Cornwall cafés take top five places in Times top 19 seaside eating spot list
The Times newspaper has chosen its 19 best places to eat beside the sea – with the top five all in Cornwall.
The paper's deputy editor Hannah Evans chose her very own gourmet hotspots for a feature in the paper.
'Discovering a lovely beach café presents a very middle-class dilemma. On the one hand, you hope it becomes a neighbourhood gem so that you can tell your friends about the 'gorgeous little place on the beach' you've found," she wrote.
'On the other, once you've found a good beach hut — great views, local catch, reasonable prices, crowd-free, right on the water — you want to keep it hush-hush. The worst thing that could happen would be for it to become a scene — the quality dips and the tables disappear.'
The list was prompted by the destruction in a fire of the Beach House in Devon, a popular café on the seaside between Hope Cove and Thurlestone.
The café had local connection as it was run by Tamara Costin and William Speed who are also owners of the Beach House at Swanpool and the Harbourhouse in Flushing.
The top five of the list with Hannah's assessment of each is:
1. The Cove Café, Hayle, Cornwall
The beautiful golden sandy beach at Hayle Towans in St Ives Bay (Image: Getty Images)
The sunsets seen from this Cornish beach hut perched among the cliffs at Riviere Towans, near Carbis Bay, give Malibu a run for its money. In the kitchen is the former professional rugby player turned chef Rupert Cooper, who also owns Philleigh Way Cookery School and cooks up a menu of seafood and barbecue classics, which can be eaten on the beach at the bottom of the rocky steps leading from the café's door. Don't miss Cooper's beach wine-tasting sessions and steak nights
Open daily, covecafehayle.com
Simon Stallard's beach barbecues are worth the wait
2. Hidden Hut, Porthcurnick Beach, Cornwall
Hidden Hut (Image: Howard W/Tripadvisor) Once upon a time, the chef Simon Stallard's small beach shack was a little gem that only insiders visited. Now it's become a destination that foodies queue for, and Stallard a local celebrity. Still, it's very much worth the wait to get a table so you can sample the daily-changing dishes cooked over Stallard's 50ft barbecue. If you manage to go to one of his famous feast nights hosted on long tables on the beach, you are in for a night to remember.
Open daily, hiddenhut.co.uk
3. Sams on the Beach, Polkerris, Cornwall
What was once an old RNLI lifeboat station built almost 170 years ago has been restored and converted into the most popular of the Sams locations in Cornwall by the small chain's owners, Sam and Emma. Order the seafood pizza, topped with prawns, mussels, anchovies and scallops (when available), and cooked in a custom-made wood-fired oven. Or try the signature bouillabaisse made with seafood caught fresh that day, some of it from Sam's own boat, and which you can eat while sipping a cocktail and watching the sun set over the sea.
Open daily, samscornwall.co.uk
4. Porthminster Beach Café, St Ives, Cornwall
Porthminster Beach Cafe, St Ives is at number 4 You can't go to St Ives and not visit this café that has even received approval from Michelin. Housed in a cheery 1930s beach house with a superb location looking out over the golden sand of Porthminster Beach, a spot at one of the tables here on a fine day takes some beating. Locally sourced seafood is naturally the star of the menu, which has a mix of influences; choices have included Indonesian fish curry and moules marinière.
Open daily, porthminstercafe.co.uk
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5. Fat Apples Café, Porthallow, Cornwall
The best way to arrive at this charming family-run café is by boat: Fat Apples is a 15-minute walk up the hill from Porthallow cove — though there is also a car park if you'd prefer to drive.
The café is tiny — just 30 covers inside — and only open for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, but there are picnic tables outside for fair-weather meals. Don't miss Jacci's lunchtime salads, but do book ahead.
Wednesday to Sunday and bank holidays, fatapplescafe.uk
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