Best restaurants in Devon

The Gastrobus, Bantham Beach, Kingsbridge

The Gastrobus occupies an enviable spot on one of South Devon’s premier surf beaches. Try the Bantham burger (a 6oz patty with smoked bacon and a choice of Devon Blue or mature cheddar), local crab rolls and loaded hot dogs.

Open every day from Easter through to October, expect good coffee, baked goods, fresh local produce and decent ice cream for the kids. gastrobus.co.uk

The Glorious Oyster, Westward Ho!

The Glorious Oyster started as a mobile oyster bar trading from a Pashley tricycle in Bristol, but when youth worker Lyndsay was made redundant in the summer of 2014, she moved to North Devon and reopened her business in a converted horsebox next to the sea wall at Westward Ho!

The menu changes with the seasons but firm menu staples are the fish finger sandwich made with breaded MSC pollock, the fish burger, the local scrumpy-steamed Appledore mussels and griddled Bideford Bay lobster with spiced slaw, herb salad, samphire and sea purslane.

It has been so successful that Lyndsay has now opened a second beach shack at nearby Instow beach. Whichever you decide to visit, Lyndsay encourages customers to clean up after they visit the beach and all tips go to marine conservation charities. The Glorious Oyster Facebook page

Hope Cove House, Kingsbridge

Run by London restaurateur and wine bar owner Oli Barker, Hope Cove House focuses on tightly-curated, seasonal, high-end coastal food with a Mediterranean feel. Expect starters such as octopus with chorizo and white beans, or fried baby squid with sumac and aioli and, for mains, tender pollack with braised fennel and crab bisque. Salads, herbs and vegetables come from Oli’s mother’s own vegetable patch, lamb and pork is from the Salcombe Meat Company, and fish is landed in nearby Plymouth or Brixham. The 80-strong wine list includes a good choice of natural wines, and there’s a refreshingly unpretentious bar that stocks just one of each spirit and an evolving range of London beers.

Stay the night at the hotel and enjoy the breakfast buffet: it includes crunchy homemade granola and fruity jams, with toast-your-own bread from Bakehouse Salcombe. Cooked options include a Full English, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, kippers with oozy parsley butter, perfectly-cooked boiled eggs with anchovy soldiers and (highly recommended) shakshuka. hopecovehouse.co.uk

Gara Rock, Salcombe

Perched on the bluff of a cliff near Salcombe, Gara Rock has 12 rustic-chic bedrooms, a relaxed restaurant with sun terrace, indoor and outdoor heated pools, and a clutch of stylish self-catering family-friendly cottages – all of which are cleverly positioned to make the most of magnificent coastal views.

Gara Rock’s restaurant and terrace is its main draw, offering a relaxed vibe, a limited but reliable menu that caters for all culinary persuasions, and panoramic vistas through floor-to-ceiling windows (tables 115 or 117 have uninterrupted views). Choose between 'The Restaurant' for fine dining and the option of a tasting menu, or 'The Kitchen' for a more relaxed feel. gararock.com

Crab Shack, Teignmouth

Located on Back Beach, looking directly over the estuary at Teignmouth, Amanda Simmonds says the main reason people travel from all over to the Crab Shack is because it has its own fishing boats and they catch most of the fish and seafood themselves (Amanda’s husband has been a crab fisherman for more than 30 years).

The menu is made up mainly from anything that can be produced from crab or lobsters, with the most popular dish being fruits de mer. Expect to have to crack, pull and tear apart your dinner here. crabshackonthebeach.co.uk

The Angel, Dartmouth

The Angel, Chef Elly Wentworth’s multi-award winning restaurant in Dartmouth, focusses on the best of Devon’s larder with her signature six-course taster menu. The former MasterChef: The Professionals finalist serves locally cured salmon in smoked cucumber butter, lamb with brown butter artichokes, wild fallow venison loin and clotted cream parfait with new season rhubarb, aero and lemon balm.

Rockfish, Brixham

Part of celebrity chef and restaurateur Mitch Tonks’ growing collection of informal seafood restaurants, the Brixham branch of the award-winning Rockfish is perched above the world-famous fish market that supplies many of the UK’s top restaurants.

Grab a window table or seat on the terrace and watch the fleet of day boats bringing in the day’s catch as you tuck into fish and seafood that is often still in the sea an hour before you eat it.

Try the roasted half-shell local scallops with garlic and breadcrumbs or the fritto misto of prawns, sprats, monkfish ‘scampi’, cod and calamari with chilli and tartare sauce and unlimited chips. therockfish.co.uk

Shoals Café on The Lido, Brixham

Sean and Sarah Perkes have transformed a near-derelict building with limited water and electricity supplies into a thriving dining destination since opening Shoals in the summer of 2015. Above the open-air Shoalstone sea water pool, Shoals is open seven days a week during the summer, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

For Sean, a fifth-generation fish wholesaler and exporter who spent his youth at the iconic lido, it was only natural that this beach-side restaurant would showcase the very best local seafood and the menu changes daily depending on what arrives at Brixham fish market in the morning.

Get plates of local day-boat scallops and monkfish in a flamed whisky, bacon and cream sauce served with chips or crusty bread; and Elberry Cove mussels in a white wine, garlic and cream sauce. The fresh Brixham crab sandwiches and homemade mackerel pâté and melba toast are the stuff of dreams. shoalsbrixham.co.uk

Photographs | Red Air Drones | Shoals café on the lido