Reviews in Cornwall

If Stein’s Padstow is the food lovers mecca then St. Ives is unquestionably Cornwall’s cultural capital. Apart from its historical artists colony the town boasts two beautiful beaches at Porthmeor and Porthminster, the latter had the additional attraction of one of Britain’s best seaside cafes. Until recently only Porthminster could claim a café fit to match the location. The Cinderella Porthmeor, with its unique location directly below the famed Tate Gallery, now makes a bid for the tourist catching headlines. We never visit St. Ives without visiting The Tate. Britain and Europe have many superb art galleries but none can match the location of the St. Ives Tate. This former gas works, with its breathtaking views of the rolling surf, stands a scant roads from the golden sands. On a recent visit we were delighted to discover the Porthmeor Café. This little glazed, sun-filled conservatory wonder, was packed on the day we visited offering, as it does, a fascinating view of the ever-changing beach activity below as a continuous side show. We took the first window table to vacate and chose, slightly tongue in cheek, to try the Tapas menu. Our experience of this Spanish speciality in Britain has been dire to date – what a lovely surprise. Priced from £2.50 to £5.95 a portion we settled for chilli squid, spicy prawns, ham & cheese crocquetas and some organic bread with balsamic and olive oil dip and a couple of glasses of inexpensive white wine from the excellent little wine list. We finished with a couple of absolutely perfect espressos. The bill totalled £28.80 and represented the best value for money lunch we have had in many a long British year. St. Ives has become increasingly popular with the southern English townies and the whole of Cornwall is jumping at the moment, amongst the invading hordes there are clearly enough discerning diners to demand more than the usual dodgy British fodder and the town has taken up the challenge. Seasiding Brit style is a low expectation activity (the weather doesn’t help). St Ives looks determined to change all that with the twin stars of Porthmeor and Porthminster cafes leading the way to a new seaside experience. If it rains you can always nip into the Tate.

Fans of the very talented Michelin starred chef, Mr Paul Ripley, will be pleased to learn that after a battering in the stormy gastronomic waters of salty St Merryn he has beached, gently, in the prettiest of Cornish villages – St Kew. Here in a romantic 16th century inn of the same name he has set up his cooking pots to deliver joy and jubilation to all who wash up in this sleepy outpost of northern most Kernow. On a strong recommendation from one who knows we took a long Sunday morning taxi ride from Tintagel to see what was cooking. Dropped at the door we discovered the kind of idyllic pub that is fast disappearing from these shores. Here, tucked behind a waving crowd of colourful cosmos, in the most delightful of villages, is the best pub venue in south-west Britain. This is the English pub stripped of 20th century pretension – it’s like stepping back in time- and then you notice the pretty waitresses whipping in and out to serve on the guests in the garden opposite. The tiny pub restaurant is sparse, bordering on Spartan – stripped pine table tops and white-washed walls, nothing here to distract from the business in hand. This is as non-Michelin as you can get – this is a canapé free, foam free territory, stripped of all ponce and nonce to deliver the very simple, honest essence of good cooking. Service is relaxed to the point of insouciance. The brief menu, cockily confident, four starters, four mains and four puddings and the prices were too good to be true. One course £10.50, two courses £15 or three courses £19.50 – what can you deliver for that you might wonder. We chose creamed leeks, smoked haddock with pickled walnuts and chicken and duck liver terrine. Both dishes could have graced any Michelin restaurant table– simply delicious and oozing craftsmanship and precision. We enjoyed a large glass each of Sauvignon Blanc Montauberon. The headline acts were top side of Cornish beef and roast chicken. Top side of beef, usually to be avoided can be tough and tasteless – not at the St Kew Inn, here one large generous tranche of unctuous rose-tinted, melt-in-the-mouth beef came with heady-scented, home-made, creamy, aromatic horse radish sauce – simply sensational – crispy Yorkshire pudding and beautifully cooked fresh vegetables. Sounds ordinary – well it usually is – but here you are reminded what great cooks can do with great ingredients. This is cooking stripped to its essentials worthy of the best tables in the land. I opted for roast chicken, so this is what it should taste like, proper sage and onion stuffing and beautiful bread sauce. roast potatoes, buttered carrots. Basic and boring do I hear you say – not here. Arrogant simplicity, bold unadorned flavours aided and abetted by two delicious glasses of Rolling Shiraz that did exactly what it said on the tin, delivered fine cool elegance and peppered black fruit. This aside, if this wonderful establishment has a weakness it is the overall predictability of the wine list but for this kind of cooking I can forgive that and a lot, lot more… This is Paul Ripley at his best and if you can eat better Pub food than this in England, at prices to match, book me a table. I live in deepest, well-heeled Cheshire and we have nothing to match. We finished with a cheese board and a raspberry trifle. Heading back to Tintagel, purring like a pair of Cheshire cats, in a taxi which cost us more than lunch for two including wine, we unanimously agreed that this lunch in all its glorious simplicity will prove one of the highlights of 2010. Paul Ripley take a bow.

Having eaten here many times before, and having been proposed to here, we were very disappointed with the measly portion of the seafood medley to 'share', and the extortionate price that accompanied it. Half a piece of fish, half a bowl of chips - can't they stretch to 2 bowls or a piece of fish each?? Wanting to contact them by email, there is no opportunity to do so, unless you want to apply for a job. Just walking along the seafront, there are many good restaurants where you could get 4 decent sized meals for the same price! The food is delicious, but if you want any greenery on your plate, it's an additional cost - come on seafood cafe! Don't be tight!

First class food served here. Chose selection of tapas with our friends then shared the seafood paella and lamb tagine. Bursting with flavours, great service, good choice of wines and great atmosphere. Hard working staff and delicious food a credit to them. If we had gone at the beginning of our week in St. Ives, we would have returned (it was that good!!). Thank you.

I cannot speak highly enough of this gem of a restaurant. We were able to book a table during the Cornish food festival, and had a lovely evening. The waitress was very welcoming and nothing was too much trouble for her or the chef Nigel Tabb. An element of my dish was altered with no fuss at all due to my dislike of mushrooms! The waitress never tired in answered all our questions regarding matching wines to our food choices, and we were shown to our table when our first course was ready. The food was wonderful, our choices were the duck and venison and the deserts were luxurious with home made ice creams and sorbets. The meal was finished off with hand-made chocolates, a little bite of heaven! When you are next in Truro, in need of a fine dining experience, book a table at Tabbs.

We were on holiday and a local farmer recommended the Greenhouse Organic Restaurant. We were certainly not disappointed. Superb choice, wonderful food. The Monk fish curry was excellent.

This restaurant is the best for service, cuisine, choice and attention to detail. The standards never drop, there is always something new on the menu. The only problem is what to choose!

We had a really great time, great music, fun crowd, the staff were friendly and professional, we came back later in the week for sushi which was delicious, and the service was excellent. Strongly recommended

If the people at Michelin can't see that No.6 deserves a star or two they should stick to selling tyres. I have eaten there 4 times in the last 4 years and the food is consistently great and fabulous value for money. The best restaurant in Padstow by a mile.

After the best meal we had during are stay in cornwall ,we think that some sort of food award should be awarded to the Crows nest inn,as it is better than some rosette and michelin star places ,Many thanks to the chef and owner Tim and partner Abi

This is a class pub!

Make sure you're hungry as the food is fabulous and the portions are very generous and excellent value for money. Thank you Abi and Tim.

Staff are so very friendly and helpful Restaurant is clean and bright - right in the heart of Truro, Cornwall Food is plentiful, of excellent quality, so fresh and VERY reasonably priced Will be back there again!

One of the BEST restaurants in Cornwall. Never been disappointed and will always recommend. We had the early bird menu fr £14 and was blown away! The food was perfect and so was the hosting. Great place! ALWAYS worth a visit!

great atmosphere and fantastic staff

This was the first time my children had eaten proper fish and chips, as Becks was able to cater for their Gluten Free diet and provided a truly delicious meal not once but twice in the week we were holidaying close to St. Ives. I would recommend Becks fish and chips to anyone going to the area regardless of whether they needed the gluten free batter or not. I wish I lived closer to eat there more often.

The only down side was not discovering Trevaskis until the end of pour holiday. The portions are enormous and the food quality wonderful. The deserts are dangerously tasty. Service/staff professional and friendly. The prices very reasonable. I would highly recommend this restaurant. Just wish we had found it sooner as we didn't have time to look round the farm.

Please forward this to the Del Mar Restaurant: I visited Perranporth with my boyfriend last week and on our last night there went to the Del Mar restaurant. I can honestly say, I have never experienced such poor customer service in my life! When we arrived at the restaurant the staff were literally running around all over the place (having worked in a restaurant myself I know that successful service comes from having staff dedicated to particular areas) and rather than sit us somewhere the waiter just continually pointed at various tables and then walked off. We were then asked for drinks by another waiter and barely given the time to look at the menu before he quite abruptly asked for our order. When the starters arrived I was disappointed to find on the plate with my calamari a small dish of tartare sauce (an unusual accompaniment to calamari) which had a thick skinned-over layer on the top of it, and to make things worse this was the only thing on the plate with any taste. My boyfriends 'special' starter of sliced beef with ricotta and basil was just as tasteless. When the starter plates were taken away we had both finished our drinks, but were not asked if we would like another drink and were not asked if we enjoyed the food. For my main meal I had ordered seafood risotto and when the waiter brought me mushroom risotto I had to explain 4 times that it was not what I had ordered (and would not have done since I do not like mushrooms and therefore wasnt willing to eat it). The plates were snatched away from the table, there was no apology and we were not told when we would receive our main meals. The waiter who had taken our order stormed over to the table with a piece of paper in his hand and in an aggressive manner asked what I had ordered and when I stated that I had ordered seafood risotto he huffed and walked away. We had still not been asked if we would like another drink, received an apology for the mistake or been told when our food would arrive! When the food did arrive the waiter was about to walk away when I asked if we could order more drinks, which then sat on the bar opposite our table for over 10 minutes, with at least 4 different waiting staff walking past them, before we had to ask somebody for them. The main meals were no better than the starters, the seafood in the risotto was completely overcooked and bland. During the time we were there a lady at a nearby table explained to the waiter who had been extremely abrupt with us that her meat was cold, to which he repeatedly protested that the plate was hot! After making the waiter touch the meat to show it was cold he finally took it away, again with no apology. There was a table behind us who had received no further drinks or attention since they came in and having sat there for around 20 minutes with credit card in hand, I pointed the waitress over to their table when we asked for the bill as soon as the plates were taken. 10 minutes later the table behind us were still waiting for their bill at which point they made their way over to the bar themselves. When we received the bill I was appalled to see a 'cover charge' of £1.50. Surely it is within a restaurants remit to 'cover' their tables without the customer having to pay! I would never recommend this restaurant to anyone and will certainly never return myself, and it seems that as they thrive on tourist customers they think it is perfectly acceptable to serve bland food with dreadful service as they know they will have a constant stream of newcomers, and this is shameful. Having read other reviews on the internet it seems I am not the only person to have had such an awful experience.