No.4 Onshore Cafe, St Ives Cornwall

No.4 Onshore Cafe, St Ives Cornwall

And so the fates had it that Roland Phillips and I would be in St Ives, Cornwall.  For once we did as we had said over liquors at the end of dinner the night before: we actually got up early and went for a swim (Kat stayed in the tent). Porthmeor Beach was almost empty when we got down there at 7:45am and the surf was about 4 foot. We got knocked around quite a bit by the waves but it was a wonderful start to the day...I may still have been a bit drunk. Afterwards we walked into the village looking for a fry up.  

The Fry up

May it be first said that this is a strongly Cornish-separatist (non violent) blog which sees Cornwall as a valid separate country. It was with that in mind that Roland and I were tempted in to the 'Onshore Cafe' in St Ives for what they describe as the "Full Cornish". The Full Cornish's main drawback was the shocking price: £8.50 is far too much. Like a lot of places they play games with big and small breakfasts for different prices, but this is an evening meal price. Roland pointed out that a coffee is thrown in which offsets some of the cost. I had tea.

Such a high price breeds resentment; one is harsh with any failings and takes victories for granted. This could be seen in Roland pointing out a sort of clear mushroom "jus" that was on his plate unbidden, describing it as 'not on the menu'. 

That mushroom was bloody nice

The beans were arranged as a sort of central lake that the other elements were set around. This can cause a moisture crisis but to conteract this the toast was excellent: thick and multi-seeded, thus soaking up the wetter elements beautifully and making a great platform for my signature move of ending up with just an egg yolk on a correspondingly small bit of toast then eating it in one...try it and you won't look back.

The sausage was described as "local" on the menu and the mushroom was "field". The sausage was tasty and high quality (it had to be for price). The mushroom was big and tasty but, as with a lot of posh breakfasts (for it was one) they only included one. The Fry up is a hearty, earthy meal, and this kind of 'Nouvelle Cuisine' hangover has no place in the genre. In truth, the cafe was trying to get the posh pound from those with boats and second homes in the town not the weekend campers like ourselves.

...a rather saucy Observer.

In the end the Full Cornish held no real difference to the Full English. Although overall it was too posh and expensive the vista was lovely and ultimately highly enjoyable.

Needless to say afterwards I was a 'Full English'.


www.onshore-stives.co.uk