The Old Ship Hotel seems to be one of the most popular pubs in Padstow. Every year when we visit the front courtyard has been rammed full of people all happily supping their drinks and scoffing plates of pub food.

I took this picture early in the morning before they opened as all the other ones I took had people staring at me and I wouldn’t want to upset any locals or tourists featuring them in my blog when all they were doing was having a quiet pint 😂

We had eaten at many of the other pubs in Padstow but we hadn’t tried out the Ship so later that day we popped in on the off chance that they had a table free and luckily found one in the back of the pub in the rather nice brightly lit conservatory area.

I really fancied a Steak even though I do begrudge just how much they cost these days even in a pub. Today though I really didn’t care about the cost (maybe I had already had a pint or two) so I stumped up the £25 for a Prime 8 oz Ribeye Steak which was to come with a grilled tomato, seasonal leaves and skin on fries.

I declined the opportunity to pay another £3.50 for a Peppercorn sauce, the free ketchup and vinegar will do me just fine thank you very much 😍

PRIME 8 OZ RIBEYE STEAK

The Steak was of reasonable size filling most of the plate and despite it’s ragged appearance or shall we say rustic presentation it was actually quite tasty and tender.

I think that I was really spoiled when I lived in the states and you just got great big fat meaty and juicy steaks everywhere so apologies if I sound a bit snippy about the look of this one (well slight apologies anyway we can all see what it looked like lol)

The Tomato could have been cooked a bit longer and the salad leaves could have been more interesting perhaps just a little bit of dressing or even more variety, I used a good douse of mayonnaise to give them a chance to shine

The skin on fries were plentiful enough and did the job of a plate filler alongside the steak. I did need to use the vinegar, ketchup and also soaked up some of the meat juices that to make them more interesting

It was a decent steak and a fair meal for pub grub, I just tried not to look at the price when considering my thoughts on the value having said that I didn’t have to drive and I can walk to the Old Ship Hotel and have a few decent pints so it worked out.

SPECIALS BOARD

One could have been more adventurous in ones choice of meal especially since we were at the seaside in a harbour where plenty of local seafood was available

A glance at the specials board showed what was on offer with a Fillet of Seabass, a Fish Pie, Crab and Chilli Linguine, Whole Lemon Sole, Thai Green Monkfish Curry, even a Seafood Platter.

And I hear you saying ‘and so you chose a Steak?‘ yeh maybe now I think about it I might have missed out on something really good, local, and tasty 😜

FISH PIE

Happily my partner in dine for the evening was playing the game properly ordering the Homemade Fish Pie that was topped with a Parmesan crust and served with a side of seasonal greens.

The pie filling was decent with plenty of chunks of white fish and a nice creamy sauce, the crust was indeed a Parmesan sort of breadcrumb effort with a thin layer of mash potato. It was a good pie

The seasonal greens were excellent, it might not look that pretty but it was a good proper selection for the time of year. There was a mix of courgette, cabbage and leeks all cooked properly and most importantly it was a generous portion. It must have been good as we kept talking about it for days after!

Presentation wise this also looked fairly rustic but it certainly looked homemade and actually pretty hearty for the money.

I quite like the Old Ship hotel, the beer was nice and I got a warm welcome at the bar. Like many places in Padstow the prices feel high for what you get but I kind of see this all over the country. Eating out is becoming a treat, well at least eating good food is, I am sure that there are plenty of chains churning out bang average fare for a tenner still.

If you do come to visit the Old Ship Hotel when you are in Padstow I suggest that you take a look at the specials board as that was where most of the decent action was. You can of course play it safe getting a Steak but you might be missing out if you just like I did 🤣

The Old Ship Hotel is located in Mill Square, Padstow, PL28 8AE check them out on their Website and on their Facebook Page and on their Instagram profile