Run by acclaimed chef, Michael Caines MBE, The Cove is nestled into the coast of Maenporth beach just outside of Falmouth.
With a Michelin star under his belt, Michael Caines is well known for his quality dishes and great service throughout his different restaurants, and after taking over The Cove in 2020, he’s brought his fine dining background to a more relaxed, seaside setting.
We actually visited The Cove just over a year ago and didn’t have a good experience, due to poor service and a confused & expensive menu. I was sceptical about returning, however since then it seems to have totally changed and updated things!
The service we experienced and saw around us this time had much more of a friendly yet fine dining vibe, and the format of the menu is completely different; offering a two course or three course price (rather than a la carte), with lots of surprise extra courses in between which makes the value so much better! We had a great evening and would definitely recommend a visit.
I think it’s important to give restaurants places a second chance if your first visit isn’t what you expected, especially after time has passed for them to change, and especially if your first visit was during the height of COVID19 as this had really difficult effects on local businesses here in Cornwall as well.
Anyway, onto the food!
We opted for the 3 course evening menu option (for £55 per person) and started off with a couple of cocktails – opting for a Strawberry Mojito each. These were super sweet and tasty and there were loads of other choices on the cocktail menu too (including mocktails).
A sweet potato & coconut amuse bouche surprised us as we weren’t expecting there to be any extra courses, but loved this and our breads that arrived with soft salted butter too.
To start with, I chose the Crab Remick which was seriously scrummy – the portion size was great as well with lots of crab to enjoy. Meanwhile Alex chose the tomato and red pepper gazpacho.
For main course, Alex chose the rump of lamb served with a rosemary potato terrine. It looked spectacular and tasted great too! While I chose one of the specials; a pan fried halibut fillet with caramelised fennel risotto. This was INCREDIBLE – probably my favourite course. The flavours were perfect 👌🏼
We were then served a tasty little pre-dessert palate cleanser of green apple sorbet with honeycomb. Loved the combination of the sharp and sweet together.
We were both very tempted by the Specials desserts – a treacle tart with white chocolate ice cream for Alex (very Autumnal!) and a dark chocolate sphere with pistachio ganache. This was super rich but amazing – I’ve never tried pistachio with sweet stuff (nope, never tried the ice cream!) but I absolutely loved the combination.
The Cove is family friendly and dog friendly, and offers a lunch, evening and tasting menu! Learn more on their website.
*We were invited for a complimentary meal in exchange for an Instagram review. I had no obligation to write a blog review but really enjoyed our dinner so wanted to share here as well :)
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