2025 03Nympton News Autumn final with bleed - Flipbook - Page 35
the unKNown
diners
Tifon Restaurant, Barnstaple
The Tifon restaurant at 70 Boutport Street Barnstaple is a long way from
the dim lighting, nock wallpaper and tinkling
piped background music of the past. The building
was once one of the oldest pubs in town and is
grade 2 listed. It has a very modern feeling with
high ceilings, polished wood
noors and wooden tables,
very light and welcoming. The
name itself comes from the
stacked stainless steel pots used for delivery of homecooked lunches to ofoce workers - it derives from the
English word `tifong9, meaning to take a light meal and was adopted in India during the days of the British
Raj. The restaurant's bicycle logo refers back to the
dabbawalla9s (delivery worker) mode of transport.
We were quickly shown to our table and asked what we would like to
drink. As it was lunchtime and we were driving we went for non alcoholic
beer, a rose lemonade and a lime and soda.
The menu is compact but with choices to suit
everyone. Vegan, vegetarian and gluten free
are catered for.
We decided to start the meal with a poppadom
basket which consisted of very light, crispy
poppadoms served with 3 different sauces
(yoghurt, mango and cumin) for dipping and a
seasonal vegetable Bhaji basket which again came with a
yoghurt dipping sauce.
For the main course we chose from the pots menu. All the curries were
served in individual pots on a large platter accompanied by rice salad and
Continued overleaf
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