What a magical restaurant Number 6 is; as we consider the many great meals we have enjoyed this year, Number 6 easily makes it into the top 10, it was that good. It shouldn't really be a surprise though, Paul Ainsworth received his training with some of the country's leading chefs including Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing before leaving London and opening Number 6 in Padstow, Cornwall in 2006. But he's not entirely a 'secret' for as we became more connected into the foodie community on Twitter, Paul's name came up again and again as a chef whose food 'you must eat' by punters and chefs alike.
And then there was his appearance on Great British Menu earlier this year where not only every dish he prepared looked blow away brilliant, but Paul himself seemed just so, well, likeable: always smiling, always enthusiastic and totally genuine. So when we planned the shortest of trips to Cornwall, time only for one lunch and one dinner, Nathan Outlaw and Paul Ainsworth were the two chefs that we knew we had to visit. As luck would have it, they're just one mile apart as the crow flies, or rather fish swims, for it requires a ferry crossing of the Camel Estuary to travel from Rock to Padstow.
The restaurant is located in a renovated 18th century town house, and despite keeping some grandeur of the old house, they have opted for a contemporary look and eschewed formality for a lively buzz helped by the excellent front of house staff. Alex Tozer, assistant manager was wonderfully amiable throughout the meal while Michael Rzasa looked after us also very well. They fit the bill perfectly.
We had intended to try as much of Paul's food as possible while we were there as Padstow is hardly in our back yard, and we were delighted when presented with the menu that so much sounded so good; it's not of course always the case.
We set to it with gusto.
We were also already loving the bread which is made on site and we could have easily eaten more but wanted to save ourselves for the treats to come. First out we ordered fried Porthilly oysters with fennel, apple salad and salami and were surprised when they arrived on a plate together with the goose and pickles, one of the few starters we didn't order: Paul thought we should really try it and we're glad he did. Too often in restaurants the parfait seems just a little dull but here, as well as being a really awesome goose liver parfait, dressing it with piccalilli added that something extra in taste and texture to make it a really good appetiser. The oysters were fried to perfection and again we're loving the use of local seafood, more of which we'll have in due course.
Starters round two now. We have bbq mackerel: celericac remoulade, parma ham, buttervilla salad, and a special for the day: venison carpaccio, salad, two parsnips, Parmesan, heritage beetroots. Both served up a visual treat the moment they were set on the table. Great colours, beautifully looking fresh ingredients and big variety; it was not let down on eating. The mackerel, well, it was simply the best mackerel I can remember having. It was so fresh I'm surprised it didn't make a break for the estuary. Take something that fresh and give it over to the hands of a great kitchen like Paul's clearly is and wowzer, it sets the bar on mackerel starters. And with it, the Paremsan crisp and Parma ham, and a brilliant remoulade, what a stunning dish.
And it's not to take away anything from the venison carpaccio which was also a remarkable plate in every way, again, gripping your senses with its looks, taste and texture, sound too with the parsnip and Parmesan crisp crunch. But the mackerel does win in this particular heads up.
And it's starters round three. The 'extremely difficult to take a good picture of' smoked haddock is next, difficult because it is wearing a fully body cloak of vichyssoise (in a white bowl). Nestling beneath this however is a stornoway black pudding but you have to be fork deep here before you find this marvellous piece of contrast. Also to the table we had 'jimmy butler' crispy pigs head. This was served with crackling, salad cream and smoked eel. Now, regular readers of our blog will know that pigs head has been quite frequently sampled in recent restaurant visits around the country and we commented in our The Hand and Flowers post that a cross between their own pigs head and that of The Kitchin would be our perfect pigs head dish, well that's what Paul delivered. Also there's the eel, and the crackling. Still not sure who Jimmy Butler is (just Googled him but pretty sure Paul's Jimmy is not a 22 yr old NBA player, anyone?). Oh, turns out he's a pig farmer.
And here we go again, the haddock and vichyssoise is also unbelievably brilliant, with layers of meaty haddock and, a black pudding that is second to none, it formed a really clever combination of opposites, so seen on the plate, pure black and white, bound together by the excellent vichyssoise.
Guess we had to come on to the main courses at some stage.The first dish put down looked again remarkable. On the menu it was listed as wings 'land and sea'. Not giving much away there then. The 'wing: sea' is a ray wing, served off the bone and rolled, it has been poached in a waterbath with a little beurre noisette and it's remarkable. The 'land: wing' are chicken wings which are also off the bone, have been confited in duck fat and then rendered down in a pan so they are lovely and crispy. Totally and utterly fabulous, they could easily be served as a starter in their own right that could easily become a signature dish. And if that's not enough you get carrots, truffled lettuce and chicken gravy. You hungry yet?
We thought the wings might be a knockout dish but the other main, unlike John Lewis, is knowingly undersold. Termed simply 'day boat pollock' with purple sprouting, brown crab, shrimps and Cornish new, you initially think, okay, fish, shrimp and veg; turns out that's like saying a Formula 1 Ferrari is 'just a car'. When they say 'day boat', that's exactly what they mean, the boat leaves first thing in the morning (and we mean very first thing, from Looe), lands back at 4am, and the fish arrives at the restaurant by 11am. It's about 3pm now, the fish is 12 hours from sea to plate. Seasoned with a little Madras, so it's light and aromatic, not fiery and hot, it's a fish revelation, like discovering something entirely new. Add to the mix the brown crab, crème fraiche, a little lemon juice, and again, this 'simple' dish is elevated to a wonder of the food world.
We swapped plates back and forth, tasting each, utterly torn trying to decide which is best, impossible to say for love is love, and we absolutely loved them both.
Let's call it desserts round one. Again we're torn, we could happily order any and all of these, we nearly did. I'm intrigued by the 'pineapple: cheesecake ravioli, blackberries, crumble', while we also tee up 'chocolate: hot & cold, ginger ice cream, frosted peanuts'. The pineapple was in our view the weakest dish of the day (everything else so far has been 10 out of 10), playful and modestly intriguing, it just didn't go that one step further as every other dish so far has.
... the must have dessert is Paul's Great British Menu winning 'a trip to the fairground' which is a dessert for two but really, if your partner doesn't want it, order it anyway: if on your deathbed your life really does pass before your eyes, this is what I want to see before I croak it. And you don't make it to Cornwall very often, so scoff it all and don't feel guilty, this is genius at work.
Okay, to talk through the plate, in the middle there are cinnamon beignets, and a raspberry curd for dipping, char-grilled strawberry marshmallows with tarte tartin style apple (think toffee apple here), coconut custard (think coconut shy) with popping popcorn, while candyfloss has morphed to honeycomb. I love this dessert, I love every picture of this dessert (hence I've included so many below) and I love the way this makes you feel about food. To eat it is to smile outside and in, it's food theatre that can literally make your day. And I love grazing a cart stall rather than having a plate.
We were also lucky enough to meet Paul and chat about the usual stuff and he is exactly in life as we had found him on television: the best advertisement for British food and the British food industry as you could ever hope to meet.
So this is where we have our quick rant. We've held back till now, we didn't want to bring the mood down but something has to be said. That Paul Ainsworth at Number 6 Restaurant hasn't got a Michelin star (or two) brings shame on the heads of Michelin and all their children.
Okay, so we've been accused of being pampered, lucky and spoiled (and maybe we are) but we have eaten (and posted to the blog on) 17 of the top 20 in this year's National Restaurant Awards, and have no hesitation in saying that Number 6 stands eye to eye with any of them, in fact, pounding most of them into the ground on flavours, technical merit and creativity. Great British Menu recognised his outstanding talents awarding him a place in the final, it's a disgrace that the food world 'great and the good' have not, perhaps they're too lazy to make the journey from Chelsea. Rant over.
To summarise, if you haven't got it so far, we really liked Number 6 and you should go out of your way to eat there. Utterly brilliant.
What are the orange strands which surround the oysters?
they are non edible decoration/separation. usually of course the plates would come separately, but we share dishes (for blog sampling purposes) so they brought it out this way for the middle of the table.
Sounds like a very good meal...making me hungry for (a much less decandent) dinner tonight!
I agree with you that No6 should have a star. In August we ate at Nathan Outlaw (both restaurants), The Seafood Restaurant and No6. I approached No6 with no real expectations of it being outstanding but looking forward to the "trip to the fairground" that my son and I had already decided we were going to have. Five of us all had different courses and there was not a dud amongst them. I agree wholehearted with your comments about the haddock with black pudding (what black pudding!) being a standout dish and my son proclaimed that his wings "land and sea" was one of the best things he had ever eaten.
I would also like to recommend the service. When we went the restaurant was very busy but we were looked after very well all evening.
No6 far surpassed my expectations and it was one of the best meals we have had in a long time. Will definitely be going back there soon.
Everything looks so amazing. Especially the desserts. I'll have to add this to my Cornwall trip!!
Great review, really enjoyed reading it and your joy in all the dishes shines through. One to remember for our next trip down that way, we do get there every year or two.
My wife and I booked for a meal on 31.07.2012 the 3 courses we chose were cooked to perfection, our waiter was friendly polite and able to advise on all the courses.The whole atmosphere was very relaxing and the chocolate desert was sublime and Ihad to show great restraint as not to lick the dish. We would recommend No 6. One last comment to Paul and his team boy can you cook.
Great review of Paul Ainsworth, the pictures look fantastic and nice to see that it has now gotten a Michelin star (which it deserves).