Review: The Chagford Inn, Chagford

I’m a sucker for anything a bit different. At The Chagford Inn they do nose-to-tail proper country style. They source a Dexter ox from a farmer a mile down the road, and then they take about ten days to work through him from nose-to-tail, changing their menu as they go along. Tonight they had heart on, as well as tail, liver, rump, and fillet. I’m sold.

Chagford is packed with pubs, inns and restaurants offering good-looking menus. Ridiculously so for a tiny Dartmoor town, but then it is next door to Gidleigh Park and also bucolic as heck. The Chagford Inn is a cosy and relaxed place, still looks like a pub though obviously the food is probably the main part of what they do. Service was great and they’ve got a great list of wines by the glass. So… food!

I went for pigs trotters and prunes on toast to start. The mixture of funky, gunky trotter chopped up with sweetly dark prune and diced veg was a really top combo for dedicated adherents to the cult of St John. I loved it. On the other hand, the toast beneath had quickly become soft and squodgy. Fried bread might have stood up better. Who cares, lovely dish.

Maureen’s starter of salt cod brandade with arancini and gazpacho was just perfect for the summer, bright flavours and a great clash of textures between the crunch of the tiny arancini and the smooth creamy brandade. Honestly, hardly very Devonian or beefy though!

So she followed it with sliced beef heart, white anchovies and aioli. That was as good as it sounds, the seared beef heart full of flavour and a really toothy bite without being at all chewy. My dish was a strange fellow; ox liver with baked goat cheese and figs. This came with batons and finely chopped courgette and tomato, and they did make rather odd bedfellows for the fresh fig. To be honest, so did the liver. Lovely piece of liver though, well cooked and great to devour. I’ll even buy the goat cheese with it. The fruit n veg were just too wimpy for the powerful offal.

Too stuffed for pud, we wandered out happy with our dinner. Three courses would be around £32 per head, and I’m gonna say that’s about right. It’s a menu with bags of originality, even if not every dish was faultless. And in particular if you like your nose-to-tail eating then this has to be a destination for anyone visiting Devon!