Nik Nak Noodles

Walk the length of Teignmouth’s Point car park and the last pitch you reach is not another café on the front. Nik Nak Noodles sits at the far end of Lower Point, a small Thai food bar facing the water rather than the town.

The Point is the spit between the River Teign and the open sea. From here the estuary, Back Beach and the boats are immediately in view. That is why people stop. Dishes are cooked to order and handed over for takeaway, or eaten at the outdoor seats when the weather holds.

There is no dining room and no table service. You collect a box and either sit by the unit or walk it onto the beach.

The kitchen works through Thai noodle and rice dishes, curries and stir-fries, with vegetarian and vegan plates in the mix. Pad Thai, massaman and cashew chicken come up often. Nothing sits under heat lamps. When the pitch is busy, the wait is simply the time it takes to cook the order.

This is a seasonal, weather-facing pitch rather than a high-street restaurant with fixed evening hours. Wet days push the trade toward takeaway. The main Point car park is right behind the unit, so it is a straightforward stop if you are already down this end of town for the beach, the lifeboat station or the walk toward Shaldon.

For visitors, the useful habit is to treat it as part of time on the Point, not as a place you dress for. Current opening notes go up on the Facebook page, which is how the business posts when the unit is trading.