Rock Bottom in Teignmouth, a rock music bar, serving up Smash burgers and Japanese styled dishes, is a bit of a curiosity and unexpected find here in this small seaside town.

It almost feels out of place as it is more the sort of spot that I see pop up in the big cities where there is a big street food scene and demand not here in and amongst the cafes, chippies and charity shops of Teignmouth town centre

Reading their Instagram profile it seems that they have been inspired by Camden Street Food which makes a lot of sense when you look around the place and read the street food inspired menu

Whatever the surprise it was a bonus to find them here and I was happy enough to learn of its existence and delighted to be eating here with family and friends.

It is just the sort of food I am loving at the moment and bang on trend

GYOZA TO START

I do love a dumpling so I was keen to try the ones at Rock Bottom even if they are called Gyoza here 😜!

The official description from the menu was “Chicken & Vegetable Gyoza with a Chili Oil, Peanut & Butternut Squash Sauce” which was perhaps not my usual choice of flavours but hey I was happy enough to give it a go.

OK so first impressions were that I was a little sad to see the deep fried casings, I had been shown a picture earlier where they had looked more steamed like with perhaps just a crispy bottom more like potsticker style.

I found the sweet Peanut & Butternut Squash Sauce to be rather moreish, silky smooth and creamy.

I personally didn’t think that it really went well with the gyoza but I reckon would be a nice sauce drizzled on top of a bit of crispy breaded pork or chicken.

The filling was tasty, well seasoned, but the crunchy coating saddened me and the chilli oil dressing was so hot that it overpowered everything after a couple of bites.

Where was my cold beer to cool my mouth? That was all I was thinking about after eating these, obviously not an excuse to chug my pint of Camden Ale at all! 😍

BUTTERMILK FRIED CHICKEN

The second starter on the table was the “Buttermilk Fried Chicken topped with Korean Hot Honey, Filthy Sauce and Toasted Sesame” now this looked a lot more appealing!

Unfortunately for me it wasn’t my dish and I wasn’t getting a look in or chance of a taste as the other side of the table were set on devouring this pile of crisp crunchy chicken all by themselves.

I wish we had ordered this as well

SMASH BURGER – THE BOB MARLEY JAM-IN WITH FRIES

I live for burgers so it is no surprise that I am having one here at Rock Bottom!

I picked out the Bob Marley Jam-in which was a ‘Double Smashed Burger with Maple Bacon Jam, Swiss Cheese, and Mustard Mayonnaise’

My first thoughts were that the burger wasn’t that big but I was still salivating eager to tuck in and get some smashed meat action.

I was momentarily distracted by the Rock Bottom logo seared into the surface of my top bun, a little bit of fun, and perhaps some smoke and mirrors for the punter wanting a massive burger

The burgers don’t come with fries so I ordered a pot of the Fries which came with a Togarashi seasoning and of course Katsu Curry sauce, it seems that most things come with that curry sauce here 🧐🤪

I wasn’t that keen on the fries as I couldn’t discern any of the seasoning, it seemed that it had all fallen through into the bottom of the pot that was a shame and I wish I had noticed before I had eaten them all as I could have shaken the pot to mix it up again

In the end the main means of enlivening these crispy potato snacks was to dip them into the curry sauce which sort of works unless you already had a bowl with your starter then you now have two bowls of sauce.

Personally I would have preferred some ketchup or garlic mayo and yes I am a heathen.

BOB MARLEY JAM-IN BURGER

Taking a closer look you can see two meaty smash burgers and a whole load of molten swiss cheese oozing out between the layers.

I was very happy to see that there was cheese topping on both burgers as that is the correct way to put joy into ones heart.

One other thing I will say is that this is a burger that you can pick up with one hand and eat properly without anything falling out or the need to use a knife and fork.

That my friends is something that should not be underestimated and is the mark of a well designed and constructed burger, a skill that is often overlooked by many over enthusiastic burgermeisters

BURGER CLOSE UP

To sum it all up I have to say that this is a very eatable burger full of juicy meat, soft melty cheese and some well made toppings of the maple bacon jam and mustard mayonnaise.

Flavour wise they were ‘perhaps’ a little restrained and I could have done with a bit more oomph and punchiness to my taste buds.

I am torn though even as I type that because sometimes a sauce or condiment can mess up the whole balance of the burger at least here I could really taste the meat and that was a good thing!

As I alluded up top I thought that the burger was not that big, but it was quite deceptive as there is a lot of meat and cheese so it was a fairly decent bite.

I could probably have eaten two of them to really fill me up but perhaps that is just me admitting to be a glutton.

You have read this far though to squeeze out that confession 🤣

KATSU CURRY

The last main dish that we had was the Katsu Curry described on the menu as ‘Fried Chicken, Katsu Curry sauce, coconut rice, pink onion, toasted coconut‘ and to be fair that was exactly what it was.

First inspection was that it looked like the same fried chicken that the others had as a starter and the brown sauce that we have seen so much of today was essentially the same.

Was it any good? well it was pleasant enough but if you were a Katsu aficionado you may have been grumbling a bit but if you like fried chicken with a bit of thick curry sauce you would be happy enough.

If this was my dish and I came back wanting the same thing then I would have ordered the starter and a side of the coconut jasmine rice and saved myself £1.50😜 and then not worried about the sprinkling of chopped salad and chilli 🤣 then probably have a burger as well

All in all did I like Rock Bottom?

Well it was a mixed bag with some good stuff.

Personally I had the very tasty smash burger so I was very happy with my lot even if I did want a bigger one.

I wasn’t keen on my gyoza but the other starter of fried chicken looked good, so perhaps you have to pick a little wiser.

If I was back this way again I would definitely come back but just for the burgers 🤔

If they were doing takeaway I would be a bit cheeky and get and extra burger probably the Little Rocker from the kids menu which is a ‘single smashed burger with swiss cheese and ketchup’ for £6.

I think that should be on the menu for the grown ups too as sometimes a simple classic cheeseburger is all that this man wants ❤😍

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Rock Bottom is located at 10 Regent Street in Teignmouth TQ14 8SJ fairly near the seafront and also the bus stop if you are heading into town on public transport.

They have a website with all the menus and you can of course check them out on their socials Facebook and Instagram too to see some food pictures and event news

A word of caution make sure you check when they are open, when we visited it was only open from Thursday to Sunday, even though the website just show it being closed on Mondays