December 2007 - Posts
The Famous Ship in Exmouth is home to a great Monday night pub quiz and theerefore is well worth a visit.
The questions are not too hard, makinhg it an enjoyable experience where you can go home feeling intelligent and tipsy, rather than stupid and drunk.
(Incidentally, my friends and I won the quiz two weeks ago, so we think the pub is great because the landlord gav us a gallon of beer as a prize)
It takes place every Monday from around 9pm, althouygh starting times vary if the landlord is hoping more teams will take part. usually there are between six and 10 and the atmosphere is light-hearted. there is no single team which wins every week, which often spoils quizzes in other places hwere the rest of the teams are really only competing for second place.
Aside form the quiz, the Ship, is on e of exmouth's better pubs, following a successful refurbishment several years ago. Drinks are not expensive and it's generally a lively place, especially on student nights (Wednesdays) and at the weekends.
Unusually for Exmouth, it also serves a range of cocktails, some of which are, I think two for £5. They might not be too adventurous - you won't find a Pink Panther or a Diablo on the list - but they do make a pleasant alternative to beer or wine. You could expect to pick up the likes of a Woo Woo or a Sex on the Beach.
Entertainment away from the drinks is plentiful in the Ship, with two pool tables (priced £1 per game, bit steep) a table football game and several fruit machines, as well as a supersize TV showing sports almost all the time.
A meal at the Feathers in Budleigh Salterton has always been an enjoyable experience.
Last Monday was not the first time I've eaten there, but having not visited for food for more than a year, I was pleased to find the standard of the food was as good as ever.
While the menu is not extensive and does not generally stray for the standard pub grub favouriteas like curry, lasagne and steak, what the chef there does do, he (or she) does very well.
I had the lasagne, and my companion anjoyed a medium cooked steak.
Both meals were filling and took long enough to arrive that we were assured they were not zapped in a microwave but properly prepared.
The drinks range in the Feathers, in Budleigh salterton's high Street is good, especially for asmall pub. There is a decent selection of real ales, good for a winter evening, as well as lagers, including Castlemaine XXXX, wines, and non alocholic types.
The atmophere is what makes the Feathers what it is though - it's a pub where everyone seems to know each other, and kind of strikes me as a bit like a home with guests visiting rather than a pub. The long and eating area is in one half of the pub, while the bar, which has a pool table is in the other half.
At around £20 for two drinks and two meals, it was a well priced evening.
Landlords and regulars: tell us about your establishment by emaling peter.leriche@archant.co.uk
I went to the relaunched Blue Ball in Sidford on monday for the Herald's self funded Christmas meal.
This is the pub that regular readers and those who know what goes on in Sidmouth, will be aware burnt to the ground around two years ago.
Well now, and probably for a good few months, it's back in business and is again serving up good quality food and an interesting selection of drinks.
It being a Christmas dinner, our menu revolved around turkey so we were not really able to sample all the food the Ball's kitchen produces, but what we did have was good.
It was also plentiful. Unusually, my roast turkey came with stuffing as well as a yorkshire pudding, which I had thought was generally reserved for beef roasts.
The three course Christmas meal was £19(I think) and the two course option was £14, which seems reasonable. Wioth a round of drinks for seven coming in at around £18, it was an affordable evening out as well.
The atmospehere is good, the original Blue Ball having been recreated much as it was. It is now slightly lighter inside which, while it might make illicit liasons harder, it does make group get-togethers easier.
This is a good pub with good pub-quality food. One friend described his meal as slightly bland, and clearly it was not five star restaurant food, but it was certainly a good meal in good company making for a good start to the Christmas season.
Is your work place having a Christmas meal out at a pub in East Devon? Let me know where you're going and what you think by emailing peter.leriche@archant.co.uk