The Dolphin Hotel at Bovey Tracey

food review by Jill Pendleton
Back to the Food Reviews 2010 page.The Dolphin Hotel. 19th January 2010. Telephone 01626 832413

Every pub should have a Lisa on board.
She is the friendly face that you will hear meeting and
greeting at The Dolphin Hotel in Bovey Tracey.

Rob and I called into the Dolphin on a wet and depressing
Tuesday lunchtime in January. The young chap at the bar gave
us a friendly greeting and put his order pad down again rather
than chivvy us into making a decision about what we fancied for lunch, and that was no mean feat either because there was a
menu, plus a blackboard and another lunchtime menu on offer.
Lots to choose from, and in the end because I'm a suckerfor
faggots that's what I plumped for, with bubble and squeak £8.25
When I was young it was one of my jobs was to go and queue
up outside a popular pork butchers in Stafford (just off what
was then the Gaol Square - next to the prison, but it's all
changed now) I can't quite recall how many faggots he baked
every morning, but it was just one giant tray that he dragged
out of his wall oven, and if you weren't there a bit sharpish, you missed out. I guess the faggots numbered around 60, and the
girl helper, I think it was his daughter, would make her way
down the queue that stretched out of the shop, adding up how
many faggots people wanted in their order, so that those poor
souls over the trayful limit walked away with slumped shoulders. The smell emanating from that little shop was
almost a meal in itself. Heavenly memories.... but I digress.... back to The Dolphin.

Rob chose a pizza with ham cheese and pineapple topping, and as we waited, not long, for our food I took notice of how many customers there were in the place. There were at least 6 retired couples, plus 3 seperate pairs of chaps taking their midday meals, an older local well entrenched at the bar, a table of yummy mummies chewing the fat with
pushchair alongside and a young toddler walking around the place quietly amusing herself. Some comings and goings
added up to well over 20 to 30 lunches and this on a miserable weekday well out of season.The faggots in bacon,
saugage and ale gravy was good and tasty but the Bubble and Squeak was a bit of surprise, as I found a mixture of at
least 7 vegetables in it including what had once been roast potatoes, and the whole was sadly, drenched over with the gravy, so that there were no brown crunchy bits that I had been looking forward to... no matter, this is a good

use of leftovers and I am all for that, but next time I will ask for just one faggot and possibly, if they don't
mind, a few chips and a green vegetable. Rob enjoyed his pizza and all around us were cleared plates.

Other goodies on the menu were battered fish bites (what are fish bites?) on clotted cream mushy peas with chips and bread and butter at £8.95 !!! along with venison steak, rib eye steak, stuffed chicken breast, cod fillet. The food is
good pub food. Gordon Ramsey it aint, but fast and filling it is, and I imagine that most customers come away smiling.
Jane who works for me in the office, lives in Bovey
and she tells me that this is a very popular pub,
much favoured by the local fire brigade lads.
It has a lively air in the bar no least because above
the chatter you can hear Lisa on the phone
sorting things out and wishing folks well as they depart. In no time at all she has talked us into taking
a pudding. A gurt big Devon ice cream affair
with fudge made in house, and natch ...clotted
cream all topped with a nearly defrosted strawberry.
I feel sure that in the Summer this will be a fresh strawberry. And I'm also sure that throughout the Summer this large pub with it's plentiful seating
will be full of holidaymakers and locals, all
enjoying a chat with Lisa as they come and go.
I took a photo of my placemat which shows
a charabanc full of trippers in what seems
to be Victorian days. And after our meal we
stood where the former photographer had stood, and tried to get the same angle
for an up to date look at the place.
As you can see, not much has changed.
The pub minus a couple of chimney
stacksand the adjoining shops look
much as they did in former days.
How many hungry customers have
walked through fine porch on the
front of the building I wonder ?
Thousands and thousands.

The stained glass door decoration is a later addition.
But enough of the history. This is a food review, and as far as
happy diners are concerned, I think this hotel comes across
as a pub these days and good pub food is what it serves.

With such a warm welcome from the smiley Lisa
who could ask for anything else ?

Our bill came to just £21.15 including drinks.

The hotel has it's own car park at the rear and they offer
wedding catering in an upstairs banqueting suite.

As ever the question is. Will we go again ? And the answer is yes.
This year I am adding a further question at the end of each review.
Do they sell pork scratchings ? And in this case I am certain that they do. Here is the Dolphin Hotel website. Cheers !