Jack's Restaurant at Hartham Park is named after Sir John Poynder Dickson Poynder, later Lord Islington and Governor of New Zealand, known as Jack.

His family owned the house, built in 1795 and with a history linked to the stone quarrying industry, around the turn of the 20th century.

As one might expect, the restaurant in such an elegant mansion, now a conference centre, has a classy air.

The welcome is warm and the décor is simple and restful and the furniture in the bar looks comfy, but it's not.

You tend to slide off the mushroom shaped bar stools and the deep leather sofas consume you.

We had looked at a menu on the Internet before booking, as we feared it would be a touch pricey. But we were pleasantly surprised.

However, it turned out we had picked up the lunch menu and the evening prices were significantly dearer.

We mentioned this to the staff and the website has since been amended so you can now see all the menus.

The quality, flavour and presentation of the food were almost faultless.

The presentation is nouvelle cuisine but the portions deceptively substantial.

My husband would have liked his hand cut chunky chips to have been crisper, but then they weren't billed as crisp. I was disappointed with my garlic and rosemary roast new potatoes which seemed a touch overcooked.

We both had Brixham crab, asparagus and leek salad with citrus and chive dressing for starters (£6.25), which was delicately flavoured and delicious.

Reg's main course of braised oxtail crepinette with horseradish mash and red wine (£15.95) was as tasty as it was unusual and my slow roast belly pork with parsnip puree and cider jus (£13.95) was very satisfying.

The bill including a bottle of house wine at £14 came to £62.80.

With the bill comes a discount collection card which after ten visits qualifies you for 20 per cent off an evening meal or Sunday lunch - come on Jack's, how about making that a free meal?



Jo Bayne