Located in the beautiful town of St Ives, the Harbour View House, as the name suggests, boasts impressive views of St Ives harbour. The hotel itself harbours stylish and well designed rooms as well as a cafe and tapas bar open to everyone. Every room and space here has been thoughtfully designed and decorated, whether it be the unique pieces of Cornish art on the walls, the minimalist approach to wooden furniture or even just the use of colours. And it is in all this that the feel of the Harbour View House can be understood, this is a haven to come and relax, to immerse yourself in a chic and fresh-feeling space and above all, to do so while enjoying some very nice food.
The airy cafe serves up a simple brunch menu; English Breakfast, pastries, granola and toasties sit alongside things like breakfast burritos and a Croque Madame. This is the place to come when you want a good coffee and something relaxed and informal. The Tapas bar, candlelit in the winter and light in the summer, offers up a pretty classic rendition of a tapas menu with Patatas Bravas, meat and cheese platters, Pan Con Tomate and spicy prawn dishes among other things. The marriage of the English south west with Spanish fare may not be an obvious one but it works; there’s no attempt to redesign good tapas but rather there’s an obvious decision to offer a selection of things that are very nice in a setting that is equally so.
A concise drinks menu offers carefully selected wines as well as beers and a cocktail list that have a subtle Cornish accent to them - such as St Ives gin paired with local tonic. There is a fortnightly, intimate, supper club that takes place on Saturdays and features cooking inspired by the Italian head chef’s heritage combined with the high-quality produce Cornwall offers. Art, from local artists and creatives (available to purchase there), laces the place. The Harbour View House champions and absorbs the beauty of St Ives and and invites you to do the same, but what is nice is that it does so whilst also providing European food - there’s no need to try to preserve this as a unique alternative to the traditional holiday by making everything about Cornwall, because it makes the point all by itself.