First in the wonderful series of the Scilly Fisles is the food on St Mary’s Island. Being the largest and busiest island, there was the potential for the food to be somewhat commercialised and typically ‘reproduced’ food. Fortunately, however, everywhere we ate on this island was great and the food was authentic and original.
One of my favourite restaurant finds was The Mermaid Inn. Before we went to the isles I had read about this being a popular place to eat and we weren’t disappointed. The entrance through the pub section of the Inn sets the wrong precedent for the restaurant that lies just up the stairs at the end of the room. The pub was oozing with character: the space above the bar was littered with nautical decor and business cards and the room gave off typically traditional vibes with wooden floorboards and television screens, yet was not the popular sophisticated type of place I had expected.
This entrance, as I said, was underwhelming. When we walked through the door to the restaurant, however, my initial reservations vanished as we were shown to our table. Definitely book in advance. The room is reasonably small and was busy the evening we were there despite being a Monday. The restaurant had stunning views over the harbour and sea and was tastefully decorated with a light blue theme.
The food was fantastic. Seeing as I spent the entire trip trying the different fish on the islands because it’s so fresh, naturally, I chose the homemade crab cakes. These were rich but accompanied nicely by sliced potato and a spicy chilli dip. We also shared a garlic camembert which was a delicious starter. It was a lovely place to enjoy dinner and the food was great so I definitely recommend it.
Other places that were tasty include the Atlantic Hotel. This was another place that had been recommended through my online research. Recently refurbished, the pub food made by the hotel was very tasty. My moules marinière was cooked to perfection and accompanied by a side of crispy yet soft fries.
Another delicious restaurant we discovered was Juliet’s Garden restaurant. A little further out of Hugh Town, Juliet’s is situated overlooking the harbour in a lovely location, despite the fact it’s a bit of a walk to get to. It was very busy when we arrived early afternoon but we managed to find a stone table squeezed into the corner of the outdoor terrace. Cheeky birds fly around and perch on the edges of the tables, keen to sneak a crumb here or there. If you feed them be warned: they will flock and swarm until they’re surrounding you and relentlessly guilt you into feeding them every morsel you have!
The food here was delicious. Following my fishy theme, I had a baguette filled with locally sourced crab served with salad. It was calming to eat lunch with such a beautiful view over the sea and Hugh Town, made even better with yummy food. We stopped at Juliet’s before doing some hiking and then couldn’t resist popping back to grab a Troytown Farm ice cream, the best ice cream ever, on the way back!
Aside from the restaurants we visited, one of the best foodie finds was the Porthcressa Beach fish and chip van, known as Scilly Fish. Open from 5-7:30pm every day excluding Wednesdays and Sundays, this van hands-down made the best fish and chips ever. The battered cod was light but delicious and the chips weren’t dripping with grease. It was very popular with the locals, we noticed Scillonians we’d spoken to or seen in shops repeatedly in the queue. It was so good we went there twice instead of going to another restaurant!
We also ate at the Bishop & Wolf, a pub in Hugh Town, which served delicious stone bass, and the Kavorna café where we had a light pasty lunch on our final day.
All in all, the food on St Mary’s was great and there were so many fantastic places to explore. It’s definitely worth trying some of the restaurants aforementioned, but if you’re on a tight budget the fish and chip van is a definite must!
Click here to read the next post in The Scilly Fisles series, all about St Martin’s Island.
The Girl In The Window 