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“Rated 94 per cent sustainable by the Sustainable Restaurant Association and twice winner of the SRA’s Sustainable Restaurant of the Year award, this restaurant perched high above a picturesque harbour in Devon is very… sustainable. I went there to have a look at it finally this summer and found it was delicious as well. Great deep-fried salt and pepper squid and fries, battered and fried River Teign sand eels, Lyme Bay mackerel with sweet chilli glaze, South Devon crab, lovely falafel wraps… al served in compostable packaging with cutlery made of bioplastic. One day, all restaurants will be made this way. Either that, or we’ll all be dead.” – Giles Coren, The Times October 2018

2018 has been our year to focus on promoting plant based packaging…. the aim was to reduce and remove plastics and polystyrene takeaway packaging from our village…

We called a meeting with all the businesses and set about explaining the benefits of plant based packaging versus conventional. The idea was to set up a co operative with our suppliers London Bio so that it would make the process of ordering simple and also cost effective.

With all the businesses purchasing it meant the supplier could offer preferred rate due to quantity. Prices are very competitive compared to conventional packaging used in the past by many of the village cafes and take ways. It also meant that items potentially could be delivered to one location on a weekly basis, reducing miles and the village carbon foot print…

This is something we have been exploring with London Bio in recent months.

Many of the village businesses have followed our lead and are now purchasing compostable plant based packaging.

At cafe-ODE we also offer complimentary tea or coffee for every plastic bin re filled with beach rubbish….this is very popular with families at the weekends..

We linked this waste initiative with the children of year 4 at Shaldon Primary School who created a sculpture called Our Delicate Earth (ODE) made with re cycled milk cartoons, lids and waste found on Ness Cove beach.. within the structure it included a bug hotel, the children also made fishes from recycled milk cartoons and old material which were swaying around on bamboo sticks, pebbles were painted with message and information about plastic pollution for our customers to read. These pebbles have been displayed in our Living boundary wall.

1st October 2018

“ODE – true food set up their own purchasing co-op to tackle the plastic problem. With the help of a local primary school they smashed a beach clean, and now use a waste-product-sculpture, built by the kids, to educate the public on plastic pollution.”

31st May 2018

“How to have a zero waste kitchen: tips from Jamie Oliver, Tom Kerridge, Skye Gyngell and more”

“The best way to reduce household waste is putting less on your plate. You can always go back for more. As for leftovers, dried fruit skins blitzed into a powder add an intense orange or lemon zest to cakes.” – Tim Bouget

ODE dining was awarded Sustainable Restaurant of the Year in 2012, followed by cafe ODE in 2013 and again cafe ODE in 2014, winning for the second year in a row. Winning an unprecedented three years in a row!

VIDEO: cafe ODE being awarded Sustainable Restaurant of the Year at the 2014 Sustainable Restaurant Association awards on Sky News.

We are delighted to announce our entries in the 2018 Waitrose Good Food Guide for ODE&Co, Coast View and ODE dining, Fore Street. 

ODE dining scored 6/10 for “Exemplary cooking skills, innovative ideas, impeccable ingredients and an element of excitement.” 

Check us out in the March 2013 edition of ‘Coast Magazine’

ODE-true food was awarded the Sustainable Business Award at the Cateys awards in 2014.

“ODE True Food demonstrated to the judges a real understanding of the true concepts of sustainability; these principles clearly underpin its business model and are a shining example of what can be achieved.”

Check out the BBC Spotlight report about Cafe ODE back in 2012

“If the era of the nasty, shouty celebrity chef is drawing to a close (and I think it is), replaced by a new fashion for sweetness and calm in the kitchen, then ODE is bang on trend.”

“Barely a stone’s throw from the South Devon coast at Ness Cove is a cafe that’s become the gold standard for sustainable catering.”

“cafe Ode is renowned for its sustainable approach to using quality, ethical and seasonal ingredients in a family friendly environment.”