Paul Ainsworth’s Lovely Restaurant – “No. 6”

Yesterday my dining companion Carol and I  lunched at No. 6 which is Paul Ainsworth’s restaurant in Padstow.  You probably know that Paul is the South West’s finalist for The Great British Menu and no wonder – he’s brilliant.

I ordered

“goose liver parfait ~ monbazillac jelly ~ pumpkin seed toast”

… as they put it.   My companion who is quite an eatist ordered a slow cooked veal chop with asparagus, boiled egg bearnaise and chips in dripping.

Whilst our food was being prepared we were given a basket of warm bread (including a spicy roll flavoured with ras al hanout ) and the kitchen, bless them, sent us each a shot glass of wonderful ultra smooth asparagus soup the like of which I have never tasted before. 

My appropriately named parfait was just as I remembered it from my last visit (I've been thinking about it ever since!); the very essence of goose liver, so light, so smooth, so savoury with a perfect smidge of sweet wine jelly on top and lovely crunchy nubbly toast to go with it.  On the waiter’s recommendation I drank a glass of Monbazillac which, despite being a dessert wine, was absolutely the right thing to do.  

Carol had a glass of Malbec with her veal and grinned a lot.  Sadly for her she was so full she was unable to indulge in dessert.  I was OK and had a wedge of dark chocolate tart; a crisp biscuit base, deep, rich chocolate mousse filling and a spoonful of orange flecked cream.  Paul Ainsworth really does seem to be a master of the superbly rich and gooey!

Although this is seriously excellent food the menu is fun and accessible – on a previous visit I ate a coffee dessert spiked with space dust (popping candy) which was served with the “fairground doughnuts” which were part of Paul’s Taste of the Fairground dessert on Great British Menu.  The prices are not cheap, and nor should they be, there is a tempting special lunch offer of 2 courses for £15 or 3 courses for £20 but my mind was set on the goose liver.  Padstow has many really good eating places but if you only eat in one for Gawd’s sake make it No. 6!

Padstow was very crowded even though judging by the rest of Cornwall there aren’t many visitors around but I did get a glimpse of the estuary …

PS -  Vegetarian Living Magazine's July Edition is out with my Ice Cream Article in it.  Yippee!