Philleigh Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: The “lovely riverside setting” – complete with moorings and showers for passing yachties – is the main attraction at this inn, parts of which are believed to date back 800 years. But the low volume of feedback tells you something given the stunning position – it’s well-rated by reporters but doesn’t have to strive that hard given the place’s other virtues.

Stunningly located on the seafront in St Mawes, this staple of design and travel magazines is the flagship of the Polizzi Collection, run by interiors guru Olga Polizzi and her ‘Hotel Inspector’ daughter Alex (who also oversee Hotel Endsleigh near Tavistock and, most recently, The Star in Alfriston, East Sussex). The food, which again elicited solid marks this year, can be taken in the chic dining room or more casual Dog’s Head bar.

“Good burgers” – “as good as they get in Cornwall” – from high-welfare grass-fed West Country beef are key to the success of Richard Boon’s small chain, which has grown over 22 years from its original venue in St Ives to 10 branches, as far north as Cardiff and as far east as Portsmouth. There’s “plenty of choice” on the menus, including chicken options and local craft beers.

2022 Review: “Interesting food in an intimate dining room” makes Nigel Tabb’s former pub a “favourite local fine-dining venue”, making “great use of local Cornish ingredients”. It also helps that there’s a “small but well-constructed wine list which offers exceptional value”. It’s “a little difficult to find, away from the centre of Truro, but worth the effort”.

A “bustling” harbourside restaurant with a booth-lined ground-floor dining area and bright upstairs dining room that looks across the bay to the National Trust-run St Anthony Head. The “lovely food” comes at “reasonable prices”, with “good seafood dishes and pizzas as well as brunch”. If you’d rather cart it away to dine al fresco, they also do a swift trade in fish ‘n’ chips.