Ben is celebrating his fifth anniversary at the restaurant this month, an amazing achievement. I ate at Ben’s last time we were down in Cornwall and had a genuinely excellent lunch. The ambiance, service, ethos and cooking all add up to a great package. I’m not the only one to think so either; The Waitrose Good Food Guide gave Ben a score of 5 this year for ‘exact cooking technique and a degree of ambition; showing balance and depth of flavour in dishes’, and Jay Rayner gave him a truly excellent review recently in the Guardian.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/03/restaurant-reviews-bens-cornish-kitchen
So to cook with Ben and mutual friend Adrian Oliver from Margot’s in Padstow as part of the anniversary celebrations seemed pretty perfect. Adrian and I have cooked together a few times before and have done some demos as well. We first met at the Kaiwecare charity dinner in London a few years ago when Adrian did a top job helping me with my course for the dinner. Again I have eaten at Margot’s several times now and I really see a similarity in the food we all cook and the restaurants we run. Smallish venues, small teams, a desire to give a relaxed dining experience and food that is seasonal, regional but, above all, about delivering great flavour.
We took two courses each to create a six course tasting menu and personally I think it all came off very well! No dramas, no egos, Ben’s fantastic front of house team and his Mum looking after us all. Add to that the support of Ben’s customers, mutual friends, suppliers and family and an exciting evening was had by all in the restaurant and kitchen.
Awesome cooking with you gents!
Add to the mix a wonderful dinner at Rojanos in Padstow, excellent accommodation at Rick Steins St Petrocs and a few beers along the way and this was a very special start to our holiday!
Many thanks to;
Ben Prior @Cornishkitchen benscornishkitchen.com
Adrian Oliver @Adrian_Margots www.margotsbistro.co.uk
@Rojanos @Paul_Dodd14 @PaulAinsw6th @Bosfestival @Rick_Stein St Petrocs Bistro
