Porthminster Beach Cafe

Shoreside suppers in St Ives

Porthminster Beach, this multi-award-winning restaurant delivers seafood dishes and seascapes whose beauty is rivalled only by the art hanging in nearby Tate St Ives.

While so many restaurants in coastal destinations close their shutters in the winter months, this perennially popular spot bustles regardless of the season.

From daybreak to nightfall, vibrant dishes stream from the busy kitchen and land on tables in the pared-back dining room, where they’re swiftly devoured. The heated outdoor terrace is also open all year for those wishing to dine with a salty breeze brushing their skin.

Chef-owner Mick Smith has long enjoyed a sterling reputation for his Asian- and Mediterranean-inspired cooking, and the restaurant’s prestige has continued to climb since Ben Prior (formerly of Ben’s Cornish Kitchen in Marazion) joined the team in 2023.

The seasoned chefs craft dishes based on the bounty of produce at their fingertips – from the freshest seafood and foraged coastal ingredients to garden‑grown herbs and veggies.

Menus are switched up regularly, but a typical Porthminster supper could be hand-dived scallop crudo with ponzu mackerel and St Ives crab, followed by the (house favourite) fish curry comprising monkfish, market fish, tiger prawns, mussels and sweet potato, and culminating in a sweet finale of a strawberry and elderflower ice-cream sandwich.