The Outlaw

Thursday morning dawned wet and windy but we were determined to venture out. We eventually decided to take a trip aboard the passenger ferry over the Camel estuary to Rock, motivated by the prospect of lunch at Nathan Outlaw's Seafood and Grill.

Outlaw runs two restaurants, both located in the St Enodoc Hotel in Rock. The Seafood and Grill provides a more casual dining experience, compared to his main fine dining restaurant - Restaurant Nathan Outlaw.

Originally a graduate of Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant, Outlaw has become more of a household name after two appearances on Great British Menu. His previous establishments have held Michelin stars but a recent re-location from Fowey means he doesn't currently hold any. It can only be a matter of time.

Overlooking the Camel estuary, the Seafood and Grill is the perfect place for a relaxing lunch. However as the mist descended and the rain came down there was no chance of drinks on the terrace, or of us making the most of the magnificent views through the glass frontage. Still, inside the restaurant is very pleasant; modern, light and airy. We were slightly bedraggled after a short walk from the ferry landing and maybe lowered the tone somewhat, but received a friendly welcome and were soon seated by the huge windows.

Outlaw’s menus are driven by locally caught fresh seafood and the best seasonal produce that is available. The menu at the Seafood and Grill is short but perfectly showcases his amazing ingredients.

My starter was hand dived scallops with broad beans and ham hock dressing. Perfectly cooked, the soft scallop contrasted beautifully with the crispy, salty flakes of ham hock and fresh young beans. It was a delightful combination and easily the best scallops I have eaten in a long time.

Dave chose the Cornish duck leg salad with hazelnuts and boiled duck egg. There is something delightful about a soft oozy duck egg; it looked and tasted amazing.

For main I had the whole grilled lemon sole with brown shrimps, sea purslane and new potatoes. The delicately flavoured fish was cooked to translucent perfection and the purslane gave a beautiful, natural salty back note. I guess its use wholly encapsulates what Nathan Outlaw is about.

From the specials board Dave opted for the Monkfish tail with peas, clams and samphire. He also had a side of very buttery new potatoes, commenting that The Outlaw isn't shy of the butter.

We were fairly full and so shared an Elderflower cream with English raspberries for desert. It was light and delicate with the elderflower providing an enchanting floral note.

Dave followed all of this with a coffee and petit fours.

Service was friendly & proficient without being at all overbearing.

At £83.88 it wasn’t one of the cheapest lunches we’ve ever had, but we felt that the food itself was more than reasonably priced. It was all the little “extras” that added up; a couple of drinks, the fact that a bottle of still water was charged at £3.50 and the 10% service charge which was automatically added to the bill. However I’d more than happily pay for it again. The straightforward style and perfectly executed dishes certainly impressed. The food was top class throughout; it was hard to find any fault at all with the dishes and his flavour combinations were exceptional without being over complicated.

I guess you get what you pay for and, unlike the sun, Outlaw’s class shone out.

Nathan Outlaw Seafood and Grill
St. Enodoc Hotel, Rock, Cornwall, PL27 6LA, UK

This post forms part of a series about our 2010 gastro camping trip in Cornwall.

The Cornish Arms, St. Merryn

Possibly the newest destination on the north Cornwall foodie map is Rick Stein's latest enterprise, this time a partnership with St. Austell Brewery with whom he has taken out a 15-year tenancy on The Cornish Arms in St. Merryn. Located just a couple of miles outside Padstow on a beautiful stretch of the north Cornwall coast, The Cornish Arms is a very quaint, picturesque pub and looks the perfect place to stop for a pub lunch, dinner or just an ale or two.

Apparently concern was expressed by the locals when Stein took over the pub last year, but rather than transform their village local into a modern and expensive gastro pub he seems to have succeeded in his aim of maintaining a community atmosphere and the feel of a traditional pub, which at the same time serves excellent pub food.

The inside it is spacious and welcoming. Bare chunky wooden tables dominate the main dining space and big glass doors at the bottom open onto a huge terrace with picnic tables. There are also a couple of smaller rooms and alcoves, one with a TV, and further tables and seating. There is also a lovely area to sit out at the front, overlooking the village church. At the time of our visit a massive marquee had been erected in the garden housing a big screen, bar and table football for the world cup.

As you would expect the bar offers the full range of 4 St. Austell Ales: Tribute, Tinners, HSD and Proper Job. We ordered a pint of Proper Job and managed to grab a seat at one of the few free tables. The ale was well kept and served with a slight head, a feature appreciated by us northerners.

The menu is relatively short and comprises of classic British pub grub, this is complimented by a blackboard menu with a handful of specials. Once you've found a seat and made your selection you order your food at the bar.

For starters I went with the mussels and was soon brought a big bowl for the empty shells, a spoon for the sauce and a bowl of hot water with lemon; a good start. When the mussels arrived each shell contained a sweet, meaty morsel and none remained closed. If I am honest there was a little too much diced onion but it was otherwise tasty and the mussels clearly very fresh and well cooked. The bread was delicious too, spread with soft Cornish butter it made a delicious vehicle for mopping up the remnants of the creamy sauce .

The crab Salad that Dave ordered arrived with a generous portion of picked white crab meat, a splodge of deep yellow, wobbly home made mayo and rustic foccacia bread; it certainly looked the part. The simplicity of the dish made the most of the fresh crab and it was delicious.

For my main course I chose ham, eggs and chips; a slice of ham covered the plate and the hot crispy chips were divine dipped into the perfect egg yolks. I felt obliged to have at least one of my five a day and also ordered a side dish of green salad, it would have benefited from a slick of dressing but the leaves were fresh.

Dave had the curry - Mumrez Khan’s lamb & spinach Kharahi curry. Described as "hot and spicy" on the menu it really had to live up to this assertion, and it did. It had a great depth of flavour and definitely packed a bit of a punch. The curry was served with fluffy rice and a couple of nice crisp poppadoms.

This is just the sort of food I want to eat over a couple of pints after a days walking; no nonsense, simple but excellent quality pub grub. It beats most other pubs I've eaten at hands down.

It seems that these days good food is an ever more important part of many a pub's success and here it works well. I really hope the locals appreciate this place as much as we did; if this was my local I wouldn't be able to keep away. We hear about pubs closing all the time, maybe if they took a steer from places like this more pubs would thrive as a viable and vital part of community life.

The Cornish Arms
Churchtown, St Merryn, Padstow, PL28 8ND

This post forms part of a series about our 2010 gastro camping trip in Cornwall.

A cream tea at Prideaux Place

Any self respecting visitor to Cornwall needs to sample at least one traditional cream tea. To this end, after pottering around and an admittedly less than strenuous walk along Padstow beach, we strolled to the top of town to Prideaux Place - a beautiful Elizabethan manor house which has been the home of the Prideaux-Brune family since the 16th century. Prideaux Place offers a peaceful haven just minutes from the bustle of Padstow, but more importantly serves cream teas out on the terrace.

We ordered one apiece and were warned that each cream tea was served with two large scones. That was lucky as we hadn't had any lunch and it was after 3pm.

Expectations duly heightened, we were not disappointed. Our cream teas arrived, complete with 2 large soft fresh scones - slightly warm - a pot of deliciously fruity local strawberry jam and a very generous portion of Rodda’s clotted cream. There was also a huge pot of tea per person.

Of course the question is, should the scone first be spread with strawberry jam and then topped with a spoonful of the clotted cream, or vice versa? I believe the difference may lie in whether it is a Devonian or Cornish cream tea but ultimately the choice comes down to personal taste and I am not sure that either method is better or more acceptable than the other. Besides, we all opted for the jam followed by cream method.

The challenge then is to perfectly judge the application of jam and cream, ensuring that equal amounts can be dolloped on to each scone. It wouldn't do to be left with scone and no adornments. The size of the scone, jam and cream made it tricky to eat but we persisted and piled on as much as was possible.

It was the perfect combination of quality and quantity and we declared it one of the best cream teas we've ever had!

Prideaux Place
Padstow, Cornwall, PL28 8RP

This post forms part of a series about our 2010 gastro camping trip in Cornwall.

Stein's Fish & chips

A holiday in Cornwall would not be complete without at least a couple of fish 'n' chip suppers. There is nothing better after a day out in the fresh sea air and few can rival those served up at Rick Stein's fish & chip shop in Padstow. Besides which, a holiday in "Padstein" would not be complete without a visit to at least one of Stein's many ventures! So upon arrival it was up with the tent and straight down to the harbour for tea.

Firstly let's get the issue of the queues out of the way. Padstow is busy and it is probable that at peak times you will have to queue at Stein's; accept this as a fact and tell yourself it will be worth it (I assure you it is).

You can choose to eat in the white-tiled restaurant, sat at the long wooden communal benches, or you can grab a takeaway to eat on the quay side. Watch out for the seagulls though; they’re bullies and will take off with the whole box given half a chance.

There is an amazing selection of spankingly fresh fish on offer - from the usual suspects such as cod, haddock and plaice to species more unfamiliar to the fish fryer such as mackerel, squid, skate, sea bream, monkfish and lemon sole. You can choose to have it grilled, fried or more traditionally battered and deep fried in beef dripping.

This time we went for battered Hake, as a more sustainable alternative to cod or haddock. Hake is a deep-sea fish from the cod family but with a more subtle flavour than that of its relative. It is quite a mild fish, with a white flaky texture. The batter was amazingly crunchy and the fish was good, although for some reason I found the texture a little "woolly".

On a second visit later in the week I went for the scampi and Dave had battered monkfish. Maybe my expectations were too high and I was slightly disappointed with what seemed to be standard, bought in breaded scampi. I wanted proper homemade battered scampi, made with big chunky langoustine tails but it wasn't to be. Don't get me wrong the scampi was okay, but nothing exceptional. The monkfish on the other hand was a revelation; the big meaty chunks of fish worked exceptionally well encased in crisp batter.

The fish is always served with some of the most gloriously hot and crispy chips I have ever eaten and they are presented together in a neat box with a wedge of lemon and spring of parsley. They are never soggy or overly greasy and taste divine, the flavour only dripping can bring. All the usual trimmings are available too - mushy peas, homemade tartar sauce, and even aioli and curry sauce. We opted for some pleasingly green mush peas and a portion of tartare sauce. The tartar sauce is rich and creamy. It is good - definitely beating anything that comes in a sachet - but could do with a little more piquancy to contrast with the fried food. It doesn't have that essential sharpness to cut through the richness and therefore I feel the point is somewhat lost.

We washed our meals down with a pint of Chalky's Bark, a beer created by the Sharp's brewery over the estuary in Rock in honour of Rick's late dog. At 4.5% and lightly flavoured with fresh ginger, it's very refreshing and makes a perfect accompaniment to fish and chips.

Stein’s fish and chip shop is definitely worth more than just a look-in, especially if you can't get in at his restaurant which is always booked up months in advance. As a northern lass I take my fish and chips seriously and in my opinion, despite the occasional minor gripe, they dish up an outstanding portion at Stein's.

Stein's Fish & chips
South Quay, Padstow, Cornwall

This post forms part of a series about our 2010 gastro camping trip in Cornwall.

Gastro Camp-a-rama; Cornwall, 2010

For me sampling the local cuisine is the highlight of any trip away, but the South West of England, in particular, presents exceptional opportunities for a gastronomic holiday experience. Tuck into fish ‘n’ chips, a proper pasty, enjoy a traditional clotted cream tea or local ice cream and sample the many ales, ciders and wines on offer. From the freshest seafood straight off the local day boats to the very best meat, cheese, fruit and veg - the South West has it all. It's also a celebrity chef heaven, if that's your bag (most famously Rick Stein, Jamie Oliver & Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall have establishments here).
All this keeps us going back for more and this year was no exception; we have just returned from an amazing trip to Cornwall.

And what better way to sample the delights of a region than camping? Of course choice of campsite is key; as the saying goes, location is everything and you really can't get much better than Dennis Cove in Padstow.

Located right on the edge of town, just off the Camel Trial, it is within easy walking distance of the foodie wonders of Padstow (crucially thereby avoiding the parking pandemonium in Padstow itself). This site is an old favourite of ours - picturesque, well maintained & quiet. On this stretch of north Cornwall coast there are more great restaurants and gourmet destinations than you can hope to eat at in one visit, so once again we based ourselves here for 4 nights to make the most of the areas gastronomic delights.

This post is the first in a series about our 2010 gastro camping trip in Cornwall.

First stop Stein's fish & chips…

Taste of London

Last weekend we attended the brilliant Taste of London Festival, held in Regent's Park.

Now in its seventh year, the event brings together some of the capital's best restaurants, each offering a limited menu of 3 or 4 sample sized signature dishes. Described as an open air "pop-up" restaurant festival, it's a great concept that showcases some of the best food that London has to offer. Brought together in one location, Taste of London provides a great opportunity to try the cuisine from some of the top restaurants in the city.

About 40 establishments took part, the full list of whom can be found on the website, but to name-drop a few: Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill (Richard Corrigan) Launceston place (Trisatn Welch), The Cinnamon Club ( Vivek Singh), Benares (Atul Kochhar), Le Gavroche (Michel Roux Jr.), Maze and York & Albany (both part of Gordon Ramsay's empire), Odette's (Bryn Williams), Rhodes Twenty Four (Gary Rhodes), the eponymous Theo Randall at the Intercontinental & Tom's Kitchen (Tom Aiken).

The festival currency is "Crowns" (£1 = 2 Crowns) and you exchange these for your chosen dishes. The portions are deliberately small to allow you to graze and try more than just a couple of dishes. The average dish was priced at 9 Crowns (£4.50). Some 'Icon' dishes were 16 Crowns and above - these were supposed to reflect a chef's most inventive cooking and finest ingredients. For example, Le Gavroche was serving Lobster cocktail with summer truffles and tomato jelly served in an engraved Le Gavroche glass (40 Crowns).

Spread over 4 days, we attended the Saturday evening session. What follows is a synopsis of the amazing food we tasted.

Having studied the menus before hand, on arrival we made a bee line for Launceston place. As we arrived a suckling pig on a spit was being paraded around the stand, to much shouting and chanting. Head Chef Tristan Welch and his sous chef Steve Groves (winner of the BBC’s Masterchef: The Professionals 2009) were clearly in high spirits and very obliging in posing for a picture with said piglet.

First we wanted to try the Goose Egg and Chips (as seen on the Great British Menu); deliciously thin and crispy hot chips smothered in a light as air goose egg sauce. The flavour of the sauce was quite subtle but it was interesting and an enjoyable combination.

We followed that with the Spit Roast Old Spot Suckling Pig and Black Summer Truffles which was amazing. Encased in a brioche bun, the juicy suckling pig was topped with snaps of crackling and wafer thin slices of truffle; a mean pork sandwich!


Next we visited the Salt Yard for Char-grilled Beef Bavette with Salsa Verde and Escalivada. Bavette is popular in France but much underused here. It's basically a well-trimmed skirt or flank steak and considered one of the cheaper cuts of meat. It really was full of flavour, well cooked and more tender than I expected. The escalivada (grilled vegetables seasoned with olive oil and salt, and sometimes with garlic as well) was slightly bland and we both thought a little disappointing.

On to Odette's where we sampled Braised Welsh Pork Cheek with Spiced Pineapple. The Asian flavours in the sweet pineapple sauce complemented the soft pork cheek and this was another winner.

Paul Merret was cooking in the Action against Hunger pop-up. We spotted his Homemade Scotch egg on a salad of pea shoots, green beans and roasted beetroot with grain mustard dressing and had to try it.

The scotch egg was about as good as they get; the coating was really crisp but the yolk inside still managed to retain a slight gooeyness. At only 6 Crowns it was a delightful dish, one of my favourites, and all the better as the proceeds went to charity.

The Cinnamon Club's spice crusted bream, masala mash and tomato lemon sauce was a revelation and we agreed it was probably the dish of the evening. The fish was expertly cooked - crisp skin on the outside and yet still tender within and the perfectly balanced use of spices in the mash truly showed the dish off. One of the few Indian restaurants to hold a Michelin star, it is easy to see why.We felt it was time for a drink so headed to the Young's Brewery stand where we enjoyed a pint of draught ale in the bar.

From there we moved on to Bentley's Oyster Bar and Grill where we couldn't resist the smell of Traditional fish and chips. We weren't disappointed; served in a cardboard cone the fish was perfectly cooked in a crisp better along with some golden chips and mushy peas.

Next was Busaba Eathai (a chain of quality Thai restaurants) for the Char grilled duck in tamarind sauce with Chinese Broccoli; the sour tamarind sauce and fresh greens complimenting the rich duck perfectly.

A second beer stop then we moved on to another favorite from Trishna; coastal guinea fowl curry with a pao bread roll had great depth of flavour and was really quite spicy.

Michel Roux Jr. was in-situ at the two Michelin starred Le Gavroche and we had the Daube de beouf a la Nicoise (braised beef with olives and soft polenta). I didn't think this dish was "pretty as a picture" but it certainly tasted great and the meat was melt in the mouth tender.

It was time for desert so we headed to Asia de Cuba where Dave ordered the Mexican Doughnuts with Butterscotch sauce. They were apparently so moreish that I wasn't allowed to share any!

Instead I had the Alphonso mango rice pudding with pistachio's and sweet chilli from Trishna. The deliciously sweet mango flavored rice was elevated above the norm with an after kick of hot chilli.

There were also talks and live demonstrations in the Taste Theatre, this year featuring Heston Blumenthal and Giorgio Locatelli. Add to that a busy line up of exhibitors - the best suppliers & producers with top-notch ingredients & quality food and drink from Britain and around the world - and this event is pretty much foodie heaven.

Premium tickets to the event cost £37 each, this included entry to the event and £20 worth of Crowns. We quickly spent these and ended up buying another £40 worth, so all in all we managed to polish off £80 of food between us. Not a cheap night, but we left having had a great time, sampled some exceptional food, spotted some famous faces and with a long list of restaurants we'd like to explore further.

Princess Louise

After the disappointment of the football we were in need of some more liquid refreshment and so, in the name of drowning our sorrows, we headed to the Princess Louise.

Built in 1872 and named after Queen Victoria's fourth daughter, the Princess Louise is one of London's most beautiful and historic pubs. Its classic Victorian interior has been gloriously preserved; from the high and heavily ornate plastered ceiling, flamboyantly decorative tiles, huge dark carved wooden bar and elaborate cut glass and mirrors. It is a Grade II listed pub and is also on CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors.

During 2007 the pub went through a comprehensive restoration which saw the reinstatement of the wood and etched glass partitions, creating the sort of subdivided drinking areas common to the popular and lavish nineteenth century "gin palaces". It has created a wonderfully confusing warren of snugs and alcoves, each with its own access to the central island bar.

The pub is now owned by Sam Smiths, a notable if rather eccentric independent brewery from Tadcaster, North Yorkshire. Common to all their pubs, the Princess Louise sells only Sam Smiths branded drinks. Their own range of lagers, ales and ciders is reasonably comprehensive and good quality, some available on draught and some only bottled. Their Old Brewery bitter is a great pint when on form and at £1.99 is staggering value, even if this wasn't Central London.

The location and unassuming exterior means it would be easy to pass by the Princess Louise, but if you are in London it is definitely worth a detour for a lovely pint of traditional ale in amazing surroundings.

Princess Louise
208 High Holborn, Holborn, London, WC1V 7BW

Nearest Tube: Holborn