The
Cornish Peninsular, food and fun?
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:
- The West Country Tourist Board,
60 St David's Hill, Exeter EX4
4SY
01392 76351
- Best Western UK Hotel Guide,
143 London Road, Kingston upon
Thames, Surrey KT2 6NA
Tel:0181 541 0050
|