Menuwatch: The Dartmoor Inn, Devon

18 October 2022 by

A family has come together to buy a coaching inn, and with son-in-law Jay Barker-Jones's high-flying chef experience, it's a recipe for success

Situated on the north-west fringes of Dartmoor National Park, the Dartmoor Inn has been a popular stop-off point for travellers to West Devon and Cornwall for centuries. Minutes from the village of Lydford and its historic Lydford Gorge, and surrounded by neighbouring farms, grasslands, and well-trodden trails, its immaculately maintained, white-washed exterior is a beacon.

In July 2019, the 16th-century coaching inn was purchased by a local family – new-to-hospitality Andrew and Jo Chisholm, their daughter Tess Barker-Jones, a hospitality management graduate who worked at the Dartmoor Inn in her teens, and her chef husband Jay, whose career includes periods with Shay Cooper (at Talland Bay Hotel in Porthallow, Cornwall), Kenny Atkinson (at the Michelin-starred St Martin's hotel on the Isles of Scilly), Chris and James Tanner (at their eponymous restaurant in Plymouth), and at Andrew Brownsword Hotels.

Week St Mary red venison loin, haunch ragout, kale, celeriac, red wine
Week St Mary red venison loin, haunch ragout, kale, celeriac, red wine

The two couples bought the freehold property "lock, stock and barrel", and while the furniture stayed largely unchanged, they immediately set about adding warmth and character to the building by introducing colour on the walls in contrast to a previously simpler look. The result is a homely feel with eclectic furniture and natural tones punctuating the building's collection of intimate dining rooms, and its three, spacious, shabby-chic bedrooms.

Jay's daily-changing menu draws on local suppliers and features classic food pairings in flavour-packed, crowd-pleasing dishes. Intricately presented plates of food, illustrating Jay's love of textures, include a suitably autumnal pan-seared breast of wood pigeon, served with sauteed wild mushrooms, Jerusalem artichokes "a la Grecque", artichoke purée, artichoke crisps, fresh blackberries, and a red wine sauce.

"Textures are very important to me. Adding an extra texture completely changes the way your mouth feels when you're eating a dish. This is training that comes from working with guys like Shay, Kenny, Chris and James – having access to recipes is all very good but being trained to actually analyse what you're putting in your mouth and how you can change that only comes from the guys who want to be inspirational."

Much like the pigeon starter that hasn't come off the menu since the early days is a dainty salad of hand-picked Brixham crab paired with avocado (blended with olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning), orange and pink grapefruit, a touch of mayonnaise, topped with crunchy Parmesan crisps and pea shoots for colour. The 60-cover inn can sell anything up to 50 portions of the dish each week.

Among the best-selling main courses is loin of red venison from the Cornish village of Week St Mary, served with a deep and comforting haunch ragout, kale, celeriac and red wine jus. The most popular desserts, which Jay describes as "quite simple", include a timeless sticky toffee pudding.

Sticky toffee pudding
Sticky toffee pudding

"It's difficult to talk about sticky toffee pudding because everyone does one," explains Jay, "but I like to think that we do a very good one. I've adjusted a recipe that I've used for years. We serve it with candied walnuts, some great Devon clotted cream and a very treacly dark and rich toffee sauce seasoned with salt to offset its rich and creamy sugary base."

There's no pretending that the last three years have been easy for the Dartmoor Inn's relative newcomers. But the challenges of navigating the choppy seas of Covid, multiple shutdowns, the cost of living crisis and spiralling energy bills, were somewhat evened out when Jay and Tess welcomed their daughter, Willow, two years ago.

And while they are anxious to see what the next 12 months bring for operators as a whole, they couldn't be prouder of their achievements which include a clutch of tourism awards, three consecutive years in the Michelin Guide, and, hot off the press, a notable new entry in the Good Food Guide.

"During the course of the last three years, aside from having this place, learning about it and understanding it, all the storms we have weathered has given us quite a thick skin," explains Tess. "But we're really proud of what we do, we're really proud of our team and our family, and everything that we've accomplished."

From the menu

Starters

  • Whipped goats' cheese, heritage beetroot, gingerbread, hazelnuts £9.50
  • Crisp smoked ham hock, rémoulade, shallot, apple, nasturtium £9.50

Mains

  • Pork fillet, glazed pork cheek, carrot, red cabbage, apple £23
  • Bass, tempura courgette, piperade, aubergine, fine beans, pesto £20
  • Atlantic cod, chard, cauliflower, curry broth, coconut, coriander £20

Desserts

  • Vanilla panna cotta, strawberries, sorbet, shortbread £8.50
  • Dark chocolate brownie, orange caramel, honeycomb, salted caramel ice-cream £8.50
  • Raspberry trifle, passion fruit, pistachio £8.50

Moorside, Lydford, Okehampton, Devon EX20 4AY

www.dartmoorinn.com

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