from an interview published in By The Dart magazine (October 2017)
Dartmouth’s South Embankment has long been an important part of the culinary experience of this town. But Mitch Tonks is not the only restaurateur that’s built a significant presence here. Jamie & Sarah Bushell first appeared in Dartmouth opening the popular Riverside Restaurant in 2014 and in April this year acquired the Sails Restaurant (located above Dartmouth Yacht Club and just 30 yards from the Riverside) and re-launched it as the Upper Deck Restaurant.
Since 2014, they’ve learned a lot about what works best and what residents and visitors look for when dining out. Consequently some subtle changes have been made to how the two restaurants are run – as you’d expect, they work closely in partnership with each other but, for both of them, their aim is to serve quality food, moderately priced and in comfortable and intimate settings – not forgetting that both restaurants enjoy stunning views over the harbour!
How would you describe your restaurants?
"They’re both bistro style offering a mid range priced menu. We focus on serving traditional British food with modern twists using quality seasonal and local produce as much as possible. We get our meat from Aune Valley and fish from Moby Nicks. We work closely with our wine suppliers to bring a good quality of wines that complement our menu.
Bushell’s Riverside is the more intimate restaurant – since we opened, it’s been very popular but because we only have limited seating (just 26 covers), we often find ourselves having to turn away anything from 20-30 or more customers nightly during the busy months. We have many regular customers, some of whom are residents but also many visitors who keep coming back to us.
"When the opportunity, therefore, came to buy the old Sails restaurant, we jumped at the chance as we can now redirect those disappointed customers to the Upper Deck. If we can, we’ll even walk them the short distance to our other restaurant!
We now offer broadly the same menu in both restaurants with dishes also priced similarly. Typically, our main course dishes are priced from £14.50 to £25. With the restaurants almost side by side, we are able to keep a strict control on quality and its much easier to manage them efficiently especially during the summer.
The Upper Deck can cater for larger settings or groups (up to 40 covers) and is, therefore, more family friendly e.g. it now has a children’s menu.
Are the restaurants open at the same time?
"We have tried to ensure we can cater for our customers 7 days a week and all year round, albeit Riverside will be closed briefly in January for refurbishment.
Riverside is, therefore, open from Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner as well as being open at 10am for coffee and light bites. The Upper Deck meanwhile is open for dinner from Thursday to Monday from 6pm although we are very flexible – by arrangement, we will open for lunch for large bookings e.g. we have a special party of 40 booked in November."
Who’s in the team?
"Jamie is Head Chef – we’re currently in the process of recruiting a new chef to help him. Jamie has been a chef since he left school – originally from East Sussex. The joke is that he’s yet to pick up any local accent as he’s never out of the kitchen! Sarah is very busy managing the administration of the restaurants as well as looking after the couple’s young child with another baby on the way!
"Upper Deck’s front of house manager is Tom Shanley who also moved from Sussex to join Jamie and Sarah, having been originally trained by Jamie when in Sussex. Cassie Richmond who started waiting on tables aged 16 yrs when Riverside first opened has now just been promoted to house manager of the Riverside. Cassie’s brother also works for us so there’s a real family feel to our team.
"As hospitality staff especially chefs are increasingly difficult to find, Jamie and Sarah are keen to work closely with South Devon College and local schools to promote apprentice schemes to help train and attract the necessary staff.
Are you open for Christmas?
"Yes, Jamie, Sarah and Tom will be on hand on Christmas Day to offer a special Christmas set menu in the Upper Deck for £65 pp (see the website for details).
Sample menus are on the website - www.bushells.org.uk - and include such dishes as;
Starters – scallops; crayfish & avocado cocktail; ham hock terrine, chargrilled halloumi
Main dishes - calves liver; rump of lamb; ribeye steak; slow roasted pork belly; grilled lemon sole; seabass; pea, asparagus and mint risotto
Desserts – chocolate fondant; pannacotta; sticky toffee pudding; lemon & stem ginger cheesecake; apple & berry crumble
