Cornwall, Fish & Seafood Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: This “hidden gem just outside Truro” from husband-and-wife team Ben & Sam Harmer features “impressive” cooking, “exceptional service” and a “splendid outdoor eating area” for warmer weather. Ben’s classical training took in the kitchens of The Savoy and Le Gavroche – hence “the soufflé is impressive”.

2023 Review: “A gorgeous spot to eat tasty food while watching the sea”, this former Victorian lifeboat station has been transformed under Sam Sixton, who launched his local dining empire at the age of 17, back in 1988 (his son Noah is now part of the team). The “casual” menu runs from “wonderful fresh fish and seafood” to “tasty pizzas with both traditional and unusual toppings”.

“Continues to impress after 25 years or more since our first visit” – the Stein family’s harbourside HQ continues to deliver the goods for the very many people who report on it in our annual diners’ poll. Opened in 1975, it is nowadays run primarily by Rick’s ex-wife Jill and her sons, and achieves the hard task of living up to the world fame of TV chef Rick (who nowadays spends a good chunk of his year living down under in Aus’). If you were to quibble, you would say the food is “lovely but not brilliant” or that it’s “not cheap by any means”, but to an impressive extent serious disappointments are completely absent in feedback this year: “you get the excellent seafood that you would expect with a good mix mix of interesting dishes alongside more plainly cooked options that allow you to fully appreciate the quality of the fish”. “Well worth the trip to Cornwall: the freshest seafood served with care and love!”

This casual venue – one of five outlets the TV chef and his family run in their adopted home town – is “not your typical café”: “prices are reasonable and the dishes spot-on”. The all-day menu runs from breakfast staples through to a lively mix of bistro and Asian dishes alongside seafood and steak sarnies.

2023 Review: Associated with London foodie hits Primeur and Westerns Laundry, this three-year-old favourite, which occupies a former bank, continues to inspire high ratings for its food. It’s a seasonal operation, which closes each year between late Autumn and mid Spring.

Rich & Katie Toogood’s Cornish offshoot – a tiny spot near the harbour – generates much less feedback than their Highbury Corner original in London, but the ratings for its small plates of local seafood remain high. They also run a seasonal pop-up called Barnaby’s on similar lines, at Trevibban Mill Vineyard a short drive from Padstow.

2022 Review: The “lovely riverside setting” – complete with moorings and showers for passing yachties – is the main attraction at this inn, parts of which are believed to date back 800 years. But the low volume of feedback tells you something given the stunning position – it’s well-rated by reporters but doesn’t have to strive that hard given the place’s other virtues.

Olga Polizzi’s “wonderful hotel” – a whitewashed former yacht club – is the stuff of interior mag dreams, with its ultra-chic rooms and unbeatable seafront location on the edge of picturesque St. Mawes; it’s not all about show, though, with credit again this year for the “delicious food” (even if, according to one regular, “service is not what it once was”). Visitors can eat in the main dining room, with views of St Anthony’s Lighthouse, or more informal Dog’s Head bar.

“So small… how do they produce such great food from that tiny kitchen? Incredible!” – Nathan Outlaw’s “tiny, so quite cosy” No 2. venue sits on the quayside of this picturesque fishing village and is “just the best place” on account of food that’s “beautifully prepared and full of flavour”: “a wonderful combination of tapas-style eating and Michelin-starred cooking”.

2023 Review: “A quirky hotel and restaurant serving excellent local fish” – this whitewashed, seventeenth-century hotel in a coastal bay is “always outstanding”. Chef James Lean (appointed in 2015) oversees a menu that’s naturally fish-focused. “Friendly service and great Cornish ales” complete the picture.

“Against a backdrop of wild sea views we enjoyed small plate after small plate of stunning seafood, each one different” – Nathan Outlaw’s harbourside HQ inspired a dazzling level of satisfaction this year, with all of the numerous reports we received on it acclaiming it as an “outstanding” performer and very arguably “the best seafood and fish restaurant in the UK”. “You know everything is fresh and sourced locally and this shines through with everything they serve” in dish after “fabulously creative” dish, “beautifully presented on magnificent ceramics”. Its “impeccable but super-friendly Cornish service tops off” the “exceptional” standards.

“People come for the glorious view” over the Helford estuary at this “lovely pub”, in a three-century-old building – accessible either by car, in which case you risk battling for a space, or “on the foot ferry from the other side of the Helford river”; despite the “beautiful setting”, it’s no one-trick pony, and the “above-average pub food” includes “great local fresh fish but also a superb and original take on chicken schnitzel and vegetarian choices full of originality and flavour”.

“Amazing ramen” is just one highlight of the “lovely menu” at chef Jude Kereama’s second venue, sister to nearby Kota. There’s plenty of seafood, along with dishes inspired by Jude’s New Zealand and Asian heritage. “Fab views over the harbour just across the road” are another reason to visit.

There’s no quibbling with the “view to die for” at this beachside café, and they also turn out some “delicious food” including “great fish ’n’ chips”; while it’s not quite what it was, having unsuccessfully essayed various formats in recent times, and is “now closed for breakfast (they do takeaway) which is the best time of day to visit”, “its location continues to be perfect”.

2022 Review: “Great views from the beachside terrace and an interesting fishy menu” have made this tapas-style venture “a definite must-go”, especially when visiting the nearby Tate. (As of 2019, they also run seasonal spin-off West Beach Bakery, on the western side of Porthmeor Beach, and serving up “great pizzas”, deli-style lunches and “even better views” than the original… and it's “less busy” too).

“Exquisite cooking, with fish straight from the Atlantic” again wins very high ratings for Bruce Rennie’s very personal 14-seater, where service is by the man himself. Seafood is the speciality here and there are lots of Japanese accents used in the preparation of the six-course tasting menu. No walk-ins, as the fish is purchased in the morning for the number of reservations.

Ben Tunnicliffe’s centuries-old pub with a “lovely” terrace serves a “menu that’s almost exclusively fish and can change twice a day” depending on the catch – “unsurprising given its location next to Newlyn harbour”. “Nothing beats a great plate of fish that was landed only a few hundred yards away… if you close your eyes and picture a fisherman’s inn in an old Cornish port, the Tolcarne is what you’re seeing”.

2022 Review: A family-run café whose “terraced garden is in a gorgeous location overlooking the Gannel Estuary and Crantock Beach in Newquay” (you approach via a footbridge at low tide, or a paid ferry at other times). It's “the best place for Cornish crab and lobster sourced the same day from their own fishing boat” and then “eaten on-site at picnic-style tables (best served with a side of chips and cold beer!)”.

“A must if you’re in Falmouth” – this “hipsterish bar” from Penryn’s Verdant craft brewery “serves very hoppy cloudy beers and some seriously good seafood, in all its forms from raw to frittered”. “Knowledgeable staff” are on hand to help you pair tapas-size plates with the brews on offer. “The cheese fritters are also stunning, light but flavoursome and perfect with that edgy beer!”