David Gingell is a chef and the co-owner, with Jeremie Cometto-Lingenheim, of London’s pioneering triumvirate of Newington Green restaurants, Primeur, Westerns Laundry and Jolene (as well as the smattering of Jolene bakeries) – a small group that upended seasonal eating in unprepossessingly chic environs when Primeur opened in 2014.
Gingell now lives in Falmouth, where he grew up. Cornwall’s set-apart nature, he says, is a boon to its food scene and the approach of its chefs: ‘In Cornwall, I think you’re much more attached to the ingredients; whereas in London you’re separated by the person who sells it to you. The cooks who have moved here have embraced the life, but also that not everything is there all the time. It’s not a bad thing to be out of the latest trends.’
Here, he offers his pick of the county’s epicurean best bits.
Restaurants
Front and centre, Gingell says, is Rich Adams’s Argoe, in an elevated shack on the edge of the marina in the arty Penwith port town of Newlyn. ‘As far as I’m concerned, it’s the best fish restaurant in the UK,’ he says, emphatically. ‘It’s got a reason for being there. Rich’s dad has a fish business in Newlyn and he’s able to get the best pick of things – the John Dory and nice sardines. They’re cooked very simply: grilled with delicious local vegetables. With that kind of food, there’s nowhere to hide.’
Up in Helston, meanwhile – and somewhat off the thronging coastal tourist trail – he likes both Pica Rico (a technicolour standing joint doing a short menu of tacos, tostadas and ceviche) and the pacific Cast Café: ‘a little restaurant on the edge of a studio/gallery complex type thing. They just do really lovely food: an amazing toastie, a nice bowl of fish soup, pig’s head croquettes, the best piece of duck I’ve ever eaten.’
(Image credit: Pica Rico)
Seven miles or so to the east, near the village of St Martin, is the Trelowarren Estate and Flora, a café/restaurant run by Cornish cooking godhead Tim Spedding and his partner Louise. ‘Tim’s one of the best chefs in the country. I’ve eaten his food in London: he was at P Franco for a bit when he started. But when I’ve eaten his food in Cornwall, it feels like he’s relaxed a bit, for it to be on another level.’ His pristine sourcing and precise cooking is seen in dishes like Westcombe ricotta and cavolo nero agnolotti, or smoked eel with green apple and curried egg mimosa.
Drinking
Gingell’s go-to pub harks back to his youth: the Seaview Inn in Falmouth is where he and his pals sank pints before big nights on the town. ‘Vernon Brewery in Penryn took it over a few years ago,’ he says. ‘They’re local, really nice IPAs, and they did just enough to it: cleaned the toilets, sanded the floors, kept the pool table. It’s not the most beautiful, but I’ll go for some pints and a curry.”
Plates at The Seaview Inn
(Image credit: Seaview Inn)
Gingell has a ‘crappy old fishing boat that I’m yet to kill myself in’, which gets him and his family to and from the landing at the Pandora Inn, a thatched pub on the river in Mylor. ‘It’s a beautiful, old pub, where the kids can go crabbing off the pontoon. I don’t tend to go there in summer as it’s rammed full of people bumping into each other in hire boats. But when it’s calm, we’ll pootle up there.’
For wine, he’ll head to St Eia in St Ives. ‘There’s another place I do not go in summer, and that’s St Ives!’ he laughs. ‘So we’ll go in the winter. Mark [Quick] and Ellie [Venning] have opened a lovely little bar that sells the occasional anchovy or a plate of something. When the sea gets colder, we’ll head to the new Kiln sauna and then have a long, boozy lunch there.’
The rest
On a more low-key bent, Gingell loves Kelp Canteen in Falmouth: ‘A little van, painted blue and white, on Custom House Quay. It’s quaint, but the boys there can cook. You might get a bit of fried squid, a few oysters. It’s a vibe: busy, full of life, you go there on a hot evening in the summer and see the tourists having a brilliant time.’ Similarly dreamy is Potager, a community garden, studio hub and café in Constantine doing a fine trade in soups, homemade breads and grain-flecked salads. ‘It’s nice and gentle,’ Gingell says. ‘Sometimes you need that, somewhere that’s a bit of a slower pace.’
(Image credit: Kelp Canteen)
A loaded question for the man that runs Jolene, but what’s Gingell’s favourite bakery? He bigs up Pavilion at Flushing farmers’ market, but also Native Grain in otherwise rather un-happening Truro. ‘They don’t even sell coffee! Just really good pastries and bread.’ Dark Pony in Falmouth, meanwhile, is his go-to for caffeine: ‘They take it seriously, roast their own beans and they always have three or four coffees on. I might say “give me a random one” and I’ll always like it.’
(Image credit: Dark Pony)
Finally, the de rigeur Cornish pasty. ‘Gear Farm near Helston,’ he says without missing a beat. ‘They make them there: grow the swede, the carrot, the onions and potatoes. I’ve never had a dud, and I’ve had a lot of pasties in my life. It’s the undisputed GOAT.’
Dining and Cooking