Stage
Exeter, Devon
Tucked into a small parade of eateries a short walk from Exeter city centre, Stage is the first restaurant enterprise from the Taco Boys, a collective that began with a taco van on the beach at Porthilly. They built the stage here themselves, and if it feels a little more like a dishevelled backstage (think bare boards, corrugated iron, framed monochrome beach scenes, and just one unisex rest-room) than the Gaiety Theatre, so be it. The pure rackety enthusiasm with which the place is run is what it's about, with a group of chefs at work behind the broad hatchway, the show out front overseen by irrepressible co-owner Robert Ashby (aka Robbie), who has learned his lines to voluble perfection. According to the apparent paradox of one excited reporter, 'the food is complex yet simple', a neat way of summarising the blast and clash of flavours that emerge from dishes that look as quickly knocked-up as an office lunch. It's a 'menu surprise' format – four courses at lunch, six at dinner – with optional drinks flights. At our summer lunch, a trio of tempura-battered runner beans came with a broken eggshell of runny sriracha-laced 'custard', before a half-plate arrived with three divine bits of charcuterie: Alsace sausage cured with marrow rum, dried ham and succulent lomo. These were served with bubbly crackers and a plate of sweet-potato purée with diced pickles and glops of whipped ricotta. For the main event, a mackerel fillet represented a gentle slackening of the pace, with diced kohlrabi, cucumber, tomatoes and basil, as well as a little splotch of pesto underneath, before a deliquescent 64% chocolate mousse came forth, pelted with diced red fruits. Others have reported beef-shin tagliatelle of miraculous intensity, given texture with fried onions; mussels with cauliflower foam; homemade 'nduja; 'some kind of savoury meringue'; exemplary lemon tart, and much else besides. The joy lies in the discovery and the constant surprises. These extend to the drinks, which might involve a pair of pét-nats (a Tuscan Sangiovese vinified white, and something pink from six miles away), a tumbler of apple kombucha, and a snifter of LBV port. The price at which it is all offered is, in these dark days, a minor miracle in itself.
Dining Information:
Counter seating, Dog friendly, Credit card required
31 Magdalen Road, Exeter, Devon EX2 4TA
01392 496700
