Oliver S.
Yelp
OK I visited this restaurant a while ago, but I think it really needs a mention, as it serves up pretty much the best seafood I've ever eaten.
So, Padstow has earned a slightly infamous reputation as being the business hub of Rick Stein's culinary forays, but to be honest, i couldn't care less as he does it extremely well.
Padstow itself is a terrifically quaint Cornish town, nestled on the estuary of the Camel river, and it would probably be a sin not to eat seafood there - oh and drink some pretty tasty Cornish ale.
The place to choose in Padstow for said seafood and Cornish ale has to be Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant. Walk into the restaurant on the edge of the harbour, and it expands back, packed comfortably with leather booths, stone floors and wooden panelling around a circular oyster bar.
Hit the bar while the staff prepare your table and a piping hot baked oyster appears with your aperitif drink to whets the appetite until your personal waiter or waitress take you to your table.
Friendly, yet unobtrusively attentive staff seem to preempt pretty much every request, and a bottle of wine appears within minutes of us ordering.
Equally, our choices of starters prompt quick cutlery changes, and my brother is soon equipped with an array of medieval utensils to attack the crab platter that has become the envy of all sitting around him. I chose Oysters Charentaise - which is a heady mixture of piping hot chorizo, chilly fresh oysters and a good few slugs of white wine - weird, but very very tasty.
As an aside, it's pretty likely that this evening will involve drinking enough wine to fell a small horse, so come prepared.
Moving back to a more food-oriented discussion, I had a LOBSTER for my main - my first ever lobster - but nonetheless was I think one of the best things to have passed my lips. In fact, I can still taste it if I think about it. My brother had a Dover Sole, which, according to him, was possibly the best fishie he's ever had - and he's had a lot of fish in his lifetime.
Pudding followed, but it was a bit of a nonevent, considering the culinary delights that preceded, and I think some coffee happened after that, but, again, was not so memorable, and has been replaced by further musing on how nice that lobster was. Then we went to the pub and I had more Cornish ale. I then woke up the next day, with a very sore head.
Nonetheless, any pain endured the following morning is supplanted by what was truly an excellent meal, with great atmosphere, in a beautiful town. The only problem is that it was bleeding expensive, but hey, if you're going to spend money on food, then this really is the place.