Carver duck cigar and hoi sin and Devon blue cheese & truffle crème brûlée. With a little hot water poured over dry ice, the dish became ethereal as it wreathed the table with pretend smoke. Great theatre. But this dish wasn't all about the theatre. The little crab arancini was delicious. The duck cigars were amazing. The foie gras Mr Whippy was what it said it was, foie gras treated so kindly and tenderly that it was whipped like an ice cream, and cool too, making the taste buds and the eyes compete with each other over what they were eating - with the taste buds winning out at this excellent treat. The Devon blue cheese and truffle crème brûlée, served in china eggshells, also gave a taste bud punch.

The next course was called cappuccino of haricots blancs and was the combination of a cup of creamy bean soup with a sharp peppery taste, combined with a delicious loaf flavoured with parmesan and onion.

The next course was Start Bay crab mille-feuille, the flavour of this dish tells you that the crab, caught in a bay 8 miles from the restaurant, is fresh and well treated.

Next came the Heritage Totnes tomato tartlet with Driftwood goat's cheese, smoked tomato jam and truffle. The tart was served with a Consommé of tomato and basil foam.

The fifth course was Salcombe lobster ravioli with Thai purée, pickled shiitake mushrooms and Asian spiced broth it hit all my taste favourites perfectly.

The next course was Hand-dived Beesands scallops 'Bellini' with crispy Rose Farm pig's head, pea and mint, peach gel and champagne sauce. I'm not sure what happened in the kitchen or whether the intense heat had overcome the chef's brigade, but unlike the other courses which had come out with similar gaps between them it was twenty minutes between the end of the fifth course and the arrival of this one.

The time between courses got longer again before the arrival of the Borough Farm beef Fillet beef, crispy short-rib beef, celeriac and truffle, potato risotto and bone marrow sauce. Again, for me, when it came the dish was a delight.

The dessert courses got back to a reasonable pace of service. The pre-dessert was lemon posset, tropical salsa and coconut foam this was a tale of three halves!! The Lemon posset was beautiful, fresh and fragrant, this was located in the bottom third of the cup; above the posset was the tropical salsa, lovely refreshing bits of mango etc, on top of this was located the coconut foam - I'm not sure why, but I don't believe that coconut reacts well to being foamed, it has a very peculiar texture and taste. So, generally good, but it would have been better if you didn't have to dig through the foam to get to the good bits.

The dessert was strawberry pavlova with spring Meadow strawberries and strawberry sorbet. The biscuit was crunchy, the sorbet was fresh, the mousse was light and fluffy and the merengue was airy and hid more strawberry inside it. The only issue was that it was very sweet, without any sharp aspects to balance the dish. A bit of mint or another herb might have led it to be a bit more balanced.

If the meal had finished at the fifth course, we would have been extremely positive about it, but the long waits between that and the next two courses were unexpected and unwelcome. These later two courses showed none of the innovation and flare that had been so present in the earlier part of the menu - perhaps the chef had run out of ideas with all the...

It really didn’t live up to expectations.

The service and ambience was good, it was such a lovely space, I also appreciate the work that went into the food.

We had the canapés, they were delicious, although the blue cheese crème brûlée was a bit odd.

Then came a ham and chicken roulade - which in itself was very bland, one of two we ordered stunningly for an ambitious restaurant, came with a broken egg which had run over the plate - not even a cheap breakfast cafe would serve that, we did love the bits of pickle and pineapple gel with the dish though.

Main for both of us was pork belly with bubble and squeak - the bubble and squeak was lovely but very small and the purées smooth (too much of the apple though, it was overpowering) the pork belly was 90% fat which was extremely unpleasant, I love the fattiness of pork belly which makes it juicy but I like it to balance with the meat, this meal just had mouthful after mouthful of flaccid greasy fat. The main was also pretty bland.

I love the confidence of a chef who doesn’t put salt and pepper on the table - that says they know that the seasoning is bang on but this so wasn’t the case, everything was so under, I’m sure I would’ve enjoyed it more with an extra sprinkle of salt and pepper.

If you’d come in for two courses of the set lunch you would be leaving still very hungry, both courses were taster sized rather than full dishes.

I was so excited to eat here, and if I was in the area I might again but I wouldn’t travel for it. I do hope they sort the issues because the space and chef deserve to shine.

Response to the restaurant comments: I’m sure you are offering something unique. I’ve eaten at many Michelin standard restaurants on a set meal and never gone hungry though.

I absolutely didn’t forget to mention that it was a £22 for three courses lunch menu - you can see the picture showing that’s exactly what it was. If you’d come expecting a two/three course lunch for £15/£22 you’ve come expecting a meal for that not a snack - paired down, cheaper ingredients and less technique but none the less a meal. Add in £12 of sides the price point is very different. And as you can see we had the canapés for £12 a head so it would have taken a £15 lunch for two courses plus canapés to £39 in total - a completely different pricepoint, okay but definitely not what was advertised. Just be honest with your diners if you know that your meal won’t be enough and that they’ll absolutely need sides.

We chose to eat with you based on having a two course lunch that we believed would be enough for £15. You can see that my review referenced the work that went into the food, and we were both very impressive with that. Clearly you are very talented and as I said I wish you luck.

I stand by the comments about the pork….I appreciate the time and effort on the pork - the fat was totally perfectly cooked but it was still a portion of fat and that’s not my thing. I’m delighted that 98 others were happy with the pork you cooked that week but we weren’t which is why it was mentioned in my balanced and...

I'll start by saying that we opted for the midweek, reduced price set menu. If we were to have paid full price, I would have been more disappointed and scored lower.

The food overall was mixed, but overall of fairly good quality. Only 2 courses did I actively enjoy (hake and venison). The risotto was over cooked, to me. The others had some good elements but didn't really work (salted caramel butter was delicious, but was quite strange with the soup. Basil was very distracting to the lemon dish in my opinion).

Again, perhaps due to the "using up ingredients" idea of the menu, 2 citrus desserts seemed too much.

It was also frustrating not to know what the courses were, even after we'd arrived. If we'd seen the menu beforehand, maybe we would have reconsidered - but maybe this is the idea? Captive audience? It is also impossible to pick a wine because you don't know what you are getting.

Effort had gone into the food though, it just felt like some of the ingredients were quite bluntly put together.

The majority of the reduced score was because of service, though.

We tried to book via phone over the course of 2 days, and had no answer. We then booked online. When calling to confirm our booking on the night, the lady who answered was a touch rude.

When arriving, the same lady didn't make any effort to welcome us at all, and said she'd get someone (front of house manager).

I'd also advise you make the front door/entrance clearer and more inviting.

We were seated, drinks order taken, and then didn't have our existence acknowledged for 30 minutes. No bread etc.

The first course was very small (no problem with that) but it was then a further 35 minutes until the next course. At an hour and 5 minutes in, we'd had just an amuse-bouche. At this point we were getting very hungry, and there was no apology or recognition of the delay. Is this the norm?

The whole thing took 3.5 hours with about 30 minutes between each course.

Courses would quite often come with almost no word said by the waiting staff - the youngest waitress was most friendly.

The food was quite good though, and perhaps if we'd have seen the menu beforehand or decided to go for a la carte, we'd have been happier with it. Then again, we would have been expected to pay double - at which point, I think the quality falls well short of the Elephant Restaurant in Torquay for example, which would be the same price.

I left feeling quite annoyed, which is unfortunate, given it was meant to be a midweek treat.

Would we return? Maybe for a reduced price midweek a la...