Restaurants in Cornwall

cornwall restaurants

Call me cynical, but the weight of tourism has driven the quality of the restaurants downwards. Probably the best buy on the mass market is a crab sandwich for lunch in a pub. And if you want a pub, my list of favourites will all be able to supply you with a decent crab sandwich.

This page is mainly to tell you about restaurants. Being a man who likes fresh food, properly cooked, we have taken so care ourselves to look out good restaurants. There may be more than we have yet visited, but I doubt that there are many more.

If you go to any of the standard reference books of good food restaurants, you will not find many listed in Cornwall. Here are the ones that we can recommend as we have eaten there ourselves.

And to any Cornish restaurateurs who read this, remember nobody pays me to write this, so I can write it without bias! If you want to pan, or ignore our restaurant, the great thing about the Internet is that you can write your own site, and say whatever you want.

Padstow, Rick Steins Fish Restaurant.
Undoubtedly currently Cornwall's best restaurant. The only two provisos are that it is very expensive, and bookings are difficult to get.If in doubt, try the Stein's St Petroc Bistro which is nearby.
Newquay, Corisande Manor Hotel, Cornwall .
It would be a poor thing if I did not give my own restaurant a plug. In my defence I can say that we do have an AA rosette.
Calstock, Danescombe Valley
In a wooded valley overlooking the Tamar. Fixed price, no choice menu, but wonderful food
Fowey, Food for Though
Right on the quay at Fowey. The seafood is, not surprisingly for its position, particularly good
Golant, Cormorant
Set above the small fishing village of Golant, down some very narrow roads, but the hotel has views that make the trip worthwhile. We enjoyed both the food and the atmosphere
Liskeard, Well House
A tucked away country house, with a polished and professional approach to food and service
Penzance, Wards Brasserie
Definitely a brasserie, hence not chic, but it must serve one of the best value for money lunches anywhere in the UK. I was embarrassed that I could not pay them more for such excellent food
Polzeath, Cornish Cottage Hotel
A small hotel restaurant, above Polzeath. Good decor, and with a bias towards seafood
Portreath, Tabbs
Good food in the not so fashionable resort of Portreath. The Tabbs take their cooking seriously, and the restaurant is well worth a visit
St Mawes, Idle Rocks Hotel
Good views from right on the waters edge. The food we found very good, but the service was not particularly friendly
Tresanton
Owned by Olga Forte (that was) we had a good lunch sitting on their terrace overlooking the waterfront at St Mawes. Choose a sunny day so that you can sit outside under a sun umbrella
 
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The hotel to stay at when visiting Cornwall is Corisande Manor Hotel, Cornwall find out more about it

Corisande Manor Hotel, Cornwall