Visit: 16 and 18 June 2025, breakfasts and dinner for two
Price: **
Website: https://rickstein.com/restaurants/the-seafood-restaurant/
Review:
I’ve visited the Seafood Restaurant in Padstow many times and you can see previous reviews and pictures here:
Head Chef Pete Murt first joined the group as a kitchen porter at St Petroc’s Bistro in 2000, and rose through the ranks with the Stein’s chef apprentice academy. He briefly joined Claude Bosi’s two-Michelin-starred Hibiscus in London, and returned in 2015 to help launch the Stein Sandbanks restaurant in Dorset.
Although there was a very nice 50 year celebration menu, with four courses selected from the past half century for only £65pp, we chose from the a la carte menu both evenings we eat there.
I tried the appetizer of tempura battered courgette flower which was served with a sweet chilli dipping sauce. The courgette was nice enough, but would have been much better if it was stuffed, maybe using salt cod following Rick’s own recipe “Courgette flowers stuffed with brandade de Nîmes” from Secret France. Simply “tempuraing” a courgette flower seemed a bit of a waste.
The Cornish salted Baerii caviar served with blinis, shallots, and crème fraiche was served on a dome of ice. The taste of the Baerii was nice, but I should have ordered the Oscietra or Beluga which is much better.
Our starter courses of Bigoli in Cassopipa, which was a mixed seafood pasta of prawns, scallops, mussels and squid with a Byzantine spice mix, and the sea bass ceviche, served with chilli, pomegranate and coriander, were both nice but didn’t have the pazzazz I remember from my previous visits.
Much better were our main courses. Previous visits to Padstow require three trips to the Seafood Restaurant so we can eat the Dover sole meunière one night, lobster thermidor the next, and the turbot and hollandaise on the final night. For me, these are classic dishes that I really enjoy, especially at the Seafood Restaurant. We only eat in the restaurant twice on this visit so I had to forgo the turbot. The whole Dover sole, served meunière, fried and served with noisette butter was fabulous. The brown butter was served in a small pan on the side, so I could pour it over my chips. I asked for the fish to be filleted at the table and our waiter removed the bones with aplomb.
The lobster thermidor was also superb. The Padstow lobster is cooked in a light cream and Noilly Prat sauce with herbes, gratinated with Parmesan, and served with thin cut chips. The recipe used here is slightly different to other restaurants and tastes much lighter, which I enjoy. We also ordered a side dish of fresh garden peas and broad beans with Parmesan which was very nice, especially with my brown butter sauce.
The restaurant was full both nights we eat there, so it looks like it’s as popular as ever. There is a fabulous vibrancy to this restaurant that I really enjoy, and it’s something most restaurants don’t seem to have these days. Even with a full house, the service was good, with drinks, wine and food all appearing in good time.
I’ll be going back again, and if you are in or near Padstow, then I would recommend a visit.
The Menus:
The Food:
The Breakfast:
The Menu
Grilled Craster kipper for breakfast:
Full English breakfast:
Grilled fresh hake for breakfast:
The Restaurant:
Inside the restaurant
The Bar
