Belinda Richardson visits The Canteen at River Cottage, Axminster, Devon
Initially nicknamed Hugh Fearlessly Eatsitall - because of his practice of obtaining road-kill, eating the hedgerows and when flambing an individual placenta before serving up as pt - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has turned into a name so familiar that the majority of us even understand how to spell it. Just like David Bellamy protects plants, Prince Charles pronounces on global warming and Swampy protests about roads, so Old Etonian Hugh raises glasses, and also the odd eyebrow, crusading for that organic food movement.
In addition to rearing animals and making Television shows, he writes books, runs a cookery school and it has their own shop and restaurant. This past year, he opened up River Cottage Stores within the carpet-making east Devon capital of scotland- Axminster. The concept was that this is a nearby look for residents along with a "real alternative" towards the supermarket.
Today, it appears to do a flourishing trade, selling milk, cheese, eggs, bread, fruit and veggies, wine, beer, spirits and smallholder supplies, all sourced from producers within the south-west. Their names are written on lollipop sticks and stuck on a colourful map within the shop, a nutritious space that was once a higher-street pub. On top of that, within the old skittle alley round the back, may be the restaurant, which serves breakfast, dinner and lunch. Devon cream teas are offered after book signings and special events.
We enter the store bang on noon for Sunday lunch. A lady putting on customary Birkenstocks and dungarees is buying rosy apples that appear to be adequate for Snow White-colored. Her sunny complexion, doubtlessly introduced on with a lifetime's diet of mung beans and red lentils, reflects the healthy glow from the place, that is split up into a loaves of bread, a greengrocers along with a darkish deli.
Everything looks wonderfully fresh and it is well displayed inside a market stall-like way, with many different handwritten labels and wooden crates. From the man referred to as a "connoisseur of unmentionable parts of the bodyInch, the meat section is disappointingly thin. But, knowing through the odor of roasting lamb from a kitchen sandwiched among the store and also the restaurant, meat is unquestionably around the menu today within the Canteen.
Although nearly every table is full once we walk in, the climate is calm - almost serious. It feels a lot more like entering a chapel full of food evangelists than the usual restaurant. The tall room is loaded with lots of detailed wrought-iron work, white-colored-colored bricks, floor-to-ceiling images of pigs and wild mushrooms, along with a collage of beaten-up containers and pans. The decor may well be a bit colourless, however the theme is obviously eco-friendly. Table adornments are potted herbs, glasses are cut-off bottles and chunky mismatched tables are marked by helping cover their recycled pebbles that appear to be similar to those Ian McEwan famously lifted from nearby Chesil Beach. Visit the lavatories and you're cautioned that they're low-flush which the taps are made to conserve water.
The waiters appear to possess learned to save energy, as punters are instructed on arrival to select from the blackboard and walk to the bar to put their order. Certainly, a few of the staff look as if they require some time to recover in the previous night. Outfitted in black T-shirts alternatively labelled "fresh", "wild", "organic" and "local", they appear to talk about the rebellious air of the boss, as well as the matted Robinson Crusoe hair. Attractive though which may be with a, others could find it just a little unappealing inside a restaurant. However ho, it is the food we are for.
From the five starters, we choose the mussels and also the smoked pork tenderloin with village eco-friendly cheese. The mussels, cooked with chorizo, garlic clove and parsley, get to a bowl how big a satellite dish by having an a great deal larger plate on the top with no apparent spot to place it. I can not turn to the waiter for guidance - he has not even introduced us a spoon that to slurp in the thin, muddy soup. Big, flabby with a decidedly peaky hue, these shellfish aren't good and also the unconvincing chorizo accompaniment adds couple of punches. In comparison, the pork tenderloin is definitely an out-and-out hit. Thinly sliced, the meat includes a melting sweetness and also the chalky parmesan-like cheese causes it to be a formidable combination.
For mains, it's the other way round and also the fish steals a march around the meat. An ample pan-fried fillet of ocean bass continues to be dextrously cooked, with perfectly salted skin along with a buttery texture within. It's offered with knobbly sauted taters along with a moreish, if boisterously garlicky, bowl of aioli. The heavily cut roast lamb is well cooked, if flavourless, and appears handsome sitting on the top of the crown of scrumptious year cabbage.
We do not make use of the puddings because they look largely uninviting, that could be stated concerning the overall atmosphere from the place. The theatrical exuberance from the hen-cuddling Hugh works wonders around the telly and also the awesome Fearnley-Whittingstall dynamism has been doing excellent achievements for that nation's eating routine, but with regards to managing a restaurant, a little bit of old-fashioned Tom-and-Barbara warmth would go a really lengthy way towards causing us to be all - customers incorporated - feel, only for one glorious moment, an authentic area of the good existence.
- The Canteen at River Cottage, Trinity Square, Axminster, Devon (01297 631862 world wide web.rivercottage.internet ). Lunch for 2 costs 70, with drinks and repair
- Belinda's rating: 7/10
