Where we ate in St Ives, Cornwall 2023

I always find it really hard to decide where to eat out when we have a week down in Cornwall, simply because there’s just so much choice.

As well as deciding which of our old favourites to visit, there are always plenty of new restaurants or pubs that have opened up since our last trip that we want to try.

Here’s where we ate on this trip…

Becks are located in Carbis Bay, the town just before St Ives. On our past two trips we’ve stopped off here on our way into St Ives to get fish & chips for dinner. After an 8 hour drive, we always just want something quick and delicious, and Becks is the perfect place.

There are some great fish & chip options in St Ives (like The Harbour) but we always go to Becks now because they are the best option for Nick’s dietary requirements. He’s gluten free, and they have a dedicated fryer for gluten free fish & chips so there’s no risk of contamination. And they taste incredible too!

This was either our 3rd or 4th visit to Talay Thai; since it opened we’ve always eaten here when we come to St Ives, and I was very excited this time to get a window seat!! The restaurant is on the harbour, so the views are amazing.

At Talay Thai you have the option of a typical menu with starters, mains, etc or they serve a lot of dishes as a tapas size so you can order a few different smaller size dishes and try more of the menu.

This time Nick and I ordered a couple of larger plates to share. They have some great gluten free options, and I’d recommend the pad kee mao.

Silco is new in St Ives (although maybe not so new now - we just hadn’t been down for a little while so it was new to us!). It’s owned by St Ives Liquour Co, the same people who have The Searoom bar a couple of doors down.

This was my favourite meal of the trip. So much so that I’m going to write a separate blog post about it with more detail. They serve some incredible sharing plates, and if you’re in the area you need to have a meal here.

The Mex has to be the restaurant we’ve eaten at most when we come to Cornwall, even when we’ve been down for a short trip we always manage to fit in a meal here.

I ordered fish tacos this time from the specials menu and they were so good. They were a really generous portion size too with plenty of fish, and topped with pickled cabbage, guacamole, salsa, and a good squeeze of lime.

It’s a really small restaurant with just a few tables, so if you want to visit here make sure you book in advance.

We first ate at The Ferry Boat a couple of years ago, and I had the most amazing moules-frites. I’ve followed them on Instagram since, and just before our holiday I saw they were starting up serving Sunday roasts again the day after we arrived in St Ives so I booked a table straight away.

The roast beef was amazing, so delicious. And a really generous portion with loads of different veggies.

We parked up at Bosveal car park and walked to the restaurant from there, it took around 40 mins and was a really nice scenic walk. And a great to walk off a big meal on the way back.

The Standard opened last year, and is owned by Simon Stallard who also has The Hidden Hut. It was a little bit of a drive over to Portscatho from St Ives, but we took the King Henry ferry across the river which made it a more interesting journey.

We met some friends here for lunch, and I ordered the smoked beef sandwich with caramelised onion, Cornish gouda, pickles, fries, and a beef bone gravy. This was amazing, so delicious! And such a huge portion too so sadly I had no room for dessert.

When we next come to Cornwall we’re going to come here for the Sunday lunch because I’ve heard great things about it.

Where are your favourite places to eat in Cornwall? Let me know in the comments below which restaurants I should try on our next visit.