8 Foodie Places in St Ives

St Ives has an adventure of food opportunities around its cobbled streets and hidden alleyways. It is quite frankly one of the best places to get something to eat in Cornwall.

With an abundance of choices, we thought we’d help you to make a decision by putting together a list of some of the ones that we know are said to be well worth a try!

1) Bean Inn: (Perfect for an evening meal or take-away)

For the vegan and vegetarians amongst you, this is a must try! The Bean Inn are situated in Carbis Bay, just a mile out from the centre of St Ives, but they are well worth the journey over to them. The café and restaurant were set up 20 years ago to offer the opportunity to really see what lengths vegetarian cuisine can be taken to, and these guys deliver! With a nice big menu full of options to choose from, the choice to make the dish vegan or vegetarian, with a variety of flavours and influences all sourced from local farms and providers.

Open Tuesday – Saturday; 5pm to 10:30pm, with last seating taken at 8:30pm. Booking advised. Take away menu available with collections from 5 – 8:30pm, Tuesday to Saturday.

2) The Cornish Deli: (Perfect for brunches, lunches, dinner and take-away)

This classic little deli, situated just back from the harbour front, is perfect for a quick fuel stop, a relaxed lunch break, or a quirky evening dine. Serving up a delight of options from doorstop club sandwiches, steak frites, and patas bravas, to crab linguini and pan-fried hake with all the accompaniments, this family run deli is a definite hidden gem.

Open Monday to Saturday; from 9:30am with a 5-minute walk from us here at Sail Lofts. Check out their ‘deli to go’ option where they can make you up a picnic for a day at the beach.

3) Source Kitchen: (Perfect for brunch, lunch and dinner)

We are spoilt for choice of local produce here in St Ives, with the harbour right on our doorstep and acres of surrounding farm lands, you’ll be sure to be consuming the very best of what Cornwall can provide. Source Kitchen is a unique and one-of-a-kind little venue that uses only locally and extremely fresh caught ingredients and produce to serve up an amazing menu of dishes. Featured on Rick Stein’s Cornwall with the BBC and in the Sunday Times, the guys at Source Kitchen are eager to inspire and impress you with their recipes.

With a short 4-minute walk to Source Kitchen from us here in Sail Lofts, you can have a nice relaxed meander down to grab some delightful food. Source Kitchen is open Monday to Saturday 10am – 10pm, and then Sunday 10am – 4pm.

4) Talay Thai: (Perfect for lunches and evening dining)

Are you a fan of Thai food? But after a bit of a twist? With some exceptional dining views? – then look no further; Talay Thai sits on the harbour front and overlooks St Ives harbour, bay and out beyond over to Gwithian and Hayle. It is a tapas styled street food set up, meaning you get to try a selection of their dishes rather than spending ages trying to choose one option. At Talay you will experience what it would be like to have authentic Thai street food in a comfortable, atmospheric setting.

A 6-minute walk from us here at Sail Lofts. Talay Thai is open Thursday to Sunday 12pm – 10pm and then Monday to Wednesday 12pm – 3pm and then 5pm – 10pm.

5) The Rum and Crab Shack: (Perfect for lunches and evening dining)

If you have a hankering for all things crab and shellfish paired with some delightful rums, then you cannot go wrong with a trip to the Rum and Crab shack. Started in 2012 by a couple of locals who had a burning desire to pair their two loves; rum and crab, the shack has been impressing and thrilling customers ever since.  You can find options such as crab dirty fries, crab mac and cheese and whole dressed crabs as well as other dishes influenced by our neighbours in the Americas such as; the shack gumbo, jerk chicken and their impressive Louisiana seafood bowl sharer.

The Rum and Crab shack are open Monday to Friday 12pm to 12am and sit just a short 5-minute walk from us here at the Sail Lofts.

6) Beer and Bird: (Perfect for evening dining and take aways)

Beer and Bird give KFC a run for their money. These guys have got chicken dishes sorted and of course, all paired with some fine local and nation favourite beers. The Beer and Bird are set-up in the main highstreet of St Ives and offer visitors the opportunity to taste and explore the full breadth of chicken dishes. Don’t worry, there are also some vegetarian and vegan options to suit all palettes and preferences.

Beer and Bird are open Monday to Sunday 4pm – 10:30pm and just a short 4-minute walk from us here at the Sail Lofts.

7) The Mermaid: (Perfect for evening dining with lunches in the summer)

The Mermaid Café has been noted as the most ‘romantic restaurant in St Ives’ and sits very close to us here at Sail Lofts with a short 2-minute walk around to the old ‘down-a-long’; otherwise known as the old fishing quarter of St Ives. Influenced by its seafood heritage, the Mermaid Café is also one of St Ives oldest and most popular family run restaurants. Serving up a full seafood inspired menu of monkfish, tiger prawn and chorizo, seabass and lemon sole, pots of seafood and local hake from ‘Hakey Bay’.

Open Monday to Saturday 6pm – 9pm.

8) The Lifeboat Inn: (Perfect for lunches and evening meals)

The Lifeboat Inn sits neatly next to the St Ives RNLI lifeboat station, hence the name, and overlooks St Ives Harbour. A traditional styled pub that is brimming with foodie delights. Its most iconic has to be their Sunday roast burritos that take a Yorkshire pudding to a whole new level. This cosy, friendly and spacious pub serves up a good selection of dishes to suit all palettes and is welcoming to all throughout the day.

Open Monday to Sunday 11am – 11pm and just a 6-minute walk from us here at Sail Lofts via the scenic route of the St Ives Harbour and Wharf Road.

Staying with Sail Lofts

St Ives has been influenced over the many years by the local produce and environment around it to bring culinary delights sometimes only seen in St Ives itself. When visiting us here at Sail Lofts in one of our luxury apartments, you will be moments away from a plethora of options of places to eat, dine, relax and sample to your hearts content.

If you’ve been influenced by the great dishes you’ve found and want to try your hand at making them for yourselves, then why not give it ago in your own fully kitted kitchen in all of our apartments here at Sail Lofts and make the most of all the well-stocked local shops that sit just moments from our courtyard here at Sail Lofts.

Check out the availability of our apartments here.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Larissa