Some things are so right at this new seafood grill that you forgive them things that are so wrong, says Jay Rayner
Thomas Carr Seafood and Grill, 59 High Street, Ilfracombe, North Devon EX34 9QB (01271 555 005). Meal for two including drinks and service £60-£90.
The Thomas Carr Seafood and Grill on the high street in Ilfracombe is that mate of yours who could be a huge success if only they got their act together; the one that leaves you tipping your head on one side sympathetically and frowning a little. As a fully functioning restaurant it is, frankly, a mess right now, and they know it. During my lunch I am given rousing speeches about what they want the place to be when it grows up and what it isn’t quite yet. They tell us about the – dread words – “fine dining” restaurant they plan for upstairs, and the outside terrace out back of the lower ground level. But which they haven’t got around to yet. Because, you know, stuff.
‘Prawns in garlic butter are so fresh they squeak, sitting in a bubbling pond of dairy fat silted up with garlic’
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