Cairney's Bistro in Mid Devon

Jim Cairney I salute you ! What a fantastic ,relaxed , fun , eating experience. The food speaks for itself , absolutely excellent, delivered in an easy unpretentious manner. Jim, the chef /owner is full of anecdotes & quickly builds a wonderful rapport with his diners , ensuring that all have a fun time. He effortlessly switches from creating divine dishes in his kitchen, to entertaining front of house ….. a master indeed. Don't watch the clock , don’t expect airs & graces , do relax & enjoy his unique eating environment , then you will be assured a great dining experience.

Long delay between courses Starter and main were excellent stay away from the cheese board. ‘ crackers , An acquired taste .

Happened to be passing through Crediton and so pleased there was availability at this restaurant Food was delicious. Well priced food and drink. Warm welcome Perfect evening Only open Friday and Saturday evenings. You are able to bring your own wine for £1 corkage. We didn’t but the wine list had all the familiar favourites on it. Rioja, Merlot , Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Chateauneuf du Pape. Just missing a Malbec but I was happy with gin 😃 Pictures are of the duck rolls, pear and blue cheese salad, lamb - melt in your mouth , crème brûlée and apple crumble. Couldn’t recommend enough ! So enjoyable

Lovely and inexpensive three course meal here in late August 2023.

We had a wonderful meal great atmosphere and wonderful welcome. Thank you .

What a wonderful restaurant! Cairney’s Bistro is full of character, welcoming, and with a great ambience. The food is simply fantastic. We went for the first time yesterday, (and it won’t be the last!), and I enjoyed the Mediterranean platter, and my husband had the confit de canard spring rolls. Both delicious. For the main course we both had the lamb. My husband said it was the best lamb meal he’d had in his life. For dessert, my husband had the chocolate torte, and I had the trio of desserts as I couldn’t decide which dessert to have. Absolutely delicious. The three course set menu, (4 choices on each, including a vegetarian option), is remarkably good value at £25 per head. The restaurant is licensed but you can take your own wine if you like, (£1 corkage). All cash only. Cairney’s is a truly unique restaurant. Open on just Fridays and Saturdays, you really need to book. Jim Cairney is obviously an outstanding chef and he really ensures you have a wonderful evening at his remarkable restaurant.

Great for a quiet meet up with friends.

Booked this restaurant after seeing all the excellent reviews. What can one say apart from agreeing with them . From start to finish everything was excellent. The blue cheese and pear salad starter was excellent , as were the duck spring rolls . It was difficult to decide on a main course as all looked delightful, although vegetarian options were a non starter as far as we were concerned, and the desserts were superb . The chef made us most welcome, and everything was prepared in the restaurant kitchen . You can be sure that we will return to sample the other options on the menu. Thoroughly recommended.

Lovely restaurant and excellent service.

Great venue for a great meal with friends in a cosy 16th century building and excellent chef and staff. Highly recommended

Charactful bistro, warm & friendly welcome by owner/chef. Menu catered for most palets, I was in 2 minds to have nettle soup so had another delicious starter, when I mentioned this Jim went & gave me a sample which I'm now converted it was also delicious!! The mains was cooked to perfection & deserts were to die for. Being a small bistro we got chatting to Jim after our meal & found him very genorous & knowledgeable & we didn't want to leave, but let him get to bed!! Great evening was had by all of us & all for £25 for a 3 course meal. We'll be back

Lovely meal, fabulous friendly host and wonderful atmosphere. Will be back!

The food and the service was top notch. I'll definitely be going back again. I would 100% recommend the bistro to anyone.

Lovely evening, thanks to all the staff, highly recommended !

As locals we have eaten here a few times. Jim's welcome is always wonderful and the quality of food is excellent. Whether you are a small or large group this is a great place to dine out. We had one vegetarian with us and her meal was the same high standard. Unique atmosphere of high quality but relaxed and informal.

Food is always perfect - lovely options that change with the seasons - I think Jim sources stuff locally and you can tell he has perfectly prepared it all himself. The restaurant is a lovely relaxed environment with a welcoming host whom comes out to talk with his guests during breaks from cooking

Jim (ably assisted by stand in front of house Cheryl) turned an excellent meal into a great evening out, with his friendly, welcoming banter making all the guests in his small restaurant feel like his friends. Thanks Jim!

Very warm reception and service and really tasty food. Many thanks Jim!

Jim is a great chef. He offers a two course fixed price menu and an excellent wine selection.

We were staying in Crediton for a week and fancied a meal out for our final night. We had seen Cairney's when we arrived and thought we would give it a try. I am so happy we did. Jim welcomed us in and was very friendly for the whole evening, taking our order as well as cooking it. The food was delicious, and though the menu was small, it had plenty of variety to suit both of us. If you are in the area you should defiantly give it a try. I will certainly go again the next time we are down.

Great food, staff and atmosphere. I highly recommend.

As soon as you enter the premises you are greeted and made to feel welcome by the staff, it was a pleasure to meet Jim who also took our order. The menu is small and has plenty of variety to suit all and also means everything will be freshly prepared and cooked to order. My wife and i both had the Duck spring rolls to start and to be honest these rolls were as good as we have had in Asia the flavors were delicious. Main course i chose the Sea bass with Mediterranean vegetables and my wife had the Guinea fowl with risotto and again both dishes were delicious and flavorsome. I chose the trio of puddings and my wife had the Creme brulee for desert again delicious and could not fault. We took our own wine and paid 75 pence for corkage and was kindly provided with a bottler cooler, drinks can be purchased on the premises and table water is provided as well as bread. Note payment is cash only which we was kindly advised when making our reservation and the restaurant is only open on a Friday or Saturday. There is a set price for either 2 or 3 courses. The prices are mid range but the food is Fine dining. The staff were all friendly and very polite and the hardest thing i found was deciding what 3 courses to choose as all sounded delicious. The food is excellent value and i would highly recommend this restaurant. We have now booked for December and cannot wait many thanks Jim.

Jim kindly accepted a table for 8 tonight... when he would ordinarily be closed.... We wanted to celebrate a two family end of exams st QE so Jim kindly accommodated us and we had a fantastic meal . Many thanks Jim and his staff for a great meal We will be back

Excellent food at a reasonable price . Him is an excellent host.

We had often driven past and decided to give this place a try. So glad we did. The food and atmosphere were fabulous. The range of food was right up our street and everything had a little twist to make it more special. The Spring rolls were made with filo pastry were feather light. My husband had the chicken and risotto and waxed lyrical about it all evening. The sauce was particularly special and he forgot his manners using bread to mop everything up! I had the pork which was meltingly tender and once again the jus was special. The errant husband armed with bread saw to some of that too! I couldn't manage pud but hubby had the chocolate torte which sent him into raptures but nearly corpsed him too as it was so rich. A miniature creme brulee was also provided gratis just in case I could manage it. A taste confirmed it was of the same very high quality as the rest of the meal. Throughout Jim the proprietor and chef could not have been more welcoming and we learned a lot about the preparation of our meals as we were nosy and asked! It was a quiet night for him but we thoroughly enjoyed our evening and will be back.

Excellent food & Jim is the consummate host

Fantastic food in and lovely small bistro. Perfect for a special occasion! The desserts are to die for!

Jim is back and the quality of food and great dinning Esperance has not changed it is still brilliant , the food is freshly home cooked fully of flavour and the steaks are cooked to perfection even when cooked well done . The atmosphere is always good and you are always welcome , you are able to bring you own alcohol with you and it is great that Jim takes the time to come out of the kitchen to meet who he has cooked for and check you are happy with the meal a great little touch. Coming to carneys is always special and Jim is like a old friend that never fails to produce great quality food and a family friendly dinning experience.

What a lovely place to eat. Very friendly and also Jim was very funny!. Great food and service with a smile, will definitely visit here again and you can take your own wine if you wish for only a 50p corkage! They only take cash payment but still fantastic place would recommend you visit here.

Food was outstanding ... atmosphere spot on ... The owner Jim was brilliant company ... great value for money too ... will we return ... without doubt!

The staff were amazing; so dedicated, and the quality of the meals were the best I've had in a long time: top quality. Highly recommend it and will definitely be back

Arranged a late Xmas/New year get together with some friends and absolutely loved it! Great food, service and atmosphere. Will be recommending to friends and family and booking again soon. No bad words to say at all, great night!

We went here for their New Years Eve set meal and we had a very pleasant evening. The food was good, particularly liked my mozzarella starter. Husband had a brilliant pepper sauce with his steak. Jim came and chatted with us at the end of the evening, he is very passionate about his food and it was good to hear his thoughts. We shall return!

Thanks Jim for a brilliant evening out with The football guys. Food fantastic as always definitely be returning.

Jim Cairney ha vuelto al Bistro después de unos años, su primer gap prioridad es conseguir el menú que refleja lo que hace mejor. Buena cocina casera con que toque poco de individualidad.Mi esposa y yo siempre hemos disfrutado comiendo aquí y se seguirá haciendo.