Helford Passage Restaurant Guide

“The food is always tasty and hearty” at this picture-book, 300-year-old inn, named for its situation, just yards from the Helford estuary and its foot ferry across the water. Perhaps “it’s a shame the specials menu doesn’t vary a bit more”, but you do receive “good pub food done well with a formula that seems to work” and it’s “a safe pair of hands for a great meal in a beautiful setting”.

2023 Review: This “glorious spot” by the sea, close to the SW coastal path and with a front-conservatory to take advantage of sea views, was taken over by high-profile chef Michael Caines of Lympstone Manor in 2020. Quell hopes of any culinary fireworks, though – reports here didn’t hit the heights this year, with the experience too often “let down by chaotic service and pedestrian food”.

“A cheap and cheerful well run local fish restaurant with a provincial bistro vibe and a simple wine list (red or white… or slightly more expensive white!)”. It’s a simple one-room spot with blackboard menu and candlelight at night and a “rapidly changing menu to reflect that week’s catch”. It’s rated on limited feedback that says it’s “worth a visit and entirely unpretentious”.

On the site that was formerly included as Hooked on the Rocks (RIP), this cliff-top property is now in the same ownership as The Harbour House in Flushing and opened in its new guise in February 2025. No feedback as yet in our annual diners’ poll, but its all-day offer of local seafood, cocktails, drinks and takeaway snacks looks promising, and it’s a short walk from the well-known Gyllyngvase (‘Gylly’) Beach. It seats 100 covers inside, with a further 200 covers outside on the terrace.

2022 Review: This large harbourside chippy is well-liked locally owing to fish “so fresh it makes me want to go back again and again”. (For the fish-averse they also have a line in burgers, pies and sausages).

A “fantastic small restaurant” – Falmouth’s first recipient of a Michelin Green Star, which it won in 2023, two years after opening, for its “hyper-local, impeccably sourced food” (the furthest farm they work with being just an hour and a half away). Dishes are “expertly cooked by chef-owner Hylton Espey”, who runs the operation with wife Petronella, and “the menu takes you on a journey across Cornwall and beyond”, whether you go for the five-course, £60 per person ‘Discovery’ lunch or seven-course, £85 per person ‘Journey’ supper.

“Fantastic beer bar with great small plates” (“the constantly changing specials bump the food up a notch”) from Penryn-based craft brewery Verdant. “Walk-in only”, its “buzzy and generally crowded” – which might explain why Verdant added the nearby Seaview Inn to their roster last summer.

2022 Review: A “fabulous location with stunning views of the Fal Estuary” remains the main draw to this smart quayside brasserie, though its “good, varied menu” is “well presented and precisely cooked” too. Getting a window seat is something of a challenge – as is getting a spot for breakfast and brunch, so think of booking ahead.