Selena Young joins the creative set for an artistic feast with as much substance as style
Bedruthan hotel, anchored to cliffs above the shores of Mawgan Porth Beach, is a hotbed of creativity. Art classes, yoga sessions, wellbeing gatherings and feasting events make the contemporary hotel pulse with connectivity and innovation.
Add a wild array of artwork, and an on-site bakery churning out inviting carbs, and you’re left wondering about the kind of cooking at play in the hotel’s restaurant. Can it possibly match up? But rest assured, this is not a case of all trigger and no bang.
Tom Moore is the head chef leading the culinary artistic direction at Ogo. He changes the menu daily to reflect the dayboats’ haul of net-fresh seafood, seasonal meat and veg that arrives from nearby farms, and team-foraged finds.
This impressively fresh produce is channelled into a concise menu of creative dishes, crafted with sustainability in mind and designed for indulgent sharing. The pithy curation is a pleasing find in a sea of TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) menus that can result in food waste.
Complementing Ogo’s minimalist menu are Scandi-inspired interiors that echo the coastal setting. And yet, while the views are attractive, all eyes are drawn to the works of – plated – art.
We began our feast by inhaling, in feral fashion, the housemade sourdough: warm, springy bread cloaked in outlandishly good cultured elephant-garlic butter.
Starters saw us devouring small plates of pigeon kiev with English pear jam; Cornish-cheese custard with pickled chicken of the woods mushroom; and john dory with spruce, olive and cider dressing. Each dish was delectable, flavour-packed and nicely presented.
The pigeon, encased in homemade panko crumb, was meltingly soft and kicked into a high gear by the sweet tang of its fruity jam.
A main of roasted Cornish duck breast with preserved plum and radicchio was ravishing. However, it was the red mullet with Isle of Wight tomatoes, lemon verbena and whey that really wowed. A coral reef of intriguing colours and textures, it showcased flavours ranging from the salt-sweet notes of the fish to the citrussy zing of lemon-verbena foam.
Sides to share included wilted organic cabbage with yet more umami cultured butter, and a duo of crisp confit potatoes under a blanket of herb emulsion.
For dessert, an earl grey ganache éclair, piped with fig leaf crémeux and served with preserved elderflower and raspberry, caressed the palate with earthy sweetness. A second – savoury – pud of warm Cornish scone layered with torched Bath brie and accompanied by gooseberry and apple jam blew the sweet version out of the water.
Ogo is an easy recommend, even without factoring in its exclusively Cornish wine list of organic and biodynamic finds. Visit to revel in the natural flavours of the season.
