Simon Hulstone, chef at The Elephant, seems to have been getting around. The walls in The Room, the fine dining, Michelin-starred, part of the restaurant are covered with menus from visits to Europe's top restaurants. I spotted three from Paul Bocuse as well as menus from Le Louis XV, Arzak, El Bulli (seemed to be from this season) and others. Hulstone's own menus are presented split over several nicely bound A5 pages, but I think he's missing a trick -- I don't think it'd be too much hubris for him to present something more in the style found on the walls, judging by the meal I enjoyed there last week.
The dining room is well appointed and has views of the bay from most of the tables. When we came last year (just for a drink sadly, as the restaurant was fully booked) the whole upper floor was a bar (yummy Cuba libre!). This has now been split into a clubby bar area and The Room. Downstairs is a brasserie with (I'm guessing) 60 covers and a small bar. More on that in a later report.
Amuse bouche consisted of truffle-flavoured popcorn, chickpea hummus with bread sticks, and fat stuffed olives, served just after we ordered. Fun, summery fare.
There was a couple already at the table nearest to ours there when we arrived for 7.30pm - The Room seats about 25 I guess, and tables are well spaced. They seemed to be Danish and were clearly delighted with the restaurant: "Fine food in lovely surroundings," was their verdict, "unlike the rest of Torquay." (I read their comments in the guestbook, which seemed to have nothing but glowing reports, with no signs of possible editing).
Well, I have more of a soft spot for Torquay than that, but I can see what they mean about The Elephant standing out in town. The only strong alternatives being The Orchid, on the other side of the bay, and No 7 Fish Bistro, who must be groaning that the superior, but similarly priced, Elephant has opened virtually next door.
To start Kate had Paignton crab 'martini' with creamed avocado, mango and mint salsa and warm crab beignet. My mother went for open ravioli of beetroot and Vulscombe goats' cheese with Somerset cider syrup and I took the ballotine of foie gras with peach chutney and granny smith jelly.
Being an inveterate forkful-nabber I tried all three, and they were each as delicious as they were beautifully presented. My mother in particular was very excited by the presentation of her sensitively deconstructed dish, but we all thought the plates looked great.
For main I tried the rump of Cornish lamb on celeriac puree with braised neck croquette. The lamb was perfectly-pink (though I noticed the kitchen responded with good grace when the lady at a nearby table asked for it to be browned a little) and the puree made it into a splendid dish. I'm not a huge eater of lamb - basically I only have it in restaurants - and this was one of the very finest examples I've tried. The neck croquette might well have converted me though. Rich, dark, and of mouth-pleasing crispness, I could happily have had four of those as a dish in itself. Kate and my mother both went for pan roasted day boat John Dory on parsnip puree with a verjus and spring onion butter which we'd read was a speciality of the house. The bit I tried was delicious and Kate was so enamoured she didn't even push the question of whether the delicious little crisps of "something" on the plate was meat, which she usually avoids! She just lapped them up.
Dessert for me was dark chocolate truffle with olive oil, hibiscus jelly and served with a huge glassy piece of moreish sea salt caramel. Kate's was rose and almond tansy pudding with lemon verbena ice cream which she was so enamoured of I didn't even get any of the pudding. *sulk*
My mother took a selection of Westcountry Artisan cheeses which was so substantial we all got to share (five decent sized pieces of cheese and several biscuit varieties).
Cafetiere coffee or tea and petit fours are complementary and consisted of a good, lightly flavoured medium strength coffee with a soft chocolate ganache, a fruit jelly and creamy biscuit each.
By the time we left the room was probably 3/4 full, many of the tables taken by couples across the full age spectrum. This was on a Thursday night. One lone diner in the corner was doing his best to look like a critic; perhaps he was, The Elephant seems to be getting good press lately - I spotted it in both The Guardian and Conde Nast Traveller in the last couple of weeks.
Service was nicely pitched. The maitre'd showed up a couple of times and the two young ladies serving were good humoured and swift to service. One in particular created good rapport out of a couple of minor fluffs (apparently my main was served the wrong way round; and an empty wine bottle hadn't been upended/removed). Kate said she saw Hulstone peek in at one point too.
The meal was £39.50 a head for three courses; rather embarrassingly I've forgotten what wine we had, a Pinot Grigio, but there was a good choice in the ~£20 range. Overall excellent value and a jewel in dining not just for Torquay, but Devon as a whole. The Room is open for dinner only Tuesday - Saturday.
The dining room is well appointed and has views of the bay from most of the tables. When we came last year (just for a drink sadly, as the restaurant was fully booked) the whole upper floor was a bar (yummy Cuba libre!). This has now been split into a clubby bar area and The Room. Downstairs is a brasserie with (I'm guessing) 60 covers and a small bar. More on that in a later report.
Amuse bouche consisted of truffle-flavoured popcorn, chickpea hummus with bread sticks, and fat stuffed olives, served just after we ordered. Fun, summery fare.
There was a couple already at the table nearest to ours there when we arrived for 7.30pm - The Room seats about 25 I guess, and tables are well spaced. They seemed to be Danish and were clearly delighted with the restaurant: "Fine food in lovely surroundings," was their verdict, "unlike the rest of Torquay." (I read their comments in the guestbook, which seemed to have nothing but glowing reports, with no signs of possible editing).
Well, I have more of a soft spot for Torquay than that, but I can see what they mean about The Elephant standing out in town. The only strong alternatives being The Orchid, on the other side of the bay, and No 7 Fish Bistro, who must be groaning that the superior, but similarly priced, Elephant has opened virtually next door.
To start Kate had Paignton crab 'martini' with creamed avocado, mango and mint salsa and warm crab beignet. My mother went for open ravioli of beetroot and Vulscombe goats' cheese with Somerset cider syrup and I took the ballotine of foie gras with peach chutney and granny smith jelly.
Being an inveterate forkful-nabber I tried all three, and they were each as delicious as they were beautifully presented. My mother in particular was very excited by the presentation of her sensitively deconstructed dish, but we all thought the plates looked great.
For main I tried the rump of Cornish lamb on celeriac puree with braised neck croquette. The lamb was perfectly-pink (though I noticed the kitchen responded with good grace when the lady at a nearby table asked for it to be browned a little) and the puree made it into a splendid dish. I'm not a huge eater of lamb - basically I only have it in restaurants - and this was one of the very finest examples I've tried. The neck croquette might well have converted me though. Rich, dark, and of mouth-pleasing crispness, I could happily have had four of those as a dish in itself. Kate and my mother both went for pan roasted day boat John Dory on parsnip puree with a verjus and spring onion butter which we'd read was a speciality of the house. The bit I tried was delicious and Kate was so enamoured she didn't even push the question of whether the delicious little crisps of "something" on the plate was meat, which she usually avoids! She just lapped them up.
Dessert for me was dark chocolate truffle with olive oil, hibiscus jelly and served with a huge glassy piece of moreish sea salt caramel. Kate's was rose and almond tansy pudding with lemon verbena ice cream which she was so enamoured of I didn't even get any of the pudding. *sulk*
My mother took a selection of Westcountry Artisan cheeses which was so substantial we all got to share (five decent sized pieces of cheese and several biscuit varieties).
Cafetiere coffee or tea and petit fours are complementary and consisted of a good, lightly flavoured medium strength coffee with a soft chocolate ganache, a fruit jelly and creamy biscuit each.
By the time we left the room was probably 3/4 full, many of the tables taken by couples across the full age spectrum. This was on a Thursday night. One lone diner in the corner was doing his best to look like a critic; perhaps he was, The Elephant seems to be getting good press lately - I spotted it in both The Guardian and Conde Nast Traveller in the last couple of weeks.
Service was nicely pitched. The maitre'd showed up a couple of times and the two young ladies serving were good humoured and swift to service. One in particular created good rapport out of a couple of minor fluffs (apparently my main was served the wrong way round; and an empty wine bottle hadn't been upended/removed). Kate said she saw Hulstone peek in at one point too.
The meal was £39.50 a head for three courses; rather embarrassingly I've forgotten what wine we had, a Pinot Grigio, but there was a good choice in the ~£20 range. Overall excellent value and a jewel in dining not just for Torquay, but Devon as a whole. The Room is open for dinner only Tuesday - Saturday.
Very well written article content. You really got me thinking over on this one. Thanks for the post!-Brett Morton-torquay pubs
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