North Street Kitchen

Both within its fantastic menu and relaxed setting, North Street Kitchen, Fowey, is a hub for variety.

The open plan, rustic, indoor/outdoor restaurant with a view of the Fowey estuary is hugely popular with holidaymakers in Cornwall. Head chef Ethan Friskney-Bryer told us that the team wanted to build a restaurant that was casual, welcoming and would appeal to as many people as possible. A place where you can relax, eat some quality seafood, then head straight back to the beach – sounds right up our street!

Their menu, written out rustic-style on a large blackboard, is packed full of produce from local fishermen and growers across Cornwall.

“All of the fish comes from Cornwall… One of our chefs is a part time fisherman as well, so we’re able to use his catch too!”

Featuring seasonal produce and underloved species, such as pollock, megrim, spider crab (or Cornish king crab) and much more, the menu is an opportunity for visitors to try new species and for Ethan to get creative.

“Our menu changes daily, sometimes even during the day! Having that flexibility means we can work with the people we want to work with, such as the small-scale fishermen, producers and growers. It’s also a lot more fun to be honest, I’ve never worked anywhere where the menu has been set for months on end.”

Cooking sustainably is also important to the kitchen staff, with the restaurant practising nose-to-tail eating and no-wastage policies where possible. Ethan noted “I think any chef should be striving for that [having no waste], if not reaching it”. Each week North Street Kitchen has a crab or fish soup on the menu, made from seafood parts that would be wasted, such as crabs that are too small to be served whole or trims of fish that don’t make it to the dish.

If North Street Kitchen is ticking your boxes and a visit to Fowey is on the cards, Ethan recommends ordering the Cornish king crab if it’s on the menu. “We get a lot of spider crab in or, as it’s been rebranded, Cornish king crab. We buy them whole from the fishermen who land here. I think they are a really lovely entry-level seafood, because they’re delicious and they’re not a lot of work. We make soup out of them, or crab legs! “We have them on the menu more or less all the time, and it’s nice for us to be able to give them a market. If you want a really delicious locally-landed crab, that’s one to go for.”

This seafood spot can be found opposite another Seafood Cornwall favourite, Captain Hank’s Snack & Crab shack, so you’re spoilt for choice.