No.12 Porthgwidden Beach Cafe, St Ives, Cornwall

No.12 Porthgwidden Beach Cafe, St Ives, Cornwall



On the right hand side

And so it came to pass that your Editor made the yearly pilgrimage to St Ives, Cornwall. Having arrived late the night before we got up early for a morning sea swim the next day, which was superlative. That complete we sallied forth into town to imbibe a fry up. The four was made up by a now heavily pregnant Kat (we only paid for four at the campsite!) RTWOAF veteran Roland and his girlfriend Frances; a welcome initiate to both the blog and to St Ives.

Your Editor: Looking away.

The venue chosen on this occasion was the terrace of the Porthgwidden Beach Cafe, beautifully located on one of the small beaches in St Ives. The interior of the cafe was lovely but on a sunny day it had to be the balcony.

I sat still invigorated by the sea swimming, stimulated by the conversation and awed by St Ives bay dreamily shimmering in the August morning sunshine. There is very little that can better it.




The Breakfast

 

Already half eaten by Kat.

We all opted for the "Full English": Free range egg, bacon, sausage, mushroom, tomato, beans and homemade hash browns. It was £6.95. which included a round of toast but not Tea.

Regular readers will be concerned that I will rubbish any Breakfast served on a square plate. And although it was clearly incongruous (a bit like the scene in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts dresses up all 'classy' and it seems odd) on this occasion I was easily able to overlook the pretentious plate and be charmed by the food therein.

The quality of the constituate parts was top notch. The beans were excellent as attested here in the picture. Look at the viscosity of the sauce! Now might be a good time to dwell for a moment on bean juice viscosity. Poor beans swim around in juice and struggle for identity. Juice can even run round the plate wetting any bread. Disaster! On this occasion you could see the quality and there was never a hint that they would stream off the bread if you wanted to make a cheeky little beans on toast. Great.

The whole dish was well cooked with the sausage standing up to scrutiny and the home made Hash Brown representing a welcome circular addition. I opted to make a little sausage sandwich out of part of my sausage and half my toast and it was a real treat.

Overall this is a great breakfast venue especially when you consider the price. It's also great fun to feed the sparrows and blue tits that will eat bread out of your hand while perching bravely on the rail next to you.


Needless to say afterwards I was a Full English! 8/10