Ode&Co at Coast View - Shaldon

Welcome to my first Devon Foodie Review... Let's get straight down to business...

If you live in the south of Devon and aren't familiar with the Ode name then you're missing out. Local ingredients, quality chefs, great service and plenty of options when it comes to formality (and pricing). Their latest offering is Ode&Co at Coast View Holiday Park in Shaldon, currently in its soft-opening phase, it's a simple set up - booze and pizza.

Now I absolutely adore pizza, proper pizza that is: crisp stone baked base topped with sweet tomato sauce and just enough mozzarella, finished off with a glug of infused oil. If you can find somewhere that does it properly then you need never risk disappointing pizza again (until somewhere new comes along promising more of the same).

Here's how I got on with Ode&Co...

Arriving at a far busier restaurant than expected we were greeted by the maitre d' who quickly let us know that a) there were far more covers than they were expecting, b) it was some of his staff's first night on the job and c) food was taking a little bit longer due to the above reasons plus a pizza oven only running on wood.

A long wait for food isn't the worst thing in the world when you've got views of the sea, great wine and Ode's very own ale to drink, we ordered food as quickly as possible going for a selection of cured meats, and garlic bread to start followed by Teign salmon calzone with dill, red chili & black pepper and a spiced lamb pizza with cumin, pine nuts, coriander and tahini.

Food was slow but the service more than made up for it, popping back often but not too often just to let us know we hadn't been forgotten about.

Selection of cured meats served with sour dough and pickled cucumber.

On arrival the selection of meats seemed small but with eat bite packing flavour and depth, the size of the portion was easily forgotten. Small pieces of sour dough bread meant DIY sandwiches, venison chorizo and pickled cucumbers with salami on the side. Perfect starter.

That garlic bread.

Next, the garlic bread, a somewhat tired medium... Where can't you find the stuff? This felt different though. Punchy garlic and plenty of it, dripping off a stone baked pizza, the sharpness of the cheddar balancing it all out perfectly. Butter running down my chin and my eyes closing at the sheer joy of it. Garlic bread done properly, at last! I was tempted to order another but thought I'd leave it to save the confusion.







On to the main event, the pizza. Remember how I described the perfect pizza above? Well guess what, Ode&Co comes pretty close! Great crust from the wood-fired oven, topped with fine ingredients. The combinations work. The calzone lacked the treasure chest effect and instead was topped with more of the same, not how I'd do it but still enjoyable!

Spiced lamb mince with cumin, pine nuts, coriander and tahini.

Coffee and tubs of local ice cream for dessert was simple, hopefully they put the same effort into the dessert menu come opening time as they've done for the starters, sides and pizzas. 

I left Ode feeling thoroughly happy with the whole setup, it's done well. There might not be lights in the ceiling and it might be a little bit slow but these are teething problems, easily solved ones at that. Keep an eye on this place because it's only going to get better.

Meal for two, with drinks, starters and dessert came to £45 including service. Soft-opening prices are liable to change/increase. 

Location is simple stunning too.