Rick Stein- Seafood

Fish, It Excites Me

"Nothing is more exhilarating than fresh fish simply cooked" (R. Stein).

Rick Stein is one of the most famous chefs in UK, and he’s also the un-mistakable ruler of a small town named Padstow, located in Cornwall in South-West England. Stein has five restaurants in this town, plus a bakery, a deli, a gift shop and even a hotel. You can’t avoid Stein’s name and contribution to humanity when you wonder around this town on the coast of the Atlantic. I did the same thing I do in all trips – look after the all-important culinary itinerary, which means in this case, to announce when we are going to pay a ‘state visit’ to Rick Stein’s famous seafood restaurant

Every year, the last weekend of August is a Bank Holiday in UK, which means you get an extra day to the weekend, which allows you to take a more relaxed vacation during which you get to do something. So we went on a trip to Cornwall in South England, an area of wonderful green sights, dramatic cliffs falling into the ocean, and of course scrumptious seafood.

Saturday, 18:00: Back together with GD+MD to our lovely cabin in the middle of nowhere, after a day of excellent sightseeing. Quick refresh and we’re on our way out

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19:00: ‘Baby I’m ready to go’... we’re on our way!

19:30: Excited to be in Padstow – a very cute town, and Stein’s name is everywhere! Like the Big Brother. We split from GD+MD – they don’t fancy seafood – their loss...

 those of you who follow in real-time even reacted in real-time (:

19:45: A lovely host receives us at the entrance, he has a weird accent (not London – we already know that), took our coats (we can fell the winter is approaching though it’s only August) and took us to our seats at the bar. I must say that I tried to book a table about two weeks in advance, but since it’s a weekend when all of the UK are on holiday, we weren’t able to get a table except at the bar. Personally I’m OK with sitting there – in many cases you get special treats from the barman, which improves things a lot. The restaurant itself is designed with elegant simplicity. Light wood furniture, white tablecloths, and paintings that would fit in a modern art gallery on the walls. At the entrance we are greeted by an impressive wall of wine bottles, which presents, among many others, wines from Mr. Stein’s collection... did I mention Big Brother already?

19:50: Got the menu and feeling enthusiastic like a girl in a candy shop who doesn’t know what to choose. After a quick elimination of all the kinds of oysters, which I’m not allowed to eat any, I see that the stars of the menu are crabs and lobsters, wow what a feast this is going to be! Can’t wait for them to bring my tools of destruction – the cracker used to break the lobster’s armour – I’m ready to order! SHOOT!

First off we got a basket of home-made bread and butter and a complimentary mini-dish from the chef – smallish balls of shrimp wrapped by Tamago (Japanese omelette) with a sweety Asian dressing – very tasty. We also ordered Sauvignon Blanc wine that will go well with the dishes we order (£24).

I think I won’t write too much about my starter and you will simply see the pictures for yourselves. I can’t find good enough words to describe this wonder. So simple and yet so delicious. It was a salad of lobster meat, green beans, avocado and foie gras with touches of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (£16.5)... If I could just lick the plate after I finished...Never had anything like it – really!

My beloved ordered Jamon Iberico, a dish described by the menu as ‘the best cured ham in the world’! And before it was served to us – the black pigs were fed no less than acorns (does it really matter that those pigs are black?!) and matured for at least 3 years (£16.5). The dish is recommended with a small glass of white sherry – we were glad to accept the recommendation and the sherry’s Muscat taste went really well with the ham’s aroma (£4.35). I must say that the dish we got didn’t look so nice, and it’s a pity, because the taste was so much better than the dish’s appearance.

20:45: Bring out the trumpets, roll out the cannons, the mains are on their way!

Those who know me know that one of the things I like most is eating with my hands, when a knife and fork are only a recommendation. I ordered the Singapore Chilli Crab – a crab that was stir-fried in a wok with garlic, ginger, chilli and coriander (£24.5). The menu explains, that this dish is for ‘those who love eating with their hands and getting gloriously messy!’ (that’s so me). When they set the table for me just before the dish arrived, they really didn’t put any cutlery, but only a cracker for breaking the armour, a small fork to extract the crab’s meat, extra napkins and a bowl of warm water with lemon – they really know their stuff here.

I had crabs in many places before I got here, but this was the best. The amount of meat the crab had demonstrated the restaurant’s loyalty to providers of fresh product in the right season, the flavours were very accurate, and the presence of the coriander wasn’t disturbing even for somebody who isn’t it’s greatest fan like me. I got silly dirty and enjoyed every second.

My beloved also went crazy with this and ordered a lobster. Now, my beloved, as opposed to me, doesn’t really like to mess around with the food, likes simplicity without the need to extract the meat from between the pincers. There’s something also for people like him! His lobster was prepared in the classical ‘Thermidor’ style which is now going through a renaissance, where the chef pulls out the lobster’s meat, concocts it with butter, cream, herbs and a little tomato sauce, and then puts the meat back into the armour. The meat simply dissolves pleasantly in your mouth, and thrashes the kind of restaurants that show off their lobsters at the front as if saying ‘look, we got lobsters’. Honest and faithful to the ingredients, the dish that got to our table was simple but exquisite, which didn’t make us feel sorry that we paid dearly for it (£39.5).

21:45: The feeling of victory and satisfaction from our food is stronger than I can describe. Every 2-3 bites we simply stop and mumble something like mmm.... wow.... yum yum yum... when are we doing this again?! If I only had a second stomach and an oversized bank account I would do it all again, from the very first minute.

21:50: I decided to go for a ‘I’m on my way to my table’ round the restaurant, just to see what the others are having, and believe me that they were also partying hard with Mr. Stein. Huge plates of oysters, shrimps, fish, and all other gorgeous seafood, of which we can only fantasize until the next time we’ll get to this place.

21:55: For desert we share crème brulee (£8.5), nothing new here except for the excellent taste of vanilla, and the fact that it was light enough after a rather serious meal. The sugar crust was by the book and it was nice to dip the pecan and white chocolate biscotti in the gentle cream. A real indulgence.

As I said in the beginning, one of the perks of sitting at the bar is the complimentary extras, so together with the espresso we got a black slate plate with chocolate truffles and cubes of sugared marmalade, real treats until the last moment.

22:30: Leaving the restaurant on our way to the cabin, already started to dream of getting back here. It was p-e-r-f-e-c-t, one day we will definitely be back... we miss the place already.

How to get there?

Riverside, Padstow,cornwall

Tel: 01841532700

P.S I had to add another pic of my great starter!