Posts Tagged ‘Cornwall’

Cornish food part 2

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

As I wrote in the previous post, I have been to some very nice vegetarian places in Cornwall, and they came as a surprise because I wasn’t expecting any veggie restaurant/cafe.

I already wrote about the Bean Inn, it is worth a trip if you are in the area.

In St Ives centre there is a very nice cafe called Terra Viva (next door to the library); the same owners run an organic hairdresser next door.

The cafè is small but very bright, it’s entirely vegetarian and there are plenty of vegan options, they serve salads, sandwiches, main dishes, soups and ice cream.

We had a coffee with some vegan ice cream, made out of cashew nuts (from Tofutti). The address is Gabriel Street, Royal Square and their telephone is 01736794447.

Up the road from the cafe there is a farmer’s market once a week (I think it’s on Thursday, but I’m not entirely sure) which is quite small but worth a visit, there are also the people from the Bean Inn selling veggie food. We bought homemade jams, local strawberries (they were absolutely great), chocolate, cornish cheese (yummy!) and some indian snacks.

Our best dinner was in a small restaurant on the harbour, a little hidden away (it’s on a first floor and you can’t see it from the street, but there is a sign). The great place is called Spinacio’s but it’s not an Italian restaurant despite the name.

It is just one year old, and the atmosphere is nice, maybe a little bit on the dark side, and it has a strong accent on seasonal ingredient. I had a beetroot and new potato rosti with goat’s cheese, broad bean mash, some wild greens and minted peas, my husband had a curry and it tasted really good, my rosti was delicious, and the peas were superfresh and not overcooked (it is a rare thing in UK!).

For pudding the hubby got some home made macaroons, with orange flavoured  chocolate chips, and said it was one of the best dessert he ever had!

Spinacio’s tel. n. is 01736798818

There are some other vegetarian restaurants around Cornwall, we happen to read a local magazine with the names of the best veggie places, we copied some down, but didn’t visit, so here they are:

Lettuce and Lovage, tel 01872 272546, 15 Kenwyn Street, Truro TR1 3BU

Johnny’s Cafe 50 Penpol Terrace, Hayle (TR274BQ) Phone number: 01736-755928

Treetop Cafe, The Monkey Sanctuary near Looe Cornwall PL13 1NZ  Tel 01503 262 532

And one in Plymouth, Devon, just in case!

Veggie Perrin’s 97 Mayflower Street, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 1SD, UK. Tel: 01752 252888

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St. Ives, Cornwall

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

St Ives after the rain

I wanted to go to see St. Ives and I finally went!

We had a nice little holiday in Cornwall, and I have to say it’s a great place, completely different from the rest of England, there really is a “surfer’s coast” feeling, despite the rain, that is.

The town itself it’s small but very nice and a lovely place to just wander around. There are lots of shops and in high season it’s terribly busy, and cars are allowed in narrow streets of the centre, which makes walking around a bit uncomfortable.

We have been to the Tate St Ives, and the building itself it’s probably more interesting than the art collection inside…but it was a windy stormy day so it was a good place to be, we had a nice lunch in the cafe and this is the view from the cafe:

view from the cafe in Tate St Ives

We also managed to be on the beach as well and enjoy the sun, there are lovely beaches and you can walk from one bay to the next though coastal paths immersed in lush vegetation, which makes it very pleasant.

We then rented a car and were able to go a bit further (there are buses but you would need more time to see as much).

We went to Land’s End, and I’m not sure it’s worth the trip, because they make you pay for parking the car and they’ve built a big shopping place with cheap attractions (there was a Doctor Who one!!!)  which makes the place look like a very tired theme park.

The view it’s still beautiful but the shopping place it’s just awful.

We visited the Minack Theatre, which is absolutely amazing:

Minack Theatre

It’s a theatre built into the rocky cliffs, and the seats in the lower area are carved with the names of the play they’ve showed

Minack theatre seats

It is still used, but you need to book your tickets in advance, it is quite small so it gets full quickly, but it is opened for visits, there’s also a small exibition that explains how it was built, and that’s very very interesting.

Climbing down a very steep path you reach the beautiful Porthcurno beach:

Porthcurno

As you can see from the photo it was a beautiful day and we spent the rest of the day on the beach.

Cornwall is a gem, really beautiful.

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