Home to Stein’s Fish & Chips, Stein’s Deli and Stein’s Coffee Shop, as well as the eye-wateringly expensive flagship Seafood Restaurant and the chic St Petroc’s Brasserie, it’s hard to visit the Cornish coastal town of Padstow and not experience the Rick Stein phenomenon in one form or another.
Rick Stein’s Cafe adds yet another string to the celebrity chef’s bow and is a casual, family-friendly space complete with three contemporary bedrooms upstairs that can be rented for overnight stays. The Cafe features a pleasant, rather intimate dining room with bright contemporary art on the walls and close-packed wood tables, with young and cheerful service matching the ambience.
Like much of Stein’s restaurant empire, the Cafe champions seafood dishes made using local produce and the menu changes regularly to reflect the ingredients available to the kitchen team. While the Cafe might make use of its local larder, there’s no surprise that well-travelled Stein has peppered the menu with a few international influences too - think Vietnamese pho and Thai fish cakes.
Open daily from 8am, the menu here kicks off with a range of breakfast dishes, from the traditional full English to the au fait smashed avocado on toast. At lunchtime, diners can take advantage of a set menu (three courses for £26.95) which begins with the likes of salt and pepper prawns, followed by cod curry inspired by Southern India and rounded off with sweet treats such as a sunken chocolate cake with Cornish clotted cream.
Come dinner time, the menu is much the same, although burgers and steaks from the grill are introduced, the latter coming from much-awarded butcher Phillip Warren. All of the expected wines and spirits are available here, while children are welcome with open arms and there is a dedicated ‘mini Stein’s’ menu available at both lunch and dinner.