2 Best Restaurants in St. Ives, The West Country

Unbeatable for its location alone—on the broad, golden sands of Porthminster Beach—this sleek, modern eatery prepares imaginative lunches and evening meals that you can savor while you take in the marvelous vista across the bay. The accent is on Mediterranean and Asian seafood dishes, and typical choices include pan-fried skate wing with spider crab, samphire, and a caper and herb butter sauce; lobster tagliatelle with fennel and zucchini; and Indonesian vegetable curry. There's a beach bar and outdoor kitchen, too—a tempting stop in summer for breakfast, a snack lunch, an evening barbecue, or just a drink—and two sister restaurants (Porthminster Kitchen on the harborside and Porthgwidden Beach Café in the Downalong neighborhood) have smaller and cheaper menus that are equally strong on seafood.

One of Cornwall's oldest pubs serves simple lunches as well as evening meals in wood-beam rooms that display the work of local artists. The traditional menu includes fish pie, salads, and burgers, as well as Cornish crab linguine. There's also a separate, quieter restaurant upstairs, and you can eat at the tables outside at the front or on a rooftop terrace for excellent harbor views.