The Jack In The Green Inn

The Jack In The Green needs little or no introduction to those in the know. Numerous accolades from independent critics as one of the best restaurants in Devon, underpinned by two AA rosettes and praise from the Good Food Guide, is testament to the passion and skill that emanates from the kitchen. This year alone the team have won a Gold in the Taste of the West Food & Drink Awards and been named the Best Dining Pub in Devon by "Devon Life" Magazine.

Owner Paul Parnell and Head Chef, Matthew Mason have gained a reputation for a pub that can be whatever you want it to be - formal or informal, a place to celebrate birthdays, christenings, weddings and anniversaries or a place to have a glass of wine or a locally brewed pint. We don't mind if this is for two people or as one of our regulars did recently for his 50th Birthday - Jazz in the courtyard with canapés, followed by a four course gourmet dinner and lashings of Chilean wine for one hundred people.

Frequently changing menus are dictated solely by the seasons and enormous pride is taken in letting them act as a shop window to display the very best of what Devon has to offer. You won't find asparagus in October but you will find wild venison loin, packed full of moorland richness, well hung and cooked pink to retain as much of its distinctive flavour as is humanly possible. Paired with a fruity, full bodied Argentinean Malbec, relaxed food and drink like this takes some beating.

The whole operation centres around ingredients that are a privilege to handle. Almost all of what is used is grown or reared from well within a twenty-five mile radius of the kitchen and the staff can even give you the Christian names of our apple juice supplier in the next town. Serving the bland, limp or jaded has never entered our minds. We believe people should be fussy and that when they come to us, everything from the welcome through to the after dinner coffee should be genuine and as good as it can be.

All through the meal there will be a story behind what you are eating - In essence you will taste the very fabric of the countryside around us. As a business, The Jack in the Green wants to serve food that is a million miles away from your average pub food but is still priced affordably. Why serve air freighted lamb from New Zealand when on our doorstep is the finest local Pole Dorset spring lamb? Encased in a lemon, garlic, rosemary and sea salt crust and served with freshly dug brassicas and sweet root vegetables, nothing could be simpler or more delicious. When the basic ingredients are this good the cooking doesn't need to be complicated.