Clifford Mould goes West and finds a few changes for the better!

Remembering a recent trip to the Cherbourg Peninsular, it occurred to me as we drove down to Newlyn (nearly at Land's End) that the Cornish Peninsular has many things in common: there's always the feeling of being close to the sea with its harvest of seafood, there's a similarity of climate, with plenty of cattle and game, there's cider, and you somehow feel out on a limb. And there's also St Michael's Mount, a smaller but not unimpressive version of Mont-St-Michel.

On a previous visit we stopped off on the way down at a lovely country hotel just on the border of Devon and Cornwall. We had a superb meal there, so do please take a look at our separate review of the Arundell Arms at Lifton - the review's a bit old, but the place has not changed, and readers continue to report most favourably.

St Michael's Mount is uncannily like its French Counterpart, connected to the mainland by a flooding causeway, crowned by a castle and chapel, and with a pretty harbour nestling at its base. Unlike its grander French cousin there are no restaurants but no Tourist Tat either. The Cornish monument is overseen by Britain's National Trust, an institution like the Monarchy and the BBC which brooks no rubbish within its domains.

Refreshment and lodging for the Tourist is provided in nearby Marazion, overlooking Mount's Bay, where there are plenty of Pubs, tea rooms and fish and chip shops for those who relish the still present reminders of pre-war England. But there is a new breed of host at work in the far West. These are enthusiasts, operating on a limited budget, caring about food, but realistic enough to understand that many British visitors are still a bit reluctant about anything that smacks remotely of haute cuisine which is crudely translated as "foreign muck"!

These new establishments are simple, often concentrating on traditional English dishes, but cooking them well and using the wonderfully rich array of local produce that requires sensitivity rather than elaboration.

At the top of Marazion Village is the Mount Haven Hotel and Restaurant. You might easily miss this as it's a bit out of the way. When you do get there, don't be put off by the cramped little lobby, or the rococo carpet in the bar. The decor of the dining room is anachronistically medieval, and those who know what dralon is will know the sort of thing I mean.
But for £19.50 you can have a three course dinner cooked by people who know a thing or two about food. The menu changes daily, depending very much on what's freshly available. There's always fish, locally raised meat, an international dish and something for the growing army of veggies.

For starters, I liked the sound of wild mushroom and mixed herb ragout served in a filo basket (foreign muck, whooppe!), or smoked salmon cornets stuffed with prawns on a bed of lettuce with homemade lemon mayonnaise. The amazingly creative fruit juice always turns up on seaside hotel menus. At Mount Haven it's probably there as a punishment for the haters of decent food and I hope they drown in it.

Main courses include things like Plain grilled lemon sole, freshly landed at Newlyn, Chicken breast poached in white wine, cream and tarragon or Beef Stroganoff.

I wasn't able to eat there, but I did visit the kitchen, and was immensely encouraged to see the assistant chef making lovely handmade petits fours to serve with coffee. That's the sort of enthusiastic attention to detail I'm talking about. The Wine List was fairly extensive and includes some good New World selections.

Mount Haven Hotel, Turnpike Road, Marazion, Cornwall, TR17 0DQ
Tel: 01736 710249 fax 01736 711658
mounthaven.co.uk

Closer to the centre of Marazion is the Corner House, neatly converted from a shop to an unfussy Victorian style dining room by Amanda Barratt, another enthusiast, but who has since passed the business on to Richard and Heather Tucker. Prices are actually lower than 3 years ago, which is probably a bad sign. Emphasis on local fish: Starters from £2.75 for soup, to £5.25 for crab gratiné. Mains £7.25 for fish and cockle pie, Pork fillet in red wine sauce £8.50, duck breast £9.25. Our local Surrey pub charges more than that! Well patronised by locals, it certainly looked promising and worth a try.

The Corner House, Fore Street, Marazion. Tel 01736 711348
B&B with private plumbing
NB: Open 6.30pm Fridays and Saturdays only in the winter season.

In the centre of the village is the Cutty Sark, billed as the nearest hotel to St Michael's Mount. Efforts are being made to make this just that bit more special than the average run of small seaside hotels. When we first went in 1997, for £10.95 you could have a good simple dinner of crevettes in garlic butter, or homemade soup, followed by skate wings, or steak and mushroom pie. This time I thought the menu looked a lot more like frozen>reheated. Prawns in filo are a typical Brake Bros standby. If only they'd use local caught fish exclusively! The puddings are still all home made, the raspberry and chocolate pot looked very yummy! When we looked in again in January 2001, they were just about to do a major refurbishment

The Cutty Sark Hotel, Marazion, tel: 01736 710334
B&B with plumbing £22 to £30 depending on season.

The last town of importance before Land's End is Penzance of Pirates fame. If you need a pleasant but not elaborate lunch, or just a place to top up your batteries you should visit The Chocolate House in Chapel Street. I was greeted by the most urbane old gentleman in full eighteenth century costume. The tiny shop is beautifully decorated with baroque curlicues and cherubs in the manner of a Georgian chocolate house. They sell hand made chocolates and other cottage crafted gift items, as well as providing light meals of home made soups, hand-raised pies and Cornish pasties, fresh crab and other shell fish salads. The cakes and all the goodies are made by various members of the family. There is a pretty balcony at the back with a view over the harbour. All very charming and run by people who are working hard to provide quality and value for money. They deserve support!

When I called back in January 2001 they were closed for a refurbishment, ready for the new season.

The Chocolate House, 44 Chapel Street, Penzance. Tel 01736 368243

Just across the street is Richmond's, from which wafted the most gloriously garlicky smell at four o'clock in the afternoon, when the tea trade was at its briskest! The home made cakes looked really superb, strudels as good as any I've seen in Vienna, pecan pies to kill for, chocolate truffle cake that makes you go weak at the knees. I wandered in to get information on menus for the evening, but the proprietor was too busy (pressing garlic?) to see me, and the doughty waitress hadn't even the grace to offer me a cup of tea. Would one be right in surmising that the service might lack that generosity of spirit that is so often the hallmark of a truly enjoyable dining experience? Anyway, I was told that they make their own pasta, bread, jams, chutney as well as all the cakes and pastries, so perhaps there's little energy left for chatting up uninvited journalists! The dinner menu looked interesting and it changes fairly regularly, and there's a daily blackboard menu.

Richmond's, Chapel Street, Penzance.

The fishing port of Newlyn is struggling to survive against the factory ships of the dastardly Spaniards, the arch-enemy of the West Country ever since 1588 when Sir Francis Drake repulsed Philip of Spain's great Armada. The Smuggler's Restaurant overlooking the Harbour does a brisk trade in fish dishes, because fish are landed here daily, and the fish exchange has grown in size and importance since the European Union. (In spite of all the anti EU hype, I saw two Spanish refrigerator trucks down on the dock!) There's a new chef-patron, and we had a pleasant meal there in Jan 2001, with excellent fish soup, moules, grilled brill and monkfish, all locally landed. Their trifle was a bit off-beat, but this did not detract from the fun.
The Smugglers is unpretentious but comfortable, and most important, trying hard. £25 a head for the three of us including two bottles of wine.

The Smugglers, 12 Fore Street, Newlyn, Penzance, TR18 5JN
Tel: 01736 331501

The more famous gastro-destinations are on the North coast around Padstow, or down Falmouth way: