The Drewe Arms
The Drewe Arms
Broadhembury
Devon
England
Tel: +44 (0)1404 841267
Serves lunch and dinner Monday to Sunday; bookings advised; children welcome; garden.
You could spend ages just examining the objects here – little flags, old baskets, a teetering ceramic clock, even a big antique wooden horse on wheels – and looking at the walls, which are covered in Beryl Cook prints, modern seascapes, and fish in every material under the sun. Wood, iron, pottery, papier mâché: you name it and a sea creature fashioned from it will swim into view.
Owner Kerstin Burge is Swedish, and the Drewe Arms feels more like a Scandinavian country restaurant than a British boozer, despite the snug bar and beer from the nearby Otter Brewery. The menu is as fish-focused as the décor. They offer Scandinavian classics such as grav lax, cured herring and Jansson’s temptation, as well as Mediterranean, French and British fish dishes such as seared salmon with samphire, sea bream with orange and chilli, or turbot with hollandaise.
The Swedish recipes come from Kerstin’s mother, who Kerstin describes as Sweden’s equivalent to Fanny Cradock. After 18 years, Kerstin no longer works in the kitchen, but The Drewe is still a family affair. Kerstin’s husband Nigel makes the puds – English dishes such as bread pudding – and their son Andrew cooks everything else. The food here is unfussy, but few places can turn out a perfectly cooked bit of Dover sole or mouth-puckering herring with a glass of ice-cold aquavit like they do at the Drewe Arms.