Custard

Think Padstow, think . . . . .well, you know who. At Custard, Carrina Mullan, formerly of his parish, now manages a busy restaurant with a team that has as its head Chef, Dan Gedge, formerly of the Seafood Café, not a hundred miles away either.

With a décor that is all clean cut brown and white, Custard, starts the day with a sturdy breakfast that can include soft boiled duck egg with soldiers or a grilled Dartmouth kipper with lemon butter and brown toast, before moving on to elevenses, and a selection of cakes and pastries.

Padstow is, of course, a thriving tourist hot spot. The last time we were there, in early spring, we drove slowly in, part of a long line of traffic, and slowly out again, with not a parking place in sight. A pub a few miles up the road was glad to have our custom. I am not implying just anyone could start up a catering business in Padstow and survive regardless of performance, but there certainly is a captive audience most of the time.

Custard certainly thrives on performance, and with lunchtime an important part of the day out there is a good selection from tasty snacks like salmon fishcakes, to full meals such as Trethillick Farm lamb with courgettes, broad beans and mint.

Afternoon tea does not go unnoticed either, with crab, steak or cucumber sandwiches, or Cornish afternoon tea where the cream is not spared. But like any quality restaurant it's the dinner that brings out the business, often with families in rented cottages who looked forward to doing simple cooking in rural surroundings suddenly finding how convenient and good value an option like Custard really is.

From six starters pick potted salt beef with horseradish and apple, followed by whole Cornish oh-so-fresh plaice with samphire and brown shrimps. To finish, perhaps pear and blackberry crumble with - yes, you've guessed - custard.

This is neighbourhood restauranting par excellence.