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It’s a Fine Dine in Padstein By Tracey Davies The Cornish coast is just littered with delicious little harbour towns. Higgledy piggledy streets are lined with candy-coloured cottages and filled with busty, rosy-cheeked wives, baking scones and clotting cream. But it is the lure of celebrity which draws the crowds to one Cornish port in particular, Padstow, home of TV chef and celebrated Cornishman, Rick Stein. Padstow, or Padstein as the local wags call it, is a pretty little harbour town 14 miles east of Newquay. Formally a fishing town, now thanks to venerable chef and TV star, Rick Stein, Padstow is one of Cornwall’s tourist hotspots. Mr Stein is solely responsible for the influx of tourism to this kooky little port over the past few years, he should be officially thanked with a sign saying ‘Welcome to Rick Stein’s Padstow’. With four restaurants, a deli, a patisserie and a take-away, not to mention a 33 bedroomed hotel AND a cookery school, I must admit it does feel like you can’t escape the great man himself. Never has a town been so commercialised by one individual, except maybe Shakespeare’s Stratford. Its mid-August, the height of our English summer and it seems like everyone and their dog is eating a Stein pasty and carrying a Stein carrier bag. The town itself is exactly what you would expect in this part of the world, cobbled lanes filled with bucket and spade emporiums, neon surf shacks and homely tea rooms. It’s all very picturesque albeit a touch stereotypical. But unlike all the other Cornish towns, Padstow has the X-factor. It has food, really great food, cooked in the kitchens of one of the UK’s finest chefs. And this is why they come. What ever budget you have you can sample some of Rick Stein’s cuisine. If you’re at the lean end of the spectrum, visit the Stein Fish & Chip shop and grab a grilled sea bass or battered monkfish and chips for less than a tenner, or even a Rick Stein chip buttie for £1.55. For a few more quid, visit the Rick Stein’s café in the cosy back streets of the town. Pop in for coffee and cake or have some lunch, starters start at around £6.50 and mains at £10. Or you could splash out a bit more and try St Petroc’s Bistro up the hill, where you can enjoy some of Stein’s fine locally-sourced dishes in ‘a modern and unpretentious setting’ (mind you if I’m paying celebrity chef prices, I feel I’m entitled to a pretentious setting as well as an endorsed ashtray to take home!). But if you want to really go for it and have that true fine dining experience there is only one place to eat, The Seafood Restaurant on the quayside, the first and most renowned of Rick’s empire but also the most popular (so book well in advance). With Stein as your neighbour, there is much competition on the cuisine stakes, so much so that the quality of food in Padstow is very high. To check out the competition we try the Custom House on the harbour wall for lunch. Inside is ok, a bit ‘Beefeater’ in décor, but the menu came as a very nice surprise and priced around the £9/10 for a main course, reasonable too. Crayfish risotto was comfort eating at its best. Ambrosial creamed rice was crammed with plump, candy-striped crayfish and coloured with a drizzle of fresh basil oil. The seafood platter was a surprising, fragrant stew of mussels, crayfish, king prawns and squid, served with warm bread and cold Cornish butter. Not quite your breaded scampi/wicker basket ensemble I was expecting, but delicious all the same. They even had a decent wine list and being right next door to The Seafood Restaurant, the harbour views were just as delightful. Although it may feel like it, eating is not the only pastime here in Padstow. In between meals it’s nice to trawl the streets for some desirable Cornish knick-knacks. Or perhaps take a moment to feel like Sophia Loren and tour the harbour in a glamorous polished teak power boat. To feel the wind in your hair as you whiz past the peer’s playground of Rock on the other side of the Camel Estuary, is a bargain at £4 for a 15 minute ride. The National Trust’s Bedruthan Steps is a dramatic series of volcanic rock stacks situated off the coast, just outside of Padstow. Also nearby is the saucily named Booby’s Bay, a beautiful beach which is well worth a visit if only for the postcard opportunity. In recent years England’s South West has proved to be a culinary desert no more. Jamie Oliver, who has just opened a branch of Fifteen in Watergate Bay, Newquay, is not the first to jump on the surfboard of opportunity in the glorious West Country. More and more exemplary chefs are ditching the capital to make the most of the fine organic produce from both the sea and the land. But Rick got there first and for that, he will be forever remembered. Factbox For details of Rick Stein’s restaurants including sample menu’s log on to Find accommodation through the Padstow Tourist Board Can’t face the drive? Fly to Newquay instead
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