Delightful Georgian townhouse restaurant in the heart of Padstow serving excellent dishes with superb hospitality
There really wasn’t much fault I could find with this whole venue from start to finish. The lovely Georgian townhouse setting felt like entering someone’s wonderful home; the front of house greeting was utterly warm and genuine; the interior was stylish and cosy at the same time; the chef (Paul Ainsworth himself) was a delight to speak to afterwards and very good of him to spare his time during work; the food was utterly gorgeous, utterly reasonable in its price tag and I left with that rare, skip and a jump feeling as a result.
So that’s the headline, but to add a little bit more meat on to the bones, the set lunch menu I had was great value at £26 for a Michelin starred, 3 course meal and the roe and crispy pork skin and caramelised butter to dip in to at the beginning was essentially a series of canapes in themselves. The Jerusalem artichoke veloute with its quenelle of cream, wonderfully smoked haddock pieces and tiny sourdough croutons was frankly outstanding. Although the hake main appeared quite simple, the blood cake beneath with mushrooms gave the most delicate and lovely, almost aromatic flavour with the wonderful tamarind and the succulence of the fish was never in question. Dessert was chocolaty but not ridiculously stodgy as some can be with lovely flaky pastry for texture.
As always the food grade is based purely on the food but in general, this is one of the nicest places I have been to in a long while for ticking every box. What continues to amaze me is how some people dare not enter these places when you have every reason to do so. The homely nature of this venue works just as well for T-shirt lunches and more romantic or dressed up occasions in the evening and it is available at a reasonable price – what’s not to like?!
I can’t sing more highly of Mr Paul Ainsworth’s restaurant and to me, it exemplifies everything that is right about enjoying dining out. It was obvious to me that the staff were very happy in their surroundings and that completely rubbed off on me. Thank you to everyone there for such a lovely experience which is a staple in the mind for this year’s eats. Please simply keep doing what you’re doing(!).
Food Grade: 86%
My hobby-turned-passion began to evolve during my assignments to London where I was fortunate enough to be able to explore all the Michelin starred restaurants in my spare time and as a result, I gradually built up a catalogue of all these venues.
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