Visit: 3 October 2021
Price: *
Website: https://www.paul-ainsworth.co.uk/the-mariners/about/
The Review:
Paul and Emma Ainsworth relaunched The Mariners pub in Rock, Cornwall in May 2019 following Nathan Outlaw’s decision to end his partnership with the pub after five years. This pub has 130-covers and looks over Cornwall’s beautiful Camel Estuary. Sharp’s Brewery lead on the beer offering. The Mariners was awarded the best pub gong in GQ magazine’s Best Pub of the Year 2020.
The Mariners is open Tuesday to Saturday offering an all-day menu, and there is a Sunday lunch menu from 11.45am-5pm.
The menu is designed by Paul and head chef Joe Rozier and focuses on British classics while championing the best of local Cornish produce.
We ordered two “small plates” of “Hunters Snags”, which are delicious, rare breed Tamworth sausages glazed in marmalade and Pommery mustard, and very good fried buttermilk chicken, with garam masala, and chipotle mayonnaise. These were both excellent.
The market fish of the day was plaice, and this was served with potted brown shrimp, garlic, parsley, lemon and lime, pangrattato (crispy breadcrumbs).
The surprise for me was the roast Cornish Dexter beef sirloin, with shortrib, beef dripping roast potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding. This was very, very good, maybe the best Sunday beef lunch I’ve ever eaten! The sirloin was perfectly cooked, pink in the centre, and very tasty, and the shortrib was served as a ragout. The Yorkshire pudding was fresh out of the oven and far superior to the usual puddings that often taste as if they’ve been lying around the kitchen for the last few hours. There was a spoonful of onion gravy at the bottom of the pudding which was a very nice touch. The beef gravy was deep and tasty. It was served with the usual accompaniments, roasted carrots, beans, and cauliflower cheese, and all of these were very good as well.
The pub is on two floors and food is served on both. There is a balcony upstairs overlooking the estuary where you can enjoy pre-dinner drinks. The service was excellent and, considering the location, the lunch and drinks are very reasonably priced.
I’m going back for more beef. If you are in the area, then you won’t be disappointed.
The Menus:
The Food:
