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blas burgerworks, the st ives burger people
One of my favourite Penwith restaurants – tiny Blas Burgerworks in St Ives – has teamed up with one of my favourite Penwith singer-songwriters – Gulval’s Jenny Bishop – for a night of gourmet burgers and emotionally charged acoustic songs to celebrate its fourth birthday on Saturday 13th March.
Being an absolutely minute space – the average size of a Cornish cottage living room (which is what it probably once was) – Blas is really just a cosy cluster of tables and a scattering of stools made from recycled materials. All have already been nabbed for the 8.45-9.30pm sitting; book now for a perch at the earlier 7.30-8.15pm session.
Blas makes a good case for specialising – they only do one dish, but they’ve nailed it. Cornish-sourced, freerange burgers with chunky chips start at £8.
The scary prospect of Pizza Express setting up in the old Woolworths premises in St Ives is enough to make me want to add extra weight to my praise. Blas represents everything that ‘new’ St Ives does well: it’s small, creative, sensitive and a one-off.
singer-songwriter jenny bishop
dexter dalwood 'immersion' at the tate st ives
During the is-it-art-or-is-it-simply-a-red-splodge-type debates, I have been known to find myself marooned on the side of the red splodge – perhaps due to a fact-finding journalistic background.
This is why I found the Dexter Dalwood exhibition, currently showing at the Tate St Ives (until 3 May), so engaging. Working at the junction of history and art, Dalwood produces large-scale works that recreate key historical events, celebrity deaths (Sid and Nancy, Janis Joplin) and an array of imagined celebrity bedrooms (Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix). Read the rest of this entry »
hens at higher trenowin farm
As keen as I am to buy local produce – not just in a novelty, let’s-all-buy-Cornish-Sea-Salt-and-Tregothnan-tea-once-a-year kind of way, but as part of the weekly shop – I haven’t always felt it was especially viable, financially or practically.
Boutique farm shops have sprung up all over Cornwall as part of the foodie revolution sweeping the region, selling premium organic and super-freerange meat and veg, but I always leave them torn over how many 50p tomatoes I can realistically buy in one year.
Which is why I was so excited when I discovered the Higher Trenowin Farm shop the other week – located on the B3311 between Penzance and St Ives. Devoid of cool Cornwall trappings, it is a low-key, friendly farm shop Read the rest of this entry »
portico quartet - isla
I was mesmerised by the Portico Quartet when they played a sell-out date the Acorn last year – in fact, it was probably my gig of the year. I could try and describe their music – modern jazz-classical crossover? instrumental folk meets world music? four outrageously talented blokes? – but nothing really works, so I’ll just say: don’t miss it.
They are playing the Acorn again on Saturday 27th March on the final date of their Isla tour. Considering how close you get to the artists at the Acorn, £12 seems like a steal.
Here’s a taster – the upturned barbecue is the hang by the way, the instrument that gives the group their uniquely mellow sound.
ismay atkins
pasties & cream cornwall blog 