Andy Cooper meets up with an old pal at a stylish Cornish location where a mutual love of all things fine in food is on the menu.
Rather implausibly, one of my longest and most important friendships with my pal Dave the ex-copper started with us having an argument. I won’t go into the finer details here, but we both had reasonably high-powered jobs at the time, encountered each other on different divides of a police/press issue and “a full and frank exchange of views” ensued between us.
Once egos were calmed and positions established (I STILL think I was right, by the way!) we found we had more in common than the trifling issue which divided us. Sport, politics, sailing...we were aligned on so many topics it is one of the great joys of my life that we became firm friends.
One other mutual topic of interest is fine food and drink, so when I was invited to review the dining experience at one of Cornwall’s best hotels now under new management, then there was really only one person to invite – and so the call went in to Dave and we made our way to Hotel Meudon.
Tucked away on the coast between Mawnan Smith and Falmouth, Hotel Meudon is in a beautiful location, set in Cornish subtropical gardens and with direct access to its own private beach, Bream Cove. The dining room looks out onto those aforementioned gardens and so the hotel must boast one of the best dining room views in the county and beyond.
But would the food match the surroundings? Well yes – and then some. Service was diligent and attentive, with a nice recommendation from the maître de for wine to match the choices we had made.
My starter of smoked mackerel hummus, charred flatbread, sumac was a wonderful wrap up of flavours and textures, whilst my pal’s bresaola with kohlrabi remoulade, Soul Farm apple salad and truffle mayo was equally pleasing on the palate.
Onto mains and I was in raptures over my chicken Holstein, capers, fried egg, parsley and chicken jus which spoke volumes for the care and attention executive head chef Darren Kerley and his team put into every dish. Likewise too, Dave’s choice of mackerel, fennel and citrus salad, dill and anchovy dressing – demonstrating, of course, that the trick to fish cooked properly is in its simplicity.
Hotel Meudon might be tucked away but therein lies its charm: it’s an oasis of calm, relaxation and high standards in service and food and drink which makes it somewhere which should become a ‘go to’ destination again for the discerning folk of Cornwall and beyond.
And there was certainly no arguing between Dave and me on this occasion – we were both in full agreement that we had just had a thoroughly delightful dining experience in exquisite surroundings.
