Yum .. a trip to Cornwall! (Restaurants in Cornwall in general)

Member Name: Cattycat

Product:	Restaurants in Cornwall in general
Date:	21/08/01 (856 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fresh seafood, Pleasant suroundings

Disadvantages: Sometimes expensive

When I used to live in Cornwall with my parents, my only experience of 'eating out' was to the local Chinese restaurant, and on special occasions we might have gone to the Redruth Meadery! My family never ate out much - my dad would begrudge paying money when Tescos was cheaper and genuinely believed that the meat was always dodgy! I grew up believing that all foreign food involved cooking rats, cats and dogs!! Even to this day my dad has never had a Chinese!

Now I able to make my own mind up on food, and since moving away from Cornwall I have experienced a wealth of different foods and tastes. I have been weaned off my staple cornish diet of pasties, clotted cream and heavy cake!! These are all still very nice, but Cornwall has so much more to offer than the traditional fayre. Obviously, this opinion is based on my experiences so I am sure there are many more places that I haven't even tried.

I visit Cornwall now about 3-4 times a year to see friends and family, and always look forward to having a "fish dinner". Cornwall is a fantastic place for fish and seafood lovers as the food is incredibly fresh, often caught that very day. Of course there is the reknowned Rick Stein's Restaurant in Padstow for those who want to spend money on a dinner that is guaranteed to be of the highest quality, but for those of us who are strapped for cash St.Ives and Newquay offer a great range of seafood restaurants at reasonable prices. Hobblers is my favourite seafood restaurant in St.Ives (see my op. on this place for more details), but Huers, The Sloop Inn and The Lifeboat Inn all have varied menus and food of a high quality. For those who are desperately short of pennies, try these places at lunchtime where you get high quality food at a greatly reduced price compared to the evening prices. Newquay also has a few seafood restaurants - may favourite being The Bay View Hotel towards Fistral end of Newquay.

The medieval style "
;Meaderies" in Cornwall are worth visiting to taste the delightfully strong sweet Cornish Mead drink. It comes in a variety of flavours including cherry, strawberry, apricot, elderflower, blackberry and plain. Be warned - this stuff is VERY strong!! The food is basic, but if you are after quantity rather than quality you may be pleased. Also fussy kids will be pleased!The main courses include, for example, scampi, whole or half chicken, fish goujons, lasagne - all served with chips, salad or both. They are served on big wooden plates and you eat with your hands!! There are little bowls of water and lemon to rinse them afterwards. The puddings are delicious - death by chocolate, rigor mortis by rasperry, mississippi mud pie, luvable lush lemon pie are just a few on the menu. The food is expensive for what it is, but the atmosphere is good especially for large parties - the staff are all dressed in medieval costume! There are meaderies in Redruth, St.Agnes, Penzance and Newlyn.

There are many cornish pubs which do nice food - The Halzephron Inn at Gunwalloe, near Helston being my favourite (see my op. on this place for more details). I also like The Inn For All Seasons in Redruth for HUGE Sunday carveries (you must book as it is very popular), The Pandora at Restronguet near Falmouth, and The Countryman, Piece near Redruth. Most pubs in Cornwall serve decent grub!

I have tried various Indian restaurants in Cornwall, but thay do not match Nottingham's standards from my experience. I last tried The Rajpoot in St.Ives - the food was "OK", but bland in comparison to those outside Cornwall. The New World Chinese Restaurant in St.Ives is pretty good - again very popular so you need to book, but personally I would stick to seafood for a high quality meal.

I hope my opinions are of some use. Please leave comments for recommendations of places to try. I am always on the look out for good food!!

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