Circa

*Circa is closing on 4th July and will reopen in Exeter in September* Originally berthed on the Sandridge Barton wine estate, Circa has moved into south Devon's most self-consciously boho market town, swapping a stone milking parlour for a bare-boarded bistro ambience. A couple of seats have been squeezed in at a window ledge, the better to afford ringside views of Totnes disporting itself. The cooking style has survived the removals, and matches foraged and preserved ingredients with farm produce, working to a low-waste ethic in a small-plates format. There's also a five-stage taster and a top-value three-course lunchtime deal (Thu-Sat). An appetising plate of pickles is the best way in, a mix of seasonal items done in unabashed lacto-ferment (a sliver of fennel, little 'halfpennies' of beetroot and so on) interspersed with tiny dots of fabulous black garlic ketchup. Combinations are often unexpected but revelatory – a thinly pared raw scallop paired with elderflower granita and dressed in fig-leaf oil, for example. Hay makes its way into preparations throughout the menu, perhaps for roasting duck with rhubarb. Meat is fairly scarce – just venison carpaccio with shiitake mushrooms when we visited – but when the fish and vegetable dishes are so good, who cares? A serving of grilled ray wing with miso-cured cucumber and a sauce combining cucumber, lacto-fermented tomato juices and kefir was a thoroughly pleasurable experience, as were the crispy potatoes that undergo three cooking stages to achieve their mahogany-hued, sea-salted splendour. Elsewhere, barbecued brassicas with pine nuts seemed a little too charred for their own good. Hay-baked cream set with vermouth-cured strawberries forms the base of a ziggurat of demerara meringue, with more of that elderflower granita plopped on, which must be carefully deconstructed before the first mouthful; alternatively, try chocolate crémeux with koji. The owners have assembled a short list of enterprising low-intervention wines with good varietal range (the Roussette de Savoie is a florally aromatic stunner), but also check out the foraged cocktails and iced-cold schooners.