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

Cornwall · Food & Drink · Padstow

Where to eat in Padstow.

The town that Rick Stein made famous has outgrown any single chef's influence — Padstow now houses more serious restaurants per square mile than almost anywhere else in England outside London.

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

Padstow · North Coast

Padstow's food story begins with Rick Stein arriving in the 1970s and transforming a working harbour into a pilgrimage destination for people who care about fish. The Seafood Restaurant remains the cornerstone — a formal, accomplished operation with a wine list that takes decades to read — but the town around it has evolved into something richer than a one-chef story. Paul Ainsworth's No.6 has accumulated its own devoted following; younger restaurants like Prawn on the Lawn have brought a modern small-plates energy that keeps the scene from becoming a museum piece.

Padstow can feel overwhelming in August, when the harbour is shoulder to shoulder and every restaurant has a waiting list. The answer is timing: come in May or October when the light is extraordinary and the streets are manageable, book three or four months ahead regardless of when you visit, and remember that some of the best eating is available without a reservation at all — the Stein's fish and chip shop queue moves faster than it looks, and Prawn on the Lawn has a walk-in counter that opens when the fishmonger does.

Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant

The original, still the reference point. The Seafood Restaurant opened in 1975 and has spent five decades perfecting the art of cooking fish without apology. The menu ranges from simple grilled sole with tartare sauce to elaborate Thai-influenced dishes that reflect Stein's wider travels. The wine list is exceptional and the sommelier team among the best in the South West. Formal without being stuffy; the service is experienced enough to pitch it right for the occasion.

Best for

Classic fine dining seafood

Paul Ainsworth at No.6

A Georgian townhouse in the centre of Padstow, No.6 is Paul Ainsworth's flagship — a Michelin-starred restaurant with a menu that reads as love letter to Cornwall. The cooking draws on local producers with discipline and imagination: Cornish duck, Trevithick Farm beef, fish from the Padstow boats. The sticky toffee pudding has become a legend in its own right. The dining room is intimate and warmly lit; the wine pairing is worth the addition. Book three months ahead without exception.

Best for

Michelin-starred occasion dinner

Prawn on the Lawn

A fishmonger that morphed into one of Cornwall's most exciting eating experiences. The format is simple: whatever the boats brought in is on the menu, cooked with minimal interference and served at bare wooden tables. Oysters from the Camel Estuary, urchin when the season allows, steamed Padstow crab. The room is deliberately unfussy. Lunch walk-ins are possible early in the day; dinner books fast. A genuine benchmark for the modern British seafood restaurant.

Best for

Market-fresh seafood small plates

Rojano's in the Square

Paul Ainsworth's more accessible sister restaurant, occupying the old Metropole Hotel site, serves Italian-influenced food with Cornish ingredients in a space that manages to feel both relaxed and designed. The wood-fired pizzas are excellent; the pasta dishes show real craft. A step down in formality from No.6 but the same commitment to provenance. Good for groups, better for couples, impossible to fault for the price point.

Best for

Casual Italian with Cornish produce

Stein's Fish & Chips

The queue at Stein's chip shop is one of Padstow's most reliable attractions. The fish is fresh, battered lightly, and fried in oil that's changed with a seriousness the operation extends to everything else. Cod, haddock, or whatever's been landed that morning — all properly sourced, all properly cooked. Eat on the harbour wall. The mushy peas are worth the upgrade. A masterclass in doing one thing correctly.

Best for

Fish and chips on the harbour

Cherry Trees

The best cream tea in Padstow is served here, in a converted cottage on the outskirts of the town that does the Cornish tea ritual with complete conviction. Scones arrive hot, the clotted cream is sourced from a farm near Wadebridge, and the strawberry jam is made on the premises. A modest, gentle operation that provides the perfect counterpoint to a town otherwise dominated by ambition.

Best for

Cream tea

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