The Bay @ Hotel Penzance

The Bay Restaurant in the Hotel Penzance is a light and relaxed room, with a bar at one end, unclothed tables, artwork on the walls, and views over rooftops to Mount's Bay. Staff are friendly, polite and on the ball - which it has to be, with four menus to cope with: one for vegans, a tasting menu, one devoted to shellfish (24 hours' notice required), taking in lobster thermidor with new potatoes, and fruits de mer, and the main event. The last showcases local produce, and the cooking is assured and uncluttered. Among starters, smoked eel is served with buckwheat blinis and an apple and fennel compôte, and pan-fried rabbit loin with salsify, wild mushrooms, a fried quail's egg and Calvados jus. Fish is a strong suit, judging by a thick fillet of crisp-skinned grilled red mullet accompanied by cauliflower purée and diced beetroot and beetroot foam. Meat-eaters could opt for belly pork fillet and hogs pudding with an apple and cider reduction, and dessert is often the star of the show: maybe fig frangipane tart with fig purée and star anise and honey ice cream.