Dittisham Restaurant Guide

“Mitch Tonks can do no wrong!” according to fans of this well-known west country chef’s harbourside flagship – an understated, Italian-influenced “seafood brasserie” where you “watch the freshest of local catches cooked in front of you on an open grill”. These days it is run by his son Ben, who oversees twice-daily deliveries from nearby Brixham harbour, “all correctly prepared and served with a Devon smile”.

The flagship of a “small chain with great food”, founded in 2010 by Mitch Tonks – “it’s difficult to know whether it’s a restaurant or an upmarket fish ’n’ chips place (although the food is still good either way)”. The brand now comprises eight restaurants, three takeaways and one café dotted around the southwest, along with a fishmonger and a tinned fish business – but plans to expand via three new branches in 2024 were scuppered by delays: Salcombe and Sidmouth venues should open in summer ’25, but Topsham has been abandoned.

On Sandridge Barton wine estate overlooking the River Dart in the South Hams, taking over the venue that was Circa, this new restaurant from an experienced team promises bold European and Basque-style bistro cooking. Open only for lunch, with Friday and Saturday dinner following later in 2025.

“After a swim in the Shoalstone Lido, it’s a delight to eat at this seafood café on the coastal path looking out over the seawater pool” (with further views to the Bay of Torquay) and – as of 2022 – an even more dramatic rooftop terrace where they grill catch and bring it to the table. One regular fan feels it’s “got its mojo back of late”, saying “the menu had veered towards more ambitious dishes the tiny kitchen struggled to deliver, but it’s back doing what it does best – simple cooking of the freshest fish delivered straight from the Brixham Fish Auction (where the owner is a wholesaler)”.