Success in the Food Mag Readers Awards!

It was a wonderful end to 2012 when, just as our annual closure kicked in early this month, Porthminster came away with the award for ‘Best Cafe’ at the Food Mag Readers Awards.

The team at Porthminster were over the moon to hear that readers of the magazine, which covers the whole of the South West, picked the beach cafe out in such a strong category. Runners-Up included Toast in Honiton, Bel Green in Exeter, the Duchy of Cornwall Nursery Cafe and Relish in Wadebridge.

The award recognised Porthminster Beach Cafe for its fantastic food, served in a relaxed and friendly environment. Voters also loved the way the Cafe makes the most of its stunning location, cultivating fresh herbs and vegetables in its small garden, foraging on the coastal path and championing sustainable fishing practices.

“2012 has been a great season, especially given the tough economic times,” said owner and Executive Chef Michael Smith. “We’re thrilled to win this award and we would like to thank everyone who voted for us. It’s down to the amazing team we have here, in the kitchen and out-front, and everyone behind the scenes. We have so much that is new and exciting planned for 2013 and this, along with a damn good rest, will give us a kick start!”

In its second year, the awards received thousands of votes as South West food-lovers shared their favorite places to eat, drink and shop across the region. An online voting system allowed consumers to vote quickly and easily for their best pubs, cafes, retailers, restaurants, hotels, local food and drink producers and chefs.

In the ceremony held at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was named as local food hero and best chef was Emily Scott of The Harbour Restaurant in Port Isaac. Best restaurant went to Ben’s Cornish Kitchen in Marazion, and best Foodie Hotel to Watergate Bay.

After letting their hair down in the sun or snow variously, the Porthminster team will return next month, with lots in store for 2013. Watch this space!

Foraging for Seaweed

Ever wondered about the practicalities of foraging for this widely available ingredient? Our chefs went on an epic excursion to learn more, kept in check (more or less!) by the capable hand of local forager Rory MacPhee. One of the youngest stars of the kitchen, Lucy Holland, is our latest guest blogger to give the inside story.

“This December the chefs from Porthminster Beach Cafe joined local forager Rory in discovery of edible seaweeds on and around the beach at Mawnan Smith, near Falmouth on the South Coast of Cornwall. Bright and early, we all meet in the restaurant sporting our best wellies ready for the days adventure!

Our foraging spot on Cornwall’s south coast

The Cafe has a great reputation for sustainability and it’s something which is ingrained in us in the kitchen right from the start. We love to use produce from just beyond our doorstep to create new and exciting dishes.

Mick learns more about foraging at the seashore

We were keen to learn more about foraging such a common plant as seaweed, which amoungst other things could provide us with a natural seasoning for some of our dishes.

Using seaweed to naturally enhance flavour

On our day with Rory, he explained all the different seaweeds and their beneficial factors, whilst introducing us to new ways we could use each variety in the kitchen. A firm favourite of ours for example is Dulse Seaweed, as we use this to create our own Cornish take on the Japanese dish Dashi. Also now appearing on the menu will be a sour dough bread containing Carrageenan, which was inspired by our foraging trip.

More of the days bounty

Some of the other seaweed discussed among us include Bladderwrack which is used in many medicines, Kelp which also appears in our Cornish Dashi, and the serrated Pepper Dulse, which has an intense flavour to it (this was popular with the chefs to have a nibble on!)

We all learnt a lot from Rory and after the days expedition were all itching to get back to the kitchen and try out some new creations!”

Porthminster Chefs let loose!

Rory MacPhee heads up the Falassa Project, which is undertaking coastal research between Fowey and the Lizard on Cornwall’s south coast in collaboration with the Seaweed Health Foundation. The aims are to protect the resources found at our coastal fringes, and to argue the case for the sustainable use of marine algae for nutrition, therapy, agri-food and energy.

“Seaweeds offer a spectacular addition to our diet and lifestyle. You can eat them; you can bathe in them; you can make ointments; you can turn them into cloth and bio-fuel, and you can fertilise your garden.”

The project generates funding through courses and the sale of foraged products and also things like seaweed spa kits. To find out more visit www.falassa.co.uk

Fifteen Farmers Market, Autumn 2012

Porthminster’s Executive Chef Michael Smith teamed up with friend Ryan Venning of The Herring for an inspiring demo at this year’s Fifteen Farmer’s Market.

The pair served up a treat for an audience of food lovers, creating a traditional Japanese Dashi Broth entirely from Cornish ingredients. “We’re having a bit of fun and going for a ‘rock pool’ effect as the end result,” explained Ryan, who prepared wonton’s coloured with squid ink to create a pebble-dash effect. These were stuffed with corriander, lime, chilli and ginger.

Ryan lets Michael do the talking!

Michael explained that many ingredients similar to those used to create a Dashi Broth in Japan could be found within the immediate surroundings of the beach café. For example sugar kelp from the shore line is now picked, boiled and dried and replaces Japanese kombu in the dish. Mackerel from St Ives bay is dried and used instead of bonito flakes.

Adapting local ingredients saves thousands of airmiles

Michael and Ryan added native oysters from Porthilly, local Lobster, mussels and clams, as well as some sea lettuce and foraged samphire to the broth. For a similar recipe and more details on how this Cornish Dashi was created, see our earlier recipe post.

Finishing touches

The audience were keen to have a try!

Thanks to Matthew Stevens and Son, who provided the local seafood for this dish. Ryan Venning is head chef at The Herring, located at Bedruthan Steps Hotel, Mawgan Porth.

Launching our ‘Signatures Menu’

We’ve created a new way to enjoy eating at Porthminster for the autumn and winter season. Find out more below, and don’t forget it’s easy to book online, so why not come and see us in St Ives?

Our award-winning Fish and Chips

Our new Signatures Menu was created for lunch and early evening, inspiring you to enjoy St Ives in all its glory and have a delicious, great value meal before heading home. It’s also a chance to try some of our favourite dishes for less. Starters include hearty, warming soups and our favourite – Salt and Spice Squid, as well as vegetarian dishes featuring delicious seasonal ingredients. For mains, as well as our famous Fish and Chips, you can tuck into Sticky Pork, Seafood Linguine or Sumac Spiced Goats Cheese Tart. If you’re holding out for dessert, why not try our Naked Chocolate Crème Brulee or a new season Apple Crumble with Lemon and Chamomile Ice Cream.

Two courses are just £17.95. Running throughout the autumn and winter, the Signatures Menu is available at lunch Tues – Fri, and dinner Thursday & Friday for tables booked up to and including 7.00pm.

Don’t tell everyone, but St Ives is stunning out of season!

Call 01736 795352 to check details or to talk to one of our team about your reservation.

Autumn at Porthminster

The autumn months may be a little quieter as the hustle and bustle of summer in Cornwall subsides, but it’s also the time of year which gives the chefs in our kitchen new impetus. Fresh ideas inspired by the changing season are dreamed up and refined, whilst signature dishes are slowly perfected. Below our Executive Chef Michael Smith tells us more about what’s on the menu this autumn. 

Executive Chef Michael Smith is busy reworking menus

“Autumn is a great time for us chefs and we’re doing some exciting things at Porthminster this year. Firstly we have refined the menu a little to focus and perfect our signature dishes – those that really reflect our style and ethos. For example our fish and chips are now served with hand-cut chips, triple cooked in duck fat. Porthminster Fish & Chips has won many awards in the past, but we now think they’re better than ever! Seafood Linguine is back, heaped with Cornish crab, mussels, squid and prawns and of course our Monkfish curry is as good as ever.

Delicious red mullet is on the menu once again, landed by day boats at Cadgwith Cove on The Lizard Peninsula. Earlier in the year Monty Hall’s series The Fisherman’s Apprentice highlighted the importance of eating local, sustainably caught seasonal fish; an ethos which benefits global fish stocks, local fisherman and the consumer. This has long been at the heart of what we do here and it’s fantastic to see sustainable fishing high on the agenda. Our red mullet is poached in coconut milk and served with white crab, compressed cucumber and celery salad, with jasmine rice and lime.

Other favourites you’ll still find on the menu include Salt & Spice Squid, Sticky Pork Belly and our Dashi Broth. The latter is made entirely with ingredients from our immediate surroundings, including foraged kelp and mackerel caught just out in the bay.

There are some new, richer dishes to try as the cold nights draw in. Our Cornish White Fish Soup is hearty and warming and our mussels are now served with the earthier flavours of Cornish cider, wild sorrel, nettles and tomato. We’re also pretty happy with our take on that English classic, the apple crumble! It’s served with lemon and chamomile ice cream, and of course a scoop of clotted cream in a nod to tradition.

Availability of local fish depends on weather conditions

Refining the menu in this way also means we can concentrate more on daily specials which make the most of the freshest fish of the day. Being a little quieter means we can be ultra adaptable – if a local boat hauls a fantastic catch it can go straight on the menu that evening. However sometimes as the weather gets rough at this time of year the boats can’t get out, that just means we serve more red meat and game as specials: we don’t have to compromise on quality. I’m excited about getting some fantastic partridge, pheasant and venison in shortly.

It’s a stunning time of year to be in St Ives. We’ve been having bright, blustery days recently and the town and beach look at their best in many ways. I’m really envious of people visiting St Ives when it’s like this!”

Coming soon – eat out for less with the early diners menu, plus the exciting new Porthminster Tasting Menu will be available in early November. Watch this space!

Trip to Champagne? If I must…..

Rebecca, our brilliant and unflappable front of house manager has had a busy year. Months have passed in a whirlwind of coffee beans, shift requests and stock sheets, and we thought she deserved to put her feet up. A long train trip seemed in order, so we sent her to Champagne, where the sounds of tinkling cutlery could no longer reach her….

Reims Cathedral

“Would you like to come on an all expenses paid overnight trip to the Ruinart Chateau for dinner and champagne tasting?”  When faced with this question over the phone, mid service on a busy September afternoon in the Café, my answer was easy!  And so after a mere twelve hours train travel from St.Ives, I arrived in Reims, a city of traditions and centuries-old know-how, and one of the main gastronomic centers of France.

The Champagne region is a very ancient province of France, consisting of 319 villages or vineyards, each one having its own characteristics and in total possessing an incredible 250km of cellars.

Prized stocks of past vintages

Ruinart is the oldest established champagne house, exclusively producing champagne since 1729.  Founded by Nicolas Ruinart, the house is today owned by the parent company LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton SA.

Ruinart cellars are among the largest in the region, and are Gallo-Roman in origin.  Like most cellars, they are the product of chalk mining, and extend 38 meters below ground and are 8km long.  The chalk helps to keep the cellars at a constant 11 degrees celcius.

Exploring the maze of ancient cellars

As we shivered our way through a fraction of the maze of ancient cellars, we were told how Nicolas Ruinart, an entrepreneur, came to make Ruinart an authentic champagne house.  In the period immediately following the 1728 edict of Louis XV, which authorized the transportation of wine in bottles, the house was established.  Prior to this edict, wine could only be transported in barrels, which made it impossible to transport wine to distant markets, and confined consumption primarily to its area of production.  Nicolas Ruinart founded the house of Ruinart in 1729.  The first delivery of ‘wine with bubbles’ went out in January 1730. At first the sparkling wine was a business gift for cloth purchasers, as Dom Ruinart’s brother was a cloth merchant, but six years later Maison Ruinart terminated its cloth selling activities due to its success in the champagne business.  Since then the house has kept the standards of excellence of its founders.

Tasting and food matches

After a chilly but fascinating cellar tour came the best bit, the champagne reception and dinner!  Ruinart has a long standing relationship with the Arts and its recently and beautifully renovated reception bar and dining hall holds some stunning art work to enjoy whilst sipping a glass of their Blanc de Blanc and enjoying a canapé or two!

At dinner each of the five courses were perfectly matched with one of their five champagnes, Ruinart Blanc de Blanc, Dom Ruinart, Dom Ruinart Rose, “R” de Ruinart and Ruinart Rose and each enjoyed all the more knowing the time and effort that goes into the production of each and every bottle at Ruinart.”

Too many bubbles Rebecca?!

We currently serve “R” de Ruinart Brut by the glass at the Café and Blanc de Blanc by the bottle. The latter goes spectacularly well with our Fish and Chips as well as the current new season oysters.

Join the Porthminster Network!

New for this Autumn, we’re launching an exclusive subscribers network. Those who sign up will gain access to special offers and preferential booking for future events, as well as the latest news, competitions and even a glimpse of some closely guarded recipes from our kitchen. If you’d like to join the network simply click here and fill in the form, it takes less than a minute!

We’ve lots planned for the next few months, including a new ‘Signatures Menu’, Foraging & Cookery Classes, Wine Dinners and the long awaited release of a certain recipe book (schhhh….) so make sure you’re in the know!

 

View from the Garden

In the first of our blogs focusing on Porthminster Beach Cafe’s garden, we meet the man responsible for its upkeep and find out what it’s like to garden in this unique location.

Davey plays a crucial role in what we do at Porthminster Beach Cafe, and yet he is rarely seen by guests. It is the more green-fingered diners who find their attention caught by his work in the compact, terraced garden nestled behind the cafe, the source of fresh herbs, fruits, flowers and vegetables used every day. This slope was waste ground until a few years ago, when it was transformed with stunning results, principally by Jim and Julie Horn, who’s son was one of the original apprentices in the kitchen. Jim and Julie have since moved onto pastures new, and Davey has taken over the task of nurturing the project.

“It’s a great location in many ways” says Davey, who spends many hours in this green enclave, perched above the beach, with the hustle and bustle of the cafe going on below. However it’s also far from ideal from a horticultural point of view. “The slope is north-facing and there are several large trees at the back which limit sun exposure,” explains Davey. “To an extent I can combat this by planting the most sun-loving plants at the front, where they’ll get the most light. We just have to be careful that these plants don’t grow too high and themselves create shade.” Mint and chives do a little better in shadier spots so they go at the back. A stream runs down the edge of the plot and is the source of watercress for the kitchen.

Chefs enjoy the garden before a busy service

Towards the front of the slope, thyme, oregano and rosemary take over. “In recent years we’ve moved to more Mediterranean herbs because the soil is sandy and full of rocks. It drains very quickly” says Davey. This can be helped by heavily composting (the garden is organic, and kitchen waste is used to nourish the soil). “We need intensive measures for the courgettes – it’s been the worst year!” Usually Courgette Flowers are a sought-after favourite in the cafe (stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes, goat’s cheese and pine nuts for example) but this year they’ve been in like gold dust due to the poor weather.

Elsewhere in the garden Davey grows horseradish, wild rocket, jerusalem artichokes, lemon balm and verbena. Colourful chard emerges in springtime and in the winter garlic and shallots from the garden supply the cafe. Fruits include raspberries (red and golden), blackcurrants (the chefs also use the leaves) and wild strawberries. Mustard, thyme and chives flowers, as well as borage, are colourful garnishes for an array of dishes, and Davey plans to introduce more edible flowers next year – nasturtiums and hollyhock for example.

“We’re always changing and trying to find new ways to get the most out of this unique site,” says Davey. “It’s rewarding to see the chefs come up here before service to gather herbs, fruits, flowers and use them straight away.”

If you’re visiting the cafe you’re welcome to take a closer look at our garden and you might be lucky enough to spot a chef or two gathering ingredients for your meal!

Herbs and flowers picked fresh daily

“Thank you cafe people!”

More from those all important restaurant critics, the under 12s, whose happiness can make or break a family occasion….

This is from Beau, who loved our ‘tree pudding’ (Petit Fours!)

My name is Beau and I am 5 and I went to the  Porthminster Beach Cafe with my Brother, Sister, Mummy and Daddy, Nanny and  Bampy, Uncle Alec and his fried Al.  I was really excited when I got there  because I’d been there once before and had Lobster with pinchy claws.  It  was  lovely sunny day and I saw lots of people on the beach through the  window by our table.  I had yummy garlic bread and pasta, I had some of  Daddy’s fish and chips and one of Al’s muscles, I really liked the muscle.   Then I had the Tree Pudding (Petit Fours) which was brilliant, I had the turkish delight and the chocolate peanut butter ball, I shared the tree with my brother and sister.  After lunch we sat at the outdoor table next to the barbecue  and the man cooking there gave us two clam shells.  I had a brilliant time that day, thank you cafe people.
Beau Fulker

And this from Beau’s sister Robin, who seems to have enjoyed all three courses!

Dear Porthminster  Beach Cafe, I am Robin and I am eight years old.  My family, me, my Uncle  Alec, my Nanny and Bampy, and my Uncle’s friend Al, came to your Beach  Cafe.  ell, the food, gosh, I have NEVER, EVER tasted such delicious food.  For my starters I had garlic bread.  But oh, it wasn’t any old  garlic bread, oh, no.  The crisp hot crust burned my tongue like fire burning a log.  For my main I had battered fish and red hot creamy  chips.  It was HUGE!  But that does not mean I can not empty it.   A minute later it was…… EMPTY!  Finally it was time for pudding.   I had the tree pudding (Petit Fours) and ice cream.  Here is a picture of  my little brother enjoying his pasta. 

Thank you for reading, yours  sincerely, Robin Fulker.

We hope you all return soon, so Beau and Robin can get the VIP treatment!

Tomato pasta going down well?

By popular demand – recipe from The Times 16/08/12

One of our latest creations – a dashi broth made from Cornish ingredients and served with line-caught mackerel – featured in The Times last week. For those who missed it, here’s the recipe, and some words on our exec chef Michael Smith:

“Chefs tend to be a peripatetic bunch, but Australian-born Michael Smith has stayed put for more than a decade. “It’s such a fantastic location. We have to pinch ourselves everyday when we look out the back door of the kitchen at this amazing vista of St Ives bay,” says Smith, who has won acclaim for putting an Asian and Mediterranean twist on Cornish ingredients.”

Line-caught mackerel with Cornish dashi broth

serves 4

INGREDIENTS

25g sun-dried sugar kelp or dried kombu seaweed

50g dried flaked mackerel (this is semi-cured, smoked and dehydrated fresh mackerel fillets. Dried bonito flakes can also be used)

2 litres pure fresh water

1 live lobster (approx 450g)

4 whole mackerel fillets, butterflied with tail leftintact (you can get your fishmonger to do this for you)

8 hand-dived Cornish scallops, shelled and cleaned

12 Fowey mussels

12 Palourde surf clams

200g egg noodles

1 small chilli, thinly sliced

1 tsp fresh ginger, pulped

1 head Cornish greens or bok choi

4 spring onions, finely sliced

METHOD:

Put the kelp or kombu in a pan with the water, simmer for 10 minutes then cool to 80C. Add the mackerel or bonito flakes and steep in the stock for 5-10 minutes until they fall to the bottom. Strain through a muslin cloth and return to the heat. Boil until reduced by a third or until the flavour is to your satisfaction. Set aside.

Place the lobster in the freezer for 10 minutes then plunge into boiling salted water for 8-9 minutes. When cooled shell the lobster tail and claw meat and slice into chunks, reserving the legs in the shell for garnish.

Season the mackerel and push a toothpick through both fillets at the head end to create a small boat-like shape with the tail sticking up in the air. Place on a tray with a small ladle of the dashi stock added to it and cook in the oven for 4-5 minutes at 190C/ gas mark 5.

In a saucepan add the scallops, mussels and clams with the remaining dashi and bring to the simmer, then add the noodles, chilli, greens and ginger and reserved lobster meat including the legs and continue to simmer for three minutes.

Divide the noodles and greens between four large bowls and place a mackerel tail-up on top of each bowl. Ladle the dashi around the fish, while keeping the skin crisp. Divide the clams, mussels, scallops and lobster meat equally between the bowls.

At the restaurant, the dish is enhanced with pork-belly won tons and foraged samphire.