The Jolly Roger Tea Room, Exeter

After a few relaxing days away in Barnstaple, North Devon, I'm back and ready to review some of the places I managed to eat out at.

I was very surprised to find that there were actually a lot more Coeliac-friendly places to eat out in Barnstaple than in my home town of  Leek, Staffordshire. (Come on Leek get a move on!) On further thought though, Barnstaple is a very touristy place so I suppose it does makes sense that there are a lot more gluten-free places to eat out there as there is probably more demand for them. But still, it frustrates me that there is hardly anywhere for me to eat out where I live in Leek, and further affield, in Stoke-on-Trent.

I was immediately drawn in to the place as there was a sign outside advertising their gluten-free choices on the menu so this seemed like an obvious place to lunch whilst visiting Exeter for the day.

The tearoom is a very quirky little place, located on the riverside in Exeter. You can eat outside or indoors but as the weather was bad we ate inside. The interior of the tearoom is decorated in pirate-themed paraphernalia and there are pirate ships mounted on to the wall all around the room so, plenty of things to look at whilst you are waiting for your food to arrive.

The Jolly Roger specialises in their loose-leaf tea (white tea, black tea, herbal tea and rooibos tea) and I was completely overwhelmed by the choice on their menu. I have only recently been converted to tea drinking (and fruit tea only) but after much deliberation I decided to go for a pot of strawberry black tea. It's also worth mentioning that they actually sell all their tea in a little shop next door too.

When the waitress came to take our order I asked her about the gluten-free options, as it was not clear from the menu what I could have. She explained that they had scones, crumpets, and gluten-free bread if I wanted a sandwiche. I decided to go for the date and banana scone which came with dairy-free margarine spread or jam/cream. I opted for the dairy free spread (it's nice that they have the dairy-free alternative too). When my scone arrived it was warm and fresh as everything is baked on site. I would have perhaps preferred a little stronger banana taste but the scone texture itself was lovely and light, definitely not as heavy as you find with some gluten-free baked goods. However, I really wished I'd ordered two! Everyone else in our party had ordered sandwiches which were huge and came on a plate with crisps and salad and by the time I had gobbled up my scone they had barely started on their plate of food and I had to sit and watch them eat the rest of theirs. Next time I think I will probably order something more substantial but again I opted for something simple in the hope that there would be no way I'd accidentally eat any gluten. I definitely think there is a trust issue there for me.

Overall, if you like tea you should definitely visit the Jolly Roger. The fact that there are gluten-free choices on the menu is also a bonus.