Inspiration

The newest arrivals on Cornwall’s food and drink scene

Sawday's Expert

5 min read

Cornwall’s food scene is fabulously vibrant, with new places popping up all the time. Here are five great new additions to the Cornish menu in 2023, which we’ve picked up from chats with our owners and our visits down the road. They range from a seafood pop-up gone permanent to some refined Italian cuisine and a masterclass in innovative, sustainable dining. We hope you’ll give a couple a go and if you find any more great new places to eat when you’re out and about in Cornwall, let us know.

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Crocadon, St Mellion

Crocadon has been years in the making, with exquisite attention paid to every detail, starting not just from the produce that goes into the food, but the soil in which it’s grown. Head Chef Dan Cox, a Roux scholar with an impressive CV, is working to fashion a “brighter vision for food and agriculture” and, by the looks of it, it’s working. Crocadon has been an instant success, with Sunday lunches particularly notable. So much so, in fact, that they’ve branched out to a Saturday lunch menu too. It’s not a roast, but it is a multi-course menu that will blow you away with flair and flavour. You’ll still need to book though, as nothing that Crocadon does goes unnoticed for long.

Harbour House, Falmouth

When a new team took over The Seven Stars in Flushing, just over the water from Falmouth, they vowed to turn it into a beacon of responsible sourcing and superb cooking. Opening early in 2023, they nailed it right from the start, with Chef Jeffrey Robinson, winner of one of the UK’s few green Michelin Stars, on board to oversee a “hyper-local” menu. Doors open at 9am every day, so you can drop in for a crab omelette before starting your day, or wait for lunch and dinner to roll round. Whenever you happen to visit, it will not disappoint.

Onda, Wadebridge

Onda is hardly a well-kept secret, with world-famous chefs singing its praises, but it’s impossible not to mention Cornwall’s most glamorous new addition. Proprietor Ben Ambridge was born and raised in Cornwall but inspired by Italy, so the food draws on Italian styles and principles to let Cornish produce do the talking, eschewing complexity of construction in favour of simplicity and strong flavours. The setting, right on the town’s eponymous bridge, isn’t bad either.

Barnaby’s Pop-Up

What began as an experimental partnership with Trevibban Mill for the legendary Barnaby’s in Padstow has now turned into a permanent residency. The relaxed atmosphere is the same, the list of suppliers reads like a who’s who of Cornish producers and the food is well worth finding your way down the lane to the farm for. Of course, there’s always a chance that they’ll up sticks once more and find a new exciting location for next year, so you might need to get in quick. We’ll try and let you know if they move again.

The Wig & Pen, Truro

The well-travelled and long-remembering folk among you might know that a pub being on this site is in fact nothing new. There’s been an inn of some sort here for about 200 years, although it hasn’t always been open. After a couple of years in which it lay shuttered and gathering dust, Laura and Tom Trubshaw, owners of the Peterville Inn in St Agnes, have blasted fresh life into it, with seasonal food served in a dining room of dark, textured stone and wood. Despite the refined air of the décor, it’s a family and pet-friendly place that feels like a village local perfectly crossed with a gastropub. We can’t wait to visit!

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Christopher Wilson-Elmes

Sawday's Expert

Chris is our in-house copywriter, with a flair for turning rough notes and travel tales into enticing articles. Raised in a tiny Wiltshire village, he was desperate to travel and has backpacked all over the world. Closer to home, he finds himself happiest in the most remote and rural places he can find, preferably with a host of animals to speak to, some waves to be smashed about in and the promise of a good pint somewhere in his future.

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