In Driftwood, all is calm and ordered under the watchful eye of the owners, Paul and Fiona. Tresanton, Olga Polizzi’s flagship country house hotel in St Mawes, provides more of a contrast.
On the surface, things are similar between the two hotels – both share a holiday-defining view over the stunning south Cornish coast. Tresanton is set on the top of the cliffs in St Mawes, overlooking the St Anthony lighthouse on the headland opposite.
The building is on several levels, and we entered the empty lower-level bar to be briefly greeted by the bartender who then hurried back to her computerised till to complete the task she was working on when we came in. When she had finished, she turned round and asked the question that would reappear regularly until we were sat at our table: “inside or outside?”. Tresanton has an outside terrace, heated by no fewer than five patio heaters. I’m sure it is gorgeous on a balmy summer’s evening, but on a slightly chilly September evening…
But to the main event, the food. The menu was a simple list of ingredients:
Foie gras and chicken liver with chutney and toasted brioche.
Sea bass, saffron, crab and tomato risotto.
Chocolate and hazlenut torte, clotted cream, blackberries.
As we both fancied the same menu, we were easily able to compare.
The foie gras/chicken liver pate was good, but both it and the chutney appeared to be bought in rather than made in-house. We were chatting over the starter, but sensed that the waiting staff kept checking to see if we had finished. At one point we overheard them asking the kitchen to hold the main course, this was less than 20 minutes after we had sat down.
Consequently, the main course was slightly burnt round the edges. The sea bass, although overdone, was a good piece of fish, but the saffron, crab and tomato risotto was watery and tasteless. Had the timing continued, we would have been back on the street by 8.30pm. We asked for a break before the dessert.
Dessert was good, a nice balance of hazelnut and chocolate, although ice cream would have matched better than clotted cream.
We followed with coffee and petit fours in the lounge (we were beginning to get cold in the dining room as all the doors were open to the terrace), but the lounge was like a mausoleum.
Overall, Tresanton was not a good experience, although we both enjoyed the analysis! The atmosphere was cold and the waiting staff seemed to be driven by the computerised ordering system. The meal cost £1/head more than Driftwood, certainly Driftwood is streets ahead in food quality and service.
