Porthleven Food Festival 2022

Friday

Friday at the Porthleven Food Festival is where all the fun begins! It was a dry and bright day, meaning that by midday it was already a hive of activity with many visitors getting tucked in.

Chefs Theatre
The Harbour Head Stage hosted some of the most talented, local, chefs over the weekend. On Friday, we were pleased to be able to catch a few snippets of Dan Bowden, Michael Caines MBE and Stuart Shaw. Dan Bowden is the Head Chef at The Bay Hotel in Coverack and he champions Cornish food and produce. He oozed enthusiasm towards what Cornwall has to offer in the way of local produce, making him perfect demonstration chef for the Porthleven Food Festival. Next it was the turn of Michael Caines and his head executive chef Stuart Shaw. It was fantastic to see Michael Caines return to Cornwall to show us what he does best. Being one of the UK’s most celebrated chefs, he captured the attention of many visitors and the food looked simply exquisite. All in all, it was a great day for chef displays!

Although we didn’t stay later into the evening, two local bands were lined up to take over the stage for the evening, Guilty Pleasures and Company B. They looked like two acts we wouldn’t want to miss again!

Lunch Time…

All of the food stalls looked absolutely amazing and there was so much to choose from. This is one of the reasons we had to go back on Saturday…and Sunday! However, after thoroughly enjoying a few walks around the stalls and enjoying the displays, time was running out and the Mac & Cheese stall was calling. We opted for the pesto mac and cheese and it was delicious.

After some food it was time to head back to the office and get excited to go back on Saturday.

Saturday

Saturday brought a great turnout to the Porthleven Food Festival and it was probably the busiest day, full of supporters.

We weren’t able to make it to all the fantastic chef displays at the Harbour Head Stage, but this is what the fantastic lineup looked like for the day:

10:15 – Antony Worrall Thompson and Jude Kereama

11:15 – Stewart Eddy and Bryok Williams

12:15 – Mick Smith

13:15 – Stephane Delourme

14:15 – Hylton Espey

15:15 – Dorian Janmaat

It was jam packed with brilliant chefs cooking amazing dishes! You might even recognise the name Mick Smith, who is the face behind the much loved and award winning Porthminster Cafe and Porthminster Kitchen.

Evening Entertainment

Although it was a busy day in the office on Saturday, we were thrilled to be able to head over in time to catch some of the evening entertainment. The two bands that stormed the stage were Smokey’s King Shufflers from 7.30pm followed by Sandy Acre 7. The Smokey’s King Shufflers delivered 2 hours of non-stop blues which filled the tent. Next, it was time for Sandy Acre 7, a band that we’ve seen several times before locally and has always been a great show, so we couldn’t miss them this weekend!

After a few hours of dancing and lots of singing along, it was time to head home in preparation for a day of food on Sunday.

Sunday

After we worked up a huge appetite over the past two days, we couldn’t wait for one final visit to the Porthleven Food Festival. Time to eat our way through the Sunday!

One quick announcement…we ate all of the food we had before we could take any pictures. So sorry!

Food Stall 1 – Authentic Thai
The first stop of the day was the Authentic Thai stall and all we can say is, wow! It was amazing. Between us all we had a prawn Pad Thai with extra chilli, fried chicken in Thai BBQ sauce and also some chicken satay.  It was absolutely delicious and eaten very quickly amongst us.

Food Stall 2 -Greek Traditional Souvlaki
From one continent to another, it was time to jump from Thailand to Greece and taste some Souvlaki. So that we didn’t get too full, we all shared one chicken souvlaki and I instantly regretted having to share, it was another fantastic dish. The chicken was cooked perfectly with the right amounts of herbs and spices, balanced out perfectly by the tzatziki and all held together by a warm flat bread – yum!

Food Stall 3 – That’s Nacho Burrito

Now, a quick flight from Greece to Mexico and we were at our final destination ‘That’s Nacho Burrito’ for some chicken nachos. Again, these were perfect for sharing and another winner in our eyes. We were served a large portion of homemade nachos with seasoned chicken, guacamole, salsa, cheese all topped with sour cream and jalapeños.