Michelin Plaque 
AA 1 Rosette Head Chef Dan Kavanagh — The Galley Restaurant Topsham, Devon
Twenty years in kitchens — from Michelin dining rooms to neighbourhood restaurants across Devon and Manchester — and an AA Rosette of his own. Back at The Galley, leading the kitchen.
Dan Kavanagh has been working in kitchens for twenty years, from Michelin restaurants to independent burger shacks and everything in between. He started at the Rodean in Kenton under Matthew Tilt, taking his NVQ Levels 2 and 3 and winning South West Young Chef of the Year.
From there he moved through Devon kitchens — the Royal Clarence Hotel and the Old Inn at Drewsteignton — before relocating to Manchester for four years at the Chorlton Green Brasserie and The Laundrette. He came back to Devon to work with Ian Webber and Jason Mead at the Five Bells.
Dan followed Jason to The Galley, achieving some great things here before taking the kitchen at a community pub in East Budleigh, where he won his first AA Rosette. Now he's back at The Galley as Head Chef — writing a menu built around what comes off the boats at Brixham and Newlyn, finished with produce from suppliers within an hour of the door. A Devon seafood kitchen in the literal sense.
How does Head Chef Dan Kavanagh cook seafood?
Every element on the plate should speak for itself. The fish is the hero. The sauce exists to serve it. The sides are chosen because they make the fish better — not because they round out the composition for its own sake.
Twenty years across kitchens — Michelin dining rooms at one end, neighbourhood restaurants at the other — taught Dan that technique is only worth showing when it makes the fish taste better. Nothing on the plate is there to prove a point.
Because the menu is written around whatever the day-boats land, the cooking has to stay light on its feet: the best fish off the morning's order decides the dish, not the other way round. What that asks for is confidence and restraint — and knowing when to leave something well alone.
"The head chef's favourite — pan-fried sea bream with puttanesca and crispy capers — epitomises this philosophy. Deceptively simple: the bream fresh and unadorned, yet complemented by a complex, bold sauce that elevates without overshadowing the fish."DRIFT Journal — January 2026
How does The Galley source its fish?
Dan writes the menu each morning after a conversation with Brixham Harbour and Newlyn Fish Market. When a fish can't be sourced — a run of storms keeping the day-boats in — the mains section is rewritten before service.
That flexibility is what separates a restaurant cooking seasonally from one that simply prints the word "seasonal" on a menu. Read how the catch gets from boat to plate.
What Brixham and Newlyn landed this morning is what's on the plate tonight.
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41 Fore Street — The Galley for 36 years Where is The Galley restaurant in Topsham?
The restaurant trades from a Grade II-listed building on Topsham's oldest commercial street. The view from the upstairs dining room is over the Exe estuary, with the Haldon Hills in the distance — the same stretch of water the building was first built to look out onto.
We seat forty across two rooms. Read about the suppliers we work with, our approach to the wine list, or see the awards the kitchen holds.
Who runs The Galley restaurant?
The Galley is run by the Mitchell family. Patrick is manager and co-owner today — following in his father Nigel's footsteps. Nigel bought the restaurant in 2013, after a career that took him from a Covent Garden pub to Padstow's Seafood Restaurant under Rick and Jill Stein. Patrick started here washing dishes on weekend evenings while at school. Now he runs it. We also host private dining for groups. A short look at Topsham's restaurant scene from the inside.
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Sit with us a while.
Bookings open ninety days out. There's always a seat at the bar for walk-ins. Tuesday to Saturday, lunch and dinner.