Mevagissey Harbour — colourful fishing boats and hillside cottages on Cornwall's south coast.

Cornwall · Food & Drink · Mousehole

Where to eat in Mousehole.

Three miles from Penzance, Mousehole is a near-perfect Cornish fishing village — and its tiny food scene, anchored by the Old Coastguard's remarkable cooking, rewards anyone who makes the pilgrimage.

Photograph — Oast House Archive / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Mousehole · West Cornwall

Mousehole (pronounced Mouzell, as every local will tell you within minutes of arrival) is the kind of place that makes people want to move to Cornwall: a granite harbour, turquoise water, whitewashed cottages climbing the hill, and a scale that keeps the tourism manageable. The village has three restaurants worth knowing about and one that belongs on any serious list of Cornwall's best. That is a remarkable concentration for a place this size.

The Old Coastguard is the destination, but the Ship Inn and 2 Fore Street serve their own purposes with equal conviction. Between them they cover every mood — from a pint by the fire on a wet January evening to a long, ambitious dinner watching the sun set over Mounts Bay. Mousehole proves, definitively, that Cornwall's best food is not concentrated in Padstow or Rick Stein's orbit but distributed across the whole of the peninsula, in proportion to the quality of its fishing heritage.

The Old Coastguard

One of the best restaurants in Cornwall, full stop. The Old Coastguard occupies a former coastguard station above Mousehole harbour with a terrace that overlooks Mounts Bay and the distant silhouette of St Michael's Mount. The kitchen — part of the Inkin brothers' portfolio — produces Cornish seafood and land-reared meat with a confidence and intelligence that the setting quietly demands. The monkfish with smoked paprika butter is exceptional; the wine list is one of the most thoughtfully curated in the county.

Best for

Best restaurant in Mousehole — exceptional seafood and views

2 Fore Street

A small restaurant right on the harbour front that has developed a devoted following among West Penwith regulars. The menu focuses on locally landed fish with Mediterranean leanings — whole baked sea bass with olives and lemon, moules marinière with crusty Cornish bread, a linguine alle vongole that earns its reputation. The room is compact; the atmosphere warm. Book ahead for dinner; lunch walk-ins are more often available.

Best for

Harbourfront dinner with Mediterranean flair

Ship Inn

The Ship Inn has been providing beer and sustenance to Mousehole fishermen and their successors for centuries. A proper pub — low beams, maritime memorabilia, a bar that serves Tribute on draught without irony — with a kitchen that does simple things well. The crab sandwiches at lunch are the village's best; the fish pie on winter evenings is what you want in your hands when the rain comes in off the Atlantic.

Best for

Traditional Cornish pub lunch

The Lobster Pot

A small, family-run restaurant in the centre of the village that has been serving visitors and locals for several decades. The Lobster Pot's cooking is traditional in approach and excellent in execution: proper dressed crab, Newlyn lobster thermidor, and the kind of prawn cocktail that reminds you why the dish was ever fashionable. Service is unhurried and generous. An alternative to the Old Coastguard for those who prefer the familiar to the contemporary.

Best for

Classic Cornish seafood in traditional setting

Mousehole Harbour Kitchen

A casual café on the harbour that serves the village's daily needs — coffee, breakfast, light lunches, cream teas — with an ease that visitors find instantly welcoming. The saffron buns (saffron is a West Cornwall tradition dating to the tin-mining era) are baked on-site and worth seeking out; the clotted cream comes from a dairy farm near Penzance. Perfect for a slow morning or an afternoon pause before dinner at the Old Coastguard.

Best for

Saffron bun and Cornish cream tea

Stay nearby

Holiday cottages near Mousehole

Self-catering cottages near Mousehole's best restaurants — with kitchens for the nights you'd rather cook. Book direct for the best availability.

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