Celeb chefs or humble pasty

BBC TV chef Jamie Oliver has opened an offshoot of his Fifteen restaurant concept in Cornwall. Picture / BBC2

The railway may never have made it to Watergate Bay but Jamie Oliver has.

In May the chef with the Midas touch opened the Cornwall offshoot of his spectacularly successful Fifteen concept in London where disadvantaged young people are trained as chefs. Television cameras followed the trainees as they set up the restaurant for a high rating series shown here.

The 21 trainees at Fifteen Cornwall have also been in the spotlight, especially when the national media turned up to see Oliver cut the ribbon. His signature dishes have been used as inspiration for much of the restaurant's menu, and as a trustee of the Fifteen Foundation, he will maintain some oversight, but you're not likely to see Oliver chopping chillies often at Watergate Bay.

There's a good range of his cook books for sale but, apart from building the brand, Oliver doesn't make money from the enterprise, profits go to the Cornwall Foundation of Promise, which trains the students.

The location would be hard to beat - it's a bit like the Piha RSA but with the Jamie Oliver-themed experience. You're right above the beach with its big granite boulders where encouragingly plump mussels abound and in a fairly funky joint with seating for up to 112, graffiti art on the walls, a pink, walnut and white colour scheme running through it and floor to ceiling windows right above the sand, (hopefully) admiring the sun over the Atlantic in the evening.

The food is superb - a Mediterranean emphasis and a commitment to using 80 per cent Cornish ingredients. The organic lamb from Bodinnick Farm had a texture and taste as if it had been quietly roasting for a week and the light, delicate tiramisu was inspirational.

Fifteen opened another restaurant in Melbourne last month to add to London, Amsterdam and Cornwall, where Oliver spent time on holiday as a child.

The four-course evening tasting menu cost £38 ($108), six courses are £50. Wine by the glass starts at around £6. Breakfast is served on a first come, first served basis, lunch runs from midday to 4pm and there is a special pre-dinner kids' hour for under sevens running from 5.30pm.

In spite of a whiff of local disquiet, the place has been wildly popular. Manager Polly Dent says that as of opening day dinner bookings stretched for six months out but there is flexibility built in and she says it's worth a call to see if there is a spot on any given night.

She worked for seven years in the Rick Stein empire in Padstow, 12km away and when asked if there was any chance of a food fight between Stein and the hip newcomer at Watergate Bay she is diplomatic. "The food is completely different," she says.

Padstow is a lovely fishing village just 20 minutes' drive away from Watergate, and in honour of the understated master of seafood television cookery is variously dubbed Metropostein, Padestein, and Steinsville. He is the biggest game in town with nine separate outlets, including a hotel, the premier Seafood Restaurant, deli and the fish and chip shop where I dined. My takeaway box of haddock (one firm piece of fish with a dense batter tightly clinging to it) and chips (piping hot and plentiful) for £5.50 made for a satisfying lunch.

Buses disgorge hundreds of eager tourists at regular intervals, in the hope of a glimpse of Stein whose next public appearance was to have been the week after I was there.

Less excited was the bloke running the greasy spoon café (two eggs, bacon, sausages, tomatoes and toast for £3.50) in a nearby portacabin when asked about Stein's impact on the area.

"Oh him, there's been bits and pieces about him - will there be anything else?"

Stein's top restaurant seems to suffer a bit of tour guide hype and local lore has it the place is completely booked out for months ahead. I was offered three off-peak slots to dine in the evening within five days, should I be around to take them up. Unfortunately I could not.

Cornwall's relatively temperate climate, availability of an enormous variety of seafood from clear Atlantic waters and a boom in organic growing makes for very good fusion food. But don't leave Cornwall without trying the sometimes maligned traditional pasty. An estimated 3 million are baked there every week, fillings have a true international flavour and these scrumptious pastry parcels are an economical snack or meal starting at just over £1.