Westcountry

With the help of toptable.co.uk, we've compiled a list of the top 10 restaurants in Cornwall.

1.) Fifteen

Fifteen Cornwall restaurant on the beach at Watergate Bay has views over one of Britain's hippest stretches of sand. Yes, this is a Jamie Oliver Fifteen Foundation expansion restaurant, giving the opportunity for twenty talented, disadvantaged Cornish youngsters per year to become professional chefs and get the support they need to turn their lives around. Head chef Neil Haydock (Sandy Lane Hotel, Barbados) is top man in the kitchen, creating - with his team - Italian-inspired seasonal dishes from excellent local ingredients. The interior décor is smartly low-key in tones of grey, cream and black with fabulous pink and red ‘urban graffiti’ detailing. The open kitchen is as mesmerizing the surf outside. Dinner is a six-course tasting menu, with specially created wine package if you like. With profits going to the Cornwall Foundation of Promise, this is a bargain.

Signature meal
Menus change daily, but the Fifteen Antipasti featuring things like San Daniele ham, Romanescu with bagna cauda, roasted beets, horseradish, wild boar spec, grilled chicory and pecorino is always on and a superb start to any meal.

Sample dishes
Salumi misti, beautifully dressed candy & golden beetroot, the biggest green olives from Puglia
Slow roast Primrose Herd rare breed porchetta, Florence fennel, coco blanc, rainbow chard & salsa verde
Ricotta gnocchi, Sardinian Ox heart tomatoes, gooey Burrata & rocket pesto
Caramel roasted pear, dulce de leche mousse & hazelnut shortbread

Sample drink prices
Bottle of beer: £3
Glass house wine: £5
Bottle house wine: £19
Cocktail: £6
Spirit & Mixer: £5
Bottle water: £.75

Average price: Dinner - £60, Lunch - £40, Breakfast - £10
Address: On the Beach, Watergate Bay, TR8 4AA

2.) Restaurant Nathan Outlaw

Restaurant Nathan Outlaw is the third Cornish restaurant from this well-respected chef in four years. Located in the recently referbed Marina Villa Hotel, Restaurant Nathan Outlaw plays up to its seaside digs with a relaxed nautical-style theme, but never detracts from its stunning views over the Fawey estuary. The a la carte menus feature solid choices for each course, including a starter of cured salmon with marinated beetroot risotto, horseradish and dill, mains like venison, parsnips, red cabbage, chocolate and thyme, and a good range of modern-yet-traditional puds. With its close proximity to the sea, you really can't go wrong with any of the seafood selections - but it's also hard to resist the local meats.

Signature meal
Cured salmon, marinated beetroot risotto, horseradish and dill, £8

Sample dishes
Squab pigeon, pickled chicory, espresso and orange, £12
Scampi, gammon and pineapple, sage and onion, £12
Hoggart, garlic potato, rosemary and anchovy, £18
Venison, parsnips, red cabbage, chocolate and thyme, £18
Rhubarb sponge, stem ginger ice cream, £8

Sample drink prices
Bottle of beer: £3.75
Glass house wine: £4.25
Bottle house wine: £17.00
Cocktail: £9.00
Spirit & Mixer: £4.75
Bottle water: £2.95

Average price: £35 - £44
Address: 17 The Esplanade, Fowley, Cornwall, PL23 1HY

3.) Tabbs Restaurant

Tabbs restaurant in Truro is the life work of chef/owner Nigel Tabb, a refugee from the madness of London’s restaurant kitchens, and his wife Melanie. With chef’s chef Nigel in the kitchen and Melanie greeting guests, Tabbs, with two AA Rosettes, is now one of Cornwall’s most highly respected eateries. The lilac walls, leather seating and fine table settings set the scene. Seasonal, local produce goes into the inventive dishes, beautifully presented, with duck specialties always available. There’s an intelligent global wine list. Nigel butchers, fillets, bakes absolutely everything on site, and he’s notorious for his hand made chocolates.

Signature meal
Frequently-changing menu, but duck starter and main course are always on.

Sample dishes
Pan-fried scallops with smoked primrose herd bacon, pine nuts and a chive dressing, £8.95
Baked fillet of hake with a broth of snow peas, garlic, coriander and a little harrissa, £13.75
Crumble of mushrooms, leeks and peppers with a stilton and garlic crust, £12.50

Average price: £25 - £34
Address: 85 Kenwyn Street, Truro, TR1 3BZ

4.) The Bay Restaurant

The Bay Restaurant offers tranquil dining in a spacious, airy and stylish modern setting with a noticeably amiable atmosphere. Gaze out upon Mount’s Bay and over rooftops towards Penzance harbour as you are served regional and modern European cuisine by knowledgeable staff always on hand to help you choose the best of the local fish on offer (caught off nearby Newlyn) from their seasonal, ever changing menu, in which all meats and dairy produce are from local farms and vegetables and herbs are grown specially for The Bay. Wash down your meal with wine from all over the world - including Cornwall itself. The Bay restaurant is child friendly up until 7.30pm.

Average price: £25 - £34
Address: Britons Hill, Penzance, TR18 3AE

5.) Cornish Range Restaurant

Mousehole, home of the Cornish Range Restaurant, may well be the cutest place name in the British Isles while the town itself and even the traditional stone built building in which the restaurant lives are certainly in keeping. With a dining room bearing more than a hint of good old fashioned seaside cottage kitchen style, all simply white dressed tables and wooden chairs upholstered in blue and white stripes, the restaurant is an ideal introduction to Cornwall for the visitor and a fantastic local eaterie for the already well versed. With fresh fish landed daily at the nearby port of Newlyn on the menu every day plus meat from local farms and vegetables and dairy sourced from independent suppliers the menu has a true taste of the South West.

Average price: £25 - £34
Address: 6 Chapel Street, Mousehole, TR19 6SB

6.) The Bakehouse Restaurant

Penzance's Bakehouse Restaurant is a real Cornish gem, not to mention something of a surprise. In amongst the twee Cornwall tourist traps The Bakehouse stands out as a venue for the modern, young and funky. With an uber-contemporary interior, all stainless steel, clubby atmosphere and blocks of bright colour, The Bakehouse also offers the holy grail of seaside dining - the terrace, perfect for al fresco summer meals. Using the best Cornish produce Chef Andy Carr, well known in the area, fuses the traditional British with summery Mediterranean and International influences so it's bangers and mash on a cold winter’s evening but locally caught fresh fish on a sunny August afternoon.

Average price: £25 - £34
Address: Old Bakehouse Lane, Chapel Street, Penzance, TR18 4AE

7.) Lamplighter

Lamplighter is a delightful little white stone-walled restaurant in the centre of Probus, near Truro in Cornwall. A real fire and squishy settee welcome you to this cosy, candlelit den run by husband and wife, Robert and Mairead Vogel. He's the chef, she's front of house, supported by a pool of young locals. Lamplighter's mission statement, if you will, is 'refined cuisine from land and sea'. Put 'local' in there, and it's spot on. Everything Rob cooks comes from local farms and fish markets. Most of the time he has line-caught seabass on, and rack of Cornish lamb with dauphinoise potatotes and rosemary and Merlot jus. Everything comes with seasonal veg and homemade breads.

Average price: £25 - £34
Address: Fore Street, Probus, TR2 4JL

8.) Chantek

Chantek restaurant is a beautiful, modern restaurant on two floors in the heart of Truro - with a special attraction for vegetarians. The Pacific Rim cuisine employing local, seasonal produce is offered on an absolutely huge number of menus featuring sushi as well as fabulous traditional Thai dishes all prepared before your eyes in a dramatic open kitchen. Many can be made vegetarian. There are early evening menus and weekly specials, too. Chantek's lovely dining rooms feature bamboo, dark wood, light walls, up-to-the-minute seating and table settings, and striking photography and artifacts from the Far East. Some proceeds support the owners’ own charity in Sri Lanka, so you can eat well and do good all at once.

Average price: £24 and under
Address: 15 New Bridge Street, Truro, TR1 2AA

9.) Fistral Blu

Experience dreamy seaside sunsets and the tang of the salty air at Fistral Blu restaurant, a Newquay beachside favourite. The menu features an internationally-inspired menu of classic favourites - including excellent, locally-sourced fresh seafood - served in an informally cosy atmosphere. Large windows overlook Fistral Beach and the views are always stunning, no matter what time the tide is. Start with a sampler of Spanish-tyle tapas, and move on to local Cornish lobster (though they need 24 hours notice so they can catch you a fresh one). Drink in some house-made sangria while you soak up the sunset.

Average price: £25 - £34
Address: Fistral Beach, Headland Road, TR7 1HY

10.) The Old Coast Guard Hotel

The restaurant at The Old Coastguard Hotel in Mousehole has an airy, Mediterranean feel. By virtue of its having been a coastguard station, it has the very best views over Mount’s Bay – fact. The modern décor makes the most of the views, with smart, neutral colours, light wood floor, leather seating, white table linens, seaside-coloured modern art and rather enormous windows. The award-winning restaurant has a strong leader in chef Barnaby Mason. The menu makes full use of local sourcing without being doctrinaire, and consistently exceeds expectations with its seasonally-changing, modern British cooking focused on seafood. In summer, the sunny terrace in subtropical gardens with its stupendous vista may well be the loveliest place in Britain.

Average price: £24 and under
Address: The Parade, Mousehole, Penzance, TR19 6PR

Agree? Disagree? Got other choices? Let us know.

All of the above restaurants can be booked for free online at www.toptable.co.uk.