Preston Restaurant Guide

“Stunning food with excellent service” have earned plaudits for high-profile chef Simon Hulstone’s “faultless” flagship, which he opened 20 years ago – in the town where he grew up, as the son of a chef. He now has a 100-acre farm in Brixham, to guarantee supplies of his favourite produce.

The “best fish”, landed across the harbour at Brixham, is what the Stacey family fixture, now 30 years old, is all about. Upstairs there’s an evening wine (and oyster) bar with panoramic views, and both venues provide ever-changing blackboard menus.

Mitch Tonks’s Mediterranean-inspired harbourside HQ “always hits the spot” and is run “with charm and polish” – “the anchoiade and focaccia alone is worth a trip from the northern Highlands!”.

“A menu with a huge range of fish might suggest a serious fish place” but the original Rockfish (opened in 2010) overlooking the River Dart “feels more like a fish ’n’ chip restaurant with less-than-smart tables, chips with everything and the usual few leaves for salad. People seem mostly to eat the fried food. That said, you could have whitebait, a huge crab at a huge price and juicy gurnard not fried. Service is fast and cheerful”.

“Seafood platters on the back beach” are the big draw to this popular shack. All feedback this year was fundamentally positive, but sometimes with a catch. For example: “can’t help feeling the magic has slipped a bit and prices seem to have gone up”. But “the owners try hard, and it’s still worth a visit when you're in the area, especially on a sunny afternoon”.

“A vegetal cornucopia delight!” – this canteen at an organic veg box company’s HQ “oozes with enough excitement and deliciousness to make even the most hardened of meat-eaters squirm with pleasure”. They do serve some meat, but “vegetables are always the star” – “though the puds are pretty tasty too” – “all homemade of course and quite delicious”.

Beautifully situated on Dartmoor, this rural pub was consistently well-reviewed this year for its hearty and enjoyable bistro-style menu (it’s not a pub grub kind of place). There are nine bedrooms, too, and – if you stay – there’s the additional option of a lighter early bird supper.

“We love the Rockfish chain” – and “Exmouth is our favourite”, say fans of Mitch Tonks’s West Country seafood group, which had eight branches as we went to press, with two more (Salcombe and Topsham) about to open, along with an online seafood market and a pioneering canned-fish operation. Despite being a multiple, it offers “top seafood, and the staff seem really passionate about the subject”.

“Best, freshest fish I have tasted for years – right off the Brixham fishing boats, served down by the sea”. This “affordable and fun” venture looks like a beach shack. “It’s in a strange location”, above the seawater lido – on the coast path leading away from Brixham to Berry Head – but worth hunting out (and there is a car park at the back if you are driving). Only a few covers, so you need to book. Ask for the table by the window, and you have glorious views in the evening of the sun setting over Tor Bay. But what you come for is the fish. Not a sophisticated menu, but the fish doesn’t need anything other than very simple cooking. The owner is one of the wholesalers at the Brixham fish market, so the fish will come from that morning’s auction and is as fresh as it can get. One of the South West’s best-kept secrets (well, it was…)

A new addition to Michael Caines’s luxurious destination, this relatively relaxed 40-seat operation (with another 60 alfresco) overlooks the hotel’s new outdoor pool and offers a casual menu of salads, seafood and BBQ from brunch time till mid afternoon and then again in the early evening.