We Care about Food...

With varying levels of skills and personalities, the Ilsington kitchen team work together to create culinary dishes full of passion.

They make the most of the fantastic Devon produce right on the doorstep, sourced from lush pastures through to the shores of South Devon, crossing borders to the surrounding South West counties such as Somerset, Cornwall and Dorset.

The team make their own jams and the clotted cream is locally sourced - just add a scone and you will have the perfect Devonshire cream tea! What’s more The Ilsington cure their own fish and meats to create truly tempting salami and brasaola which also feature in the Blue Tiger’s popular sharing platters. Plus, the team are currently working on building their very own smoke house!

There are a number of wild delights growing throughout the grounds of The Ilsington Hotel which are used in the Ilsington kitchen, including a range of herbs such as rosemary and mint, plus sweet wild strawberries...

Meet the Head Chef...

The Ilsington Hotel’s Head Chef, Mike O’Donnell, views being a chef as more than just a job; he sees it as a way of life and something he was born to do. He has been interested in cooking ever since a young age where he was the only boy to take up home economics at school. He entered a few cooking competitions and realised he actually had a talent for cooking and decided to pursue his passion for food to the next level.

He studied catering at Plymouth College for two years before working in various restaurants around the city, including a small bistro and a Chinese restaurant. He landed himself the position as Chef de Partie at the Two Bridges Hotel in Princetown where he worked his way through the ranks until he became Head Chef. After 7 years at Two Bridges, Mike moved to the Ilsington as Head Chef in 1998 and he has been there ever since! In his first year at The Ilsington he achieved an AA rosette and in 2004 he received a second AA rosette for the restaurant and has maintained them ever since.