The Old Forge - Carte

The Watermill

➤ The Watermill Old Coach Road, St Ives I-TR27 6LQ, United Kingdom

Carte • Pub • Pizza • British • Vegetarian

---

"We visited this restaurant yesterday after having to wait an hour at another pub because the chef never showed up! At this place, they welcomed us right away and told us there would be a 30-minute wait, but we didn’t have to wait at all! The food was fresh and delicious, and it stayed hot throughout our meal. The waitstaff were young, but they were very well-trained and exceptionally polite. We would definitely like to return; a huge round of applause for the entire team that worked together to deliver such perfect dishes. Thank you!"

Porthminster Beach Café

➤ Porthminster Beach, TR26 2EB, St. Ives, United Kingdom

Carte • Cafés • Kebab • Sushi • Seafood

---

"Even in chilly and blustery late March, St Ives is a popular place. While the sun was out, the shops and bars on the waterfront were seemingly never short of customers, and the chocolate-box narrow streets and whitewashed cottages behind teemed with day trippers and young families. Heaven knows how difficult it is to get a reservation in the Porthminster Beach Café in season, for even now, from the moment they open for lunch until late into the evening, it seems every table is taken. And beautiful though lunch in the daytime would have been, above the stunning aquamarine waters of Porthminster Bay, we had somehow, by sheer fluke, snagged a table for early evening on Tuesday.From the outside, the building is a pretty beach house, one of quite a few along the same stretch of coastline. Inside, however, the décor is standard contemporary restaurant, spot-lighting, welcoming beach wood floors and comfortable furniture. The welcome from the staff, too, was superb they'd even laid on a birthday card having learned from the hotel that it was one of our party's birthday. An easy thing to do, perhaps, but these little details make all the difference. We began with a local oyster each (they were from Fowey, just up the coast), dressed simply with lemon juice. Lovely in fact they disappeared so quickly I didn't manage to get a photo taken in time, but here they are after we'd finished with them:My starter was some local St Ives beef, served with a kind of coleslaw and a parmesan crisp. The beef was excellent a great, deep flavour and seasoned very well, a perfect example of intelligent local sourcing. And I always think anything crispy goes well with beef I'm a sucker for strong texture contrasts. The only slightly off note were a row of weird dried olives which tasted of cardboard and didn't really add much. But other than that, a great start.Things continued to improve with the arrival of bream fillets (my second portion in two days) and razor clams. Quite aside from being a stunningly presented plate of food, each element of the dish was cooked to a very high standard. The bream was delicately filleted and cooked expertly, the vanilla froth matched the fish very well, and a row of shredded razor clam meat added another texture layer. Top stuff. Similar noises were made around the table, the organic salmon and langoustines being another highlight.For dessert, I was served a pretty selection of five different sweets a crème brûlée, a dab of homemade fig jam, a raspberry shortbread, a superb fruit sorbet and a playful shot of fruit jelly topped with popping candy. A riot of texture contrasts and displaying a range of cooking techniques, only the questionable seasonality of raspberries detracted from what was otherwise an entertaining and delicious way to end the meal.So, as it turned out, Porthminster Beach Café is wildly popular for a very good reason it's a damn fine restaurant. Not only does it have the advantage of probably the best location for any restaurant I've visited outside the Costa Brava, but the food is intelligent and superbly executed and considering they could probably charge double these prices and still have them queuing in the street, very reasonably priced indeed. Residents of St. Ives will no doubt be completely unsurprised by this glowing review, but for anyone who has yet to visit this devastatingly pretty part of the world, Porthminster Beach Café should be top of your list."

The Bean Inn

➤ Coast Rd, Carbis Bay, TR26 2RT, St. Ives, United Kingdom

Carte • Pizza • Vegan • Cheese • British

---

"Stayed near The Bean Inn and went for dinner on a saturday evening. Anything on the menu can be made vegan easily and the waitress completely understood about being vegan so we were in safe hands. We had 3 courses, I had a salad to start that they swapped vegan cheese for which was lush, then a veg stew with dumplings and the best bit, a cornish teacake bread and butter pudding with custard, amazing! Very reasonably priced, relaxed atmos and great service, would definitely come again."

Angarrack Inn

➤ 12 Steamers Hill, Cornwall,Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom

Carte • Pub • Pizza • Steak • British

---

"We were traveling down from Sussex to Lizard point, we had been held up by every roadwork possible and were in need of good food and a nice setting. That is exactly what we found at Angarrack Inn! Below the imposing arches of a huge via duct, nestled in a quaint setting sits this delightful Inn. From the minute we arrived we were greeted by one of the staff , who found us a table and made us feel so welcomed. There was a wait, as they were busy always a good sign) which was no problem, it gave us time to relax and peruse the menu. The choice was good and yet not too huge so it was easier to decide; there were vegan and vegetarian options that were very good and they also were happy to swap things around because of our intolerances! And the prices were fair. I had the vegan steak and chips with salad and my mum had the vegetarian curry. The portions were generous and the food hand cooked and delicious! Then to top it all we ordered the vegan gf cheesecake which was scrumptious! If you are in need of a high quality meal, with the old Inn ambiance, friendly staff and excellent food, with vegan and vegetarian options , then this is the place for you! We will definitely return."

Birdies Bistro

➤ Griggs Quay, TR27 6JG, Cornwall,Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom

Carte • Bistro • Coffee • British • Breakfast

---

"Bit disappointed. Even before we got in a sign said Be nice or leave I was a little taken back by this.... a good start. Seamed a little unorganised when waiting to be seated. Was shown seats in middle, wife asked to be seated at the window, waitress was reluctant but had to oblige as it was vacant. Young daughter didn 't want anything on menu so I asked older waitress if they could do her pancakes the responce was no! Thats the menu there 's ways of declining customers requests and being abrupt isn 't good for customer relations. We ordered, apparently the waffles came covered already with sugar (they should leave it for the customer to add plus the maple! Was too sweet for her. My full English was greasy, cheap sausages that were tasteless, thin slices of hogs, luke warm tomatoes. Location was nice and divining area. We ate, paid n left. The above areas need addressing to take the business forward, couple next to us weren 't over impressed with their breakfast. We had to ask for condiments and cutlery as well plus milk for my coffee. Outside there was an extensive list of rules to read on a board... felt like a prison canteen (not that I 've experienced prison dinning! This is feedback not to damage business. We felt that the clients they were aiming at weren 't family, bit frosty to my girls and kids menu wasn 't very varied. We probably won 't visit again which is a shame as location and facility is present."