River Cottage Canteen

It's hard to think of a better place for Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's second River Cottage Canteen than Plymouth's Royal William Yard. A Grade I-listed, early-19th-century naval victualling depot, with a harbour on the Tamar estuary, the yard's vast granite buildings were designed to cater for fleets of Georgian sailing ships. It has fresh food in its genes, so it seems only right that this national monument – now a waterfront regeneration area – should become Plymouth's foodie central. Hugh FW's first urban Canteen and Deli has taken over an industrial space in the yard's former Brewhouse. As you'd expect, the emphasis is on fresh, seasonal produce and River Cottage cookbooks; the tables are made of recycled doors; iron-framed windows look across the water towards the coast of Cornwall; there's a buzzy theatre kitchen with a traditional wood-fired oven.

The launch menu (it will change regularly) offered beetroot and cumin soup (£5) served with bread baked on the premises, venison and pork open burger with sautéed pears (£8.50), and a creamy polenta served with a rich ragu of field mushrooms slow-cooked in red wine (£8.50). Daily specials include line-caught fish or rustic pizza (with roasted crown prince squash and Montgomery cheddar). In the daytime, try a River Cottage bacon sarnie (£4), or a Canteen breakfast (£8.50) served with meaty herb sausages made in Okehampton to a River Cottage recipe.
• The Brewhouse, Royal William Yard, 01752 252702, rivercottage.net/plymouth

Arthouse

Following a major refit, the veteran Plymouth Arts Centre reopened in September with a new look and a new dining experience. In place of the old cafe (big on pasta bake and lentil burgers), there is now a classy restaurant run by the team behind the Whitehouse Hotel in Chillington and the Beachhouse seafood cafe in Slapton Sands (both in South Devon). In a light, white, split-level dining room, overlooking one of the city's oldest streets, sit at a glossy white table and order from a simple menu of arty salads, savoury boards and tapas designed for sharing: chargrilled king prawn lollipops with sweet, sour, firey and crunchy dips (£8/£15); hot smoked salmon and rocket lemon salad (£7.50/£14); sticky slow-spit pineapple pork with chilli kick (£6.50/£12). For die-hard veggies, there's still a bean, cashew and rice burger served with sweet potato wedges (£10). Vegetables come from Riverford Organic at the nearby Kitley Estate; meat from the Arthouse team's own farm shop at Stokeley Barton. Until 8pm you can take advantage of a £12 cinema/meal deal: whole baked mackerel with couscous, perhaps, followed by the movie of the day.
• 38 Looe St, 01752 202616, plymouthartscentre.org/food.html, arthousedevon.com

Veggie Perrins

The catch-phrase – "I didn't get where I am today by eating meat" – sets the tone for this cheerful vegetarian Indian cafe run by ebullient Bill Meswania and family. Don't be put off by appearances (palm tree murals on loud orange walls, plasticky tables, views of Mayflower Street's multi-storey car park) because you're in for a treat – even dyed-in-the-wool carnivores reckon it's the best Indian in the city. The food is mainly Gujarati and though there are lots of familiar dishes on the menu (samosa, biriyani, aloo gobi), this is proper regional Indian cuisine – a cut above the usual brown-mess curry fare. Try bengan bhartha (smokey baked aubergine, £4.50), courgette masala (£3.50), or tuvar dal (split pigeon peas cooked in rich spices, £2.95). Thursday is South Indian night (a feast of Keralan dishes –a touch over budget at £11.95 per head but still great value).
• 97 Mayflower St, 01752 252888, veggieperrin.co.uk

Cap'n Jaspers

Not everyone's mug of tea, but this Barbican harbour takeaway is a Plymouth institution, founded in 1978 in a nearby shack and particularly loved by bikers, sailors, later-nighters and, er, pirates (there's a touch of the Black Pearl about the ship-shape mural at its entrance). Since the Cap'n passed away in 2001, Jaspers has been run by daughter Georgie, who keeps the faith with his skull and cross bones decor, the naughty-lady in a porthole (bobbing up and down on windscreen-wiper motors). The food? Well, loosen your belts, because it's not for the faint-hearted, nor the low-cholesterol dieter. Think burgers (quarter-pounder with mushrooms and bacon, £4.20), Cheddar Porkers (cheesy sausage in a roll, £2.70) or, the Cap-n-Jaspers classic, Half a Yard of Hot Dog (45.7cm of French stick stuffed with two hot dogs, £4.20). Jaspers also does a decent Barbican crab salad roll (£2.60).
• Whitehouse Pier, The Barbican, 01752 262444, capn-jaspers.co.uk

Bistro One

This jolly little off-centre restaurant is one of Plymouth's finest, thanks to its wine-loving owner, Stephen Barrett – who not only dedicates most of his menu to West Country produce but also has an attentive front-of-house style that shows how much he loves his job. It wouldn't ordinarily qualify as a budget option (dinner menu starters from £5-£9.50), but the daily "lunch for a fiver" puts it in the bargain bracket. The offer might include local bangers with mash and red-onion gravy, or a seasonal vegetable grill with vintage cheddar crumble. On a recent visit, we were offered a choice of peppery Italian-style meatballs with fresh tomato sauce and tagliatelle, a bistro salad with melon and parma ham, or a slightly more expensive special (lunch for £7.50 – pheasant with caper gravy and spiced basmati sauce). The portions aren't huge, but there's nothing cut-price about the ingredients or the flavours. Among the fresh leaves in my side salad (£2.90), I discovered chunks of roasted rhubarb, chick peas, a fist of flat-leaf parsley and a spritz of orange zest. All the organic herbs and vegetables come from Diggin' It (a local, charity-run community garden project). And Bistro One is big on fresh seafood, Yealm river oysters, hand-made breads, vegetarian dishes and gluten-free.
• Home-cured gravadlax with scrambled eggs £8.90, a full-on-scoff (the Bistro breakfast) £6.90, mini meze £11.50 for two, 68 Ebrington Street, 01752 313 315, bistro-one.co.uk

Plymouth City Market

At the poorer end of town the erstwhile Pannier Market was built circa 1957 as part of the city's post-war reconstruction – after the Luftwaffe flattened the old centre. A geometry of reinforced concrete, it's Grade-II listed, and one of a series of architectural landmarks that earns Plymouth the new title 20th Century City. It hosts a farmers' market every other Saturday, a fish market every day, a couple of decent takeaways (Al's Fasta Pasta serves hot pasta dishes with fresh sauces from £2.95) and, on a mezzanine floor above the stalls, a line of cheapo cafes – the sort that do fry-ups, school-dinner roasts and cake-and-custard puddings. In the Apollo Snack Bar, I had a generous plate of proper steak and kidney pie, roast pots and mixed veg in a lake of gravy. Not bad, and at £4.30 I could forgive the marrowfat peas.
• Bacon, egg, sausage and chips, £3.65, lunch specials from £4.30, Cornwall Street, plymouthcitymarket.co.uk

Zucca

Local restaurateur Edmond Davari made a bold, rather rash, investment when he opened, not one, but five restaurants in Sutton Harbour – Plymouth's 21st century office-apartment-marina development just around the corner from the Barbican harbour. Hampered by recession, beset by building delays, Sutton Harbour is not what he had hoped; and one of his restaurants has just closed, but Mr Davari is hanging on in there – and he deserves to survive. This is a class act: four themed eateries (pan-Asian, Spanish, Moroccan, Italian), all serving quality food made with fresh ingredients (Sutton Harbour's new fish market is within angling distance), and all on the waterfront. The most affordable is Zucca – a contemporary Italian-Mediterranean brasserie, all downlighters, hardwood floors and red upholstery; not exactly budget but stick to one main course (or two antipasti dishes), and you can eat well for under a tenner. Try calamari with garlic mayonnaise (£4.95), or on my visit there were Girasoli (pasta parcels cooked in pesto sauce with courgette, pine nuts and grilled chicken, £6.95), or a steak sandwich, with flash grilled sirloin in a ciabatta with sautéed mushroom and fries (£7.95). Check out the occasional special offers on week nights, such as buy one starter, get one free.
• Antipasti £4.95-8.95, mains from £8.95, Discovery Wharf, Sutton Harbour, 01752 224225, eatsuttonharbour.co.uk

Elvira's Cafe

It's opposite the harbour slipway where you catch the foot ferry from Stonehouse to Cremyll (gateway to the Mount Edgcumbe estate on the Cornish side of the Tamar estuary). The decor is urban beach cafe (clean blues, tongue and groove, aluminium tables), the atmosphere is seaside coffee bar, and the food is served from breakfast to lunchtime. Alongside the usual breakfast fare (full English, vegetarian, monster or farmhouse), they do a soup of the day (broccoli and stilton, perhaps, at £3.50) and a couple of homemade specials (smoked haddock and spring onion fish cakes or salt and pepper prawns with chilli mayo – both served with chips and salad at £4.50). Or you can order from the regular menu: hot baguettes, jacket potatoes and fresh fruit smoothies. Try a hot chocolate deluxe (with marshmallows and ice cream, £2.75) and homemade flapjacks (£1).
• Admiral's Hard, Stonehouse, 01752 661015

The B-Bar

In a narrow alley just above the Mayflower Steps (where the Pilgrim Fathers sailed for America in 1620), this popular hang-out is attached to the Barbican Theatre. Billed as a "Thai noodle and performance bar", it's a curious mix of hippy velvet drapes, fairy lights and cheap-cafe tables overlooking a jazz-bar stage. And the food – cooked to order by Thai chefs – is served in takeaway cardboard boxes (you can eat in or out). For £6.45, try classic pad thai, or kheaw waan spaghetti (stir-fried in Thai green curry sauce), pad woon sen (glass noodles with egg, oyster sauce, broccoli and carrots) or splash out for the special curry gaeng panang with coconut, baby corn and bamboo shoots (£6.95 chicken or £7.50 duck). Most of the dishes are MSG-free, and all are offered with chicken, beef or king prawns. With the curries (from £6.95) you also get roast duck breast, and you can ask to rev up or tone down the chilli factor. Portions are generous (though a little mean on the king prawns, I thought), but difficult to share unless you dip your chop sticks into each other's boxes (we asked for side plates). Stick around, on the right night, and you get to round off the evening with a bit of comedy, jazz, folk or free poetry.
• Castle Street, 01752 242021, b-bar.co.uk

Prete's Ice Cream Parlour

Must confess to a bit of nostalgia here; I used to hang out in Prete's during my art college days (way back in the last century) and it's hardly changed since. Same old snack-bar tables (like Formica-topped ironing boards), 1950s-style signs, the artex, the local banter, the knicker-bocker glories (£3), the same smell of frying bacon. Prete's has been in the same family forever it seems; they still make their own retro ice-cream (strawberry, chocolate, banana, coffee), still serve it whipped, in cornets or in old-fashioned wafers (add clotted cream for an extra 90p). And, as a point of interest, Prete's still houses one of the last remaining murals by celebrated Plymouth artist, the late Robert Lenkiewicz. This one, a 1970s send-up of the Last Supper, features the artist, cast as Jesus holding up a Mars bar and the current cafe owner, John Prete, as a much younger man.
• Hot bacon and egg roll, £1.75, strawberry sundae, £2.10, 15 Southside, The Barbican, 01752 668707

Lesley Gillilan stayed at Mills Bakery in Plymouth's Royal William Yard as a guest of Blue Chip Holidays (bluechipholidays.co.uk)

This artricle was updated on 11 May 2012