6 Best Restaurants in Exeter, The West Country

Here's a change from the usual food in Exeter: a Portuguese bistro in the heart of pedestrianized Gandy Street, offering an authentic menu of Iberian specialties. The extensive menu includes such traditional dishes as frango à brás (chicken with chopped potatoes and onions, sprinkled with olives and parsley), francesinha (a steak sandwich from Porto, with spicy sausage, ham, cheese, and a salty beer gravy), and polvo à lagareiro (confit garlic octopus with crushed new potatoes). There's an impressive choice of vegetarian alternatives, and among the numerous desserts, you'll find an assortment of dangerously delicious pastéis de nata (egg custard tarts), accompanied with coffee, liqueur, ice cream, or just served plain. The decor in the two bright, neat rooms features the cork and tiles of the restaurant's name, enhanced by modern Portuguese art. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly.

Opposite the cathedral, this child-friendly tearoom and restaurant spread over two floors is ideal for lunch, coffee, or snacks while you're seeing the sights. You can also sample one of Devon's famous cream teas, served with jam, scones, and clotted cream, or show up earlier for eggs Benedict or a cooked English breakfast. For lunch, try the house salad (with lettuce, avocado, pickled shallots, cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, and pomegranate seeds), a "Devon fire burger," or just a sandwich. There's a good range of vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free options, plus West Country beers and ciders. Tables are available outside in Cathedral Close in fine weather.

This friendly bistro with wooden floors and simple tables has been at the heart of Exeter's vegetarian and vegan scene for more than 30 years. It's an ideal spot for unwinding over leisurely conversation and enjoying such dishes as spinach and mushroom lasagna; a jackfruit, beet, and bean burger; kari sayur (a Malaysian-style curry with split peas, butternut squash, peppers, and sugar snaps); or carrot and cashew nutloaf with a wild mushroom sauce. Leave room for such scrumptious desserts as "Heaven in Devon" (fudge ice cream with chocolate brownie and a vanilla sauce). All the wines are organic, too.

Exeter-born master chef Michael Caines has breathed new life into this elegant Georgian mansion overlooking the Exe estuary 5 miles south of Exeter, where he has installed three separate dining rooms to showcase his highly original recipes. The wow-factor starts the moment you arrive, with unforgettable estuary views forming a fitting prelude to the gastronomic feast to follow. The seasonal four-course lunch menu (£95), à la carte fixed-price menu (£155), and multicourse tasting menus (£180 and £195) might include such dishes as shellfish ravioli with langoustine bisque, salted Newlyn cod with lemon purée, Lyme Bay crab, samphire, and chorizo, and poached chicken with Wye Valley asparagus and wild garlic. There is a separate vegetarian and vegan menu that has choices like herb and nettle risotto with aged Parmesan cheese, while typical desserts include apple mousse with green apple jelly, apple sorbet, and vanilla foam, and mango and lime soufflé. Luxurious accommodations are also available on site.

Around the corner from the cathedral, you can lift a tankard of bitter in the very rooms where Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh enjoyed their ale. The pub dishes out casual bar fare, from sandwiches and grills to steaks and ale pies, either in the bar or in the beamed and paneled upstairs restaurant. Drake, in fact, once wrote, "Next to mine own shippe, I do most love that old ‘Shippe' in Exon."

At this pub you can contemplate the quayside comings and goings over a pint of real ale and a sandwich, a pie, or a pasty. The nautical theme comes through in pictures and the ship's wheel hanging from the ceiling. There are tables outside on the quay.