What happens when two seafood lovers who already have an insanely popular restaurant in London set up shop in Cornwall?

Well, critical acclaim, that’s what! Prawn on the Lawn take two opened in 2015 in Padstow and is so good that it’s featured in the Michelin Guide and it was named one of The Times Top 100 UK restaurants.

I visited on my last trip to Cornwall and it was, well sorry to ruin the rest of the post but, one of the best meals I’ve ever had!

Come and take a look at what I picked to eat, trust me, you’ll want to click just to look at the foodie pictures…

We bumbled into Padstow for a day or two while we were down in Cornwall and found this incredible restaurant by chance. We instantly knew it looked like our kind of place so we looked it up on Google, as you do and realised, hey, it’s kind of a big deal. It’s normally a book in advance kind of place but we lucked out, because when we called they had just had two people cancel. Winner, winner, seafood dinner!

About Prawn on the Lawn

Rick Toogood and his wife Katie, run the cosy 24 seat restaurant in Padstow serving seasonal seafood fresh from the day boats and fish markets across Devon and Cornwall. While I’d read the website saying they ran it I didn’t expect for Rick to be cooking and for Katie to be serving us! I only realised at the end when we decided to buy the cook book and they offered to sign it for us. Yes, I felt very silly, thankfully they didn’t know!

A cute corner in Padstow

The interior is long and narrow, and has a relatively understated but chic look, think lots of black and white, gorgeous iron work shelves, wooden tables and dangling bulbs giving out a warm glowing light.

A seafood feast

Anyway, let’s get onto the best bit, the foodie seafood bit. I’m excited to show you because it was so ruddy wonderful!

We shared two starters, scallops in a Thai marinade with Thai basil…

…followed by seared tuna with soy, mirin and chilli. Thankfully they removed the spring onion for me, as I’m allergic, so I could share it with Henry, my numerically minded better half. It must be love if we shared, because this isn’t the kind of food you’d want to share – it’s too good! 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻 It’s the kind of food that makes you want to shout ‘Joey doesn’t share food!’- I’m hoping you get the Friends reference! If not, you need to watch that show. No, seriously, it’s a classic!

Both dishes were extremely delicious, I’ve never had fresh seared tuna like this before and scallops are one of my all time favourite foods.

The seared tuna actually took me by surprise, I thought perhaps out of everything we ordered this might be the thing I wasn’t so keen on but it is similar to sushi I’ve eaten before and it could not have been more up my street.

Ok, I better warn you, we went all out with this meal. Don’t judge me, normally I’m eating a peanut butter sandwich or creating something from our store cupboard. Lobster is not a regular occurrence for me, I mean I wish it was because I love it. But, if you’re going to have a lobster anywhere, this is and was the place to have it. So yes, I ordered myself a whole lobster, not to share either, oh no, no, no! I ate that whole lobster to myself, I mean it took me a while, it was my seafood Everest but it was SO GOOD!

For my main I ordered a whole Padstow lobster served hot with lime and coriander butter. OH DANG! Swit swoo, it was amazing. It took me a long time to eat it but I really enjoyed cracking the shell and taking my time. I also had a side of crispy potatoes and relished dipping them in the buttery sauce. Well, it’s not often you get to eat fresh lobster and ALL the butter!

I think we were a bit spoilt by Prawn on the Lawn really, all the seafood was incredibly fresh, and I’ve honestly never had a better seafood meal. Hand on heart, scouts honour, and no the folk at Prawn on the Lawn didn’t slip me £50 to say this (FYI they have no idea I’ve written this post). Now I’m forever comparing places we go to that specialise in seafood against the meal we had at Prawn on the Lawn.

Henry ordered the hake with feta and this was also incredible! Yep, I’ve nothing but praise for Prawn on the Lawn – we ate so well while we were there, the service was great, the environment was warm and welcoming and we even started chatting to the couple on the table next to us! I’ve never started talking to random strangers in a restaurant before, but we had such a lovely chat comparing trips to Cornwall and sharing recommendations. What a fantastic way to spend an evening.

Katie recommended the deep friend oysters. She asked us if we were oyster fans and I had to say that I’m not. I’ll have them, but it’s not my thing. It’s nothing about the texture, it just tastes a bit nothingy to me but, we thought we’d try them at Prawn on the Lawn as we’d probably never have them as fresh anywhere else. I am so pleased she convinced us to have them, turns out deep fried oysters are tasty and they came with a garlic dipping sauce that just made the whole mouthful out of this world. I went from feeling ‘meh’ about oysters to their biggest fan in one second. Even if you don’t like oysters, you need to try these ones, just trust me on this one.

Excellent seafood at Prawn on the Lawn

The quality, food, service and experience was superb from start to finish, and this was a real highlight of the trip and we still rave about it to this day. We’ve recommended it to so many people heading to Padstow on holiday and my Mum’s going there this week to celebrate her birthday. I think she’s planning on having the Fruits de Mer! I hope she does, I’ll definitely have this when Henry and I return. That or maybe another lobster!

I wish we had one nearer to Hampshire, as I’d love to go and eat food like this more often. Maybe it’s time to book the Islington branch up?!

Anyway, if you’re heading to Padstow you need to try and squeeze this absolute gem into your schedule. You won’t regret it!