Hub Box, Exeter

It’s my birthday! Well it was, this weekend just passed, and how did I celebrate? With food of course!

I went home for the weekend to a very wet Exeter and delved into a brand new foody venture recommended to me by the lovely Chris from Eating Exeter. Hub Box is owned by a few guys who hail from Cornwall and as well as two Hubs past the Devon border there is now the Exeter location, the biggest of the three. The basic premise is American diner, but with a British design twist, think open red-brick walls painted with cartoon food murals, seating and tables made out of clap board and replica vintage signage fashioned from clap board remnants, stencils and back-lighting. The hub for which I assume the place is named is a large shipping container-turned kitchen in the centre of the dining area. It’s small in here, seating for about 25 at a push, and as a result there is no bookings system, just first come first served attitude, which rather befits the place. The menu too is small, but for good reason; Hub Box specialises in diner fare done big and done well, if you don’t leave with BBQ sauce slathered on your chops I can imagine the guys here would be disappointed.

We had the Big Kahoona burger, a double helping of juicy beef patty loaded with dribbling pulled pork and a cloud-like brioche bun. The Mack Daddy mackerel burger was equally impressive and came not coated with breadcrumbs (a relief for me) but with a huge dollop of tart horseradish may, sweet beets and a pickled cucumber. We shared three sides of skin-on fries, slaw and a genius dish called Burnt Beans, consisting of paprika-smoked refried beans rolling with strips of butter-soft slow-cooked pork ends – I could have eaten a whole meal of that side dish alone.

I can’t fault the food at this place, the meat was local and not an ounce of fat or sinew could be found in teeth. The sides were split between us in separate dishes, perfect for my Joey-doesn’t-share-food companion, the staff are also welcoming lovely chaps who clearly adore their jobs and care a lot about food and their venture. Next on the cards is a move to Bristol they tell me, thought they are wary of taking the Hub to the big smoke just yet. For me the independent ventures are always the best, and Exeter residents could all do well to avoid the chains and make a beeline for Hub Box instead.

Guest Post – The Rusty Bike, 67 Howell Road, Exeter

Cedar, Merton High Street

We had planned a romantic dinner, a long-awaited trip to acclaimed Bombay restaurant Dishoom. Joe (who was visiting for the weekend) and I had planned to brave the gale force winds and tumbling rain on Saturday night to feast on fine Indian fare. In the end a trip to our favourite Lebanese just down the road won over.

Food writers generally eschew reviews of their favourite local dining room for fear, I suppose, that it will no longer be just theirs, but everyone else’s as well. Me? I’ve never been much good at keeping secrets, so I’ll share mine with you.

Cedar on Merton High Street is the kind of place you go when you don’t want to go out. It’s cosy, there are cushions and the staff are on first name terms with their customers. So the décor may be a little Laurence of Arabia and there are palm trees in the middle of the room but the food and the service really is worth it.

We order smoky moutabel, a char-grilled aubergine dip served with fresh-baked Lebanese bread (a kind of thinner, lighter pitta cut into strips), lemony vine leaves, kallaj bread which came stuffed with halloumi and mint and cooked on the char-grill. Makanek sausages were also brought over, rolled lamb and pine kernel bites lolling in a juice of garlic and lemon. We shared a recurring favourite of farrouj mussahab, a spatchcock chicken char-grilled  in a marinade so simple and delicious it could be reason we return here time after time. On the menu the marinade description is disappointingly basic,  but perhaps like a food writer, the chefs at Cedar prefer to keep some things sacred.