Before Christmas, we popped down to Porthleven for a delicious evening meal at Kota!

I’ve only ever visited this quaint and quirky fishing port town a couple of times; once on a creative writing day with Sarah, once for a summer walk along the beach, and once to catch up with Alex at the amazing ice-cream shop – Nauti But Ice!

I really should make an effort to visit more often, as there are so many fun boutique shops to explore and cafes to try – not to mention a couple of very popular restaurants that are well renowned throughout Cornwall.

One of those being ‘Kota’; an award-winning two AA rosette restaurant on the harbour front, owned by New Zealand chef Jude Kereama. It’s well-known for it’s Cornish-Asian style menu and harbour views in summer.

On our visit, of course, it was Wintry and dark outside, but the atmosphere indoors felt cosy and festive, and we opted to try the Special drink of the day – a gin & tonic with Tarquin’s Mulled Cranberry and Tangerine gin!

We were also greeted with some hor d’oeuvres; mini balls of confit of duck (which Alex assured me were delicious!) and some cute-looking pink cheese macarons.

For starters, I chose pan-fried hake with beetroot and shredded pickled cauliflower, which tasted fantastic! Meanwhile, Alex chose the ham hock terrine, but in the end I think he preferred mine – I could have had that twice over as a main course to be honest.

…And I almost did! For our main course we chose the same; pan-fried hake again but this time in a really interesting combination with dauphine potatoes and green curry. Again, this was lovely but I was already rather full by this point so had to try very hard to finish it!

I wish I could have fitted in dessert, because when Alex ordered his vanilla pannacotta (my favourite!) with kiwi jelly, honeycomb and raspberry sorbet I was green with envy! I think it might just be my favourite dessert now, and I only could manage a couple of spoonfuls. The kiwi jelly with the vanilla was amazing and I wish I could have eaten a whole one to myself.

Being a well-known restaurant with an award-winning chef, most peoples’ first thought when you mention Kota is how expensive it might be. However we found their set menu to be extremely good value (2 courses for £20 or 3 for £25), and we actually chose it because we preferred the options on there anyway – so don’t be put off by the name!

If you’re interested in visiting Kota, definitely take a look on their website and be sure to book in advance! They’re closed until February 14th but after that there’s no doubt they’ll fill up quick.