Food & Drink

Exeter’s own independent chocolate company is now busy preparing for Christmas but with some rather exciting news.

Choccie Bar will shortly be tending to the Christmas rush from the company’s new shop in Gandy Street, Exeter.

Cuddled into the corner of the cobbled street (made famous by JK Rowling as the blueprint for Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter Books) the former Gandy Street Kitchen closed its doors for the last time on Saturday and will re-open very shortly as the newly minted Choccie Bar in time for late night shopping.

To oil the works for faithful shoppers...

People planning a Christmas party are being urged to look before they book ahead of this year’s festivities.

Exeter City Council working in partnership with the Food Standards Agency, is urging people to check the restaurant, pub or cafe’s food hygiene ratings before making a booking.

“It’s the things you can’t see – like germs spread by bad hygiene practices - that people need to consider. There’s one easy way to set your mind at rest – check the food hygiene rating,” said Cllr Keith Owen, Lead Councillor for Environment, Health and Wellbeing.

“It’s really easy to...

Exeter’s original burger restaurant, urbanburger, has today launched the ‘What’s your beef?’ competition inviting people to create the ultimate burger and win a place on the menu. Recipes will be judged by a panel of food experts with the winning burger being served up as part of urbanburger’s menu. The winner will also receive £250 worth of vouchers to spend at urbanburger and urban underground. Launched by Garth and Melissa Pearse in September 2012, urbanburger has become famed for its array of gourmet burgers made with 100% Devon beef. Last month it was named by GQ magazine as one of...

What do you call an ale that’s been brewed for giraffes? That’s the challenge being set by two major local names.

Paignton Zoo and Bays Brewery have teamed up to launch a brand new ale to help raise money for conservation. And they’re inviting people to enter an online competition to give it a name.

Pete Salmon of Bays Brewery explained: “We produced a special ale for The Great Gorillas Project in 2013 and a rhino ale this summer. They were both successful, so now we’re doing another – and this time the theme is giraffes.”

Kat Sobey of Paignton Zoo added: “You can...