So, we’re Rose Cant and Eddy Rains.
Our Secret List chat with this entertaining culinary duo during the St. Ives Food Festival. Rose Cant (better known online as Mum on Muddy Lane) brings her relatable, home-cooking style to food festivals, focusing on dishes anyone can recreate at home. Alongside her, Eddy Rains heads the kitchen at the Halfway House gastropub between Weybridge and Padstow, where he’s become known for exceptional steak despite Cornwall’s seafood reputation.
Our beachside conversation reveals their favourite spots around Padstow and Rock. Both share their go-to drinking establishments – Rose’s beloved “cupboard of dreams” wine bar (home to the memorably-named “Fizzy Bum Bum”), and Eddy’s preference for the authentic Cornish atmosphere of The Harbour Inn.
Beyond food, they offer insider tips that should be “on the NHS for mental health”. Whether you’re planning a Cornish getaway or simply dreaming of coastal flavours, this chat serves up authentic local insights from two passionate food enthusiasts who know how to make the most of Cornwall’s culinary landscape.
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So, we’re sitting on St. Ives Beach. Finally, some clouds have appeared, which is good and bad. You two have just been cooking some amazing very tasty lamb and a selection of other things on stage.
We have.
Which unfortunately, I didn’t taste.
Can I ask you to tell us who you are, what you do, and where you’re from?
Rose: Certainly. My name is Rose Cant or online I’m known as Mum on Muddy Lane or MOML. and I’m a content creator. Start off food content creator and I now do a little bit of lifestyle as well, but mostly food.
And I’m a home cook, self-taught. And I come and do food demonstrations at festivals and make them a little bit different from the other very talented chefs and make it a little bit more about entertainment, a little bit more relatable, and I like to show the sort of food that I cook at home for my family and friends.
Amazing. And over there?
Eddy: Eddy Rains. I’m the head chef at the Halfway House, between Wadebridge and Padstow in North Cornwall. We’re a bit of a steak pub. We’re a sort of gastropub, but we’ve got things like scallops, lobster, sea bass, all those things on the menu as you you’d expect in Cornwall. But we’re very steak heavy because my boss; his grandfather was a butcher. It’s in his history.
And we do a lot of tomahawk, chateaus, rib eyes, fillets. It’s always on the menu. And at I’d say at quite an affordable price. Like, if you order a steak there, you’ll get the chips, you’ll get the sauce, you’ll get the salad with it. Everything comes. It’s a complete meal. Sharing steaks as well. Everything. Because, you know, there’s a lot of places now where you’d have to order your sides on top of your steak.
I moved down to Cornwall thinking I’d be cooking fish all the time. But at the pub, you drive through fields and fields of cows. So, it’s it does sort of make sense. And there aren’t that many places around where I think you get really good steak.
I think you’re right. We’ve been talking to a few people today and yesterday and everyone’s talking fish. Everyone’s talking shellfish.
We’re at St. Ives Food Festival. I do understand.
But I think it’s nice because everybody, not everybody, but a lot of people love a good steak. And, you don’t instantly think of that down in Cornwall. But if you drive around, you definitely know there’s a lot of lovely meat here. And a lot of people look after it really passionately, don’t they?
Exactly. And like I say, they’re close to the sea as well. A bit of the sea air helps, the grass as well, which affects the taste.
And where do you where do you get the steak from? Where’s the meat coming from?
We use a big wholesaler who supplies a lot of the butchers as well in Cornwall. So, my boss likes cutting out the middleman a lot of the time. So, for fish he goes straight from the boat who he’s got fisherman friends that will get it straight from the boat as opposed to using a fish supplier. And the same deal with these wholesalers of meat that supply to a lot of the butchers in Cornwall. So, they will get a whole fillet whole fillet in a lot of the time and use every part of that for four different dishes.
Amazing. And when you’re not demonstrating, not cooking, not busy, not being a mum temporarily, which doesn’t really happen, where do you go out for a bite to eat in Cornwall?
Rose: Eating out is one of my favourite things to do. And we live near Padstow, so we’re absolutely rich in places to go, aren’t we? But I think a favourite of mine in Saint Merryn which is about four miles from Padstow is a little bar called the Dog House which is a wine bar. I mean it’s wine and beer – a normal bar And, they’ve got this incredible little pizza oven out the back. Actually, they’ve got a brand new huge one at the moment.
And it’s family run. And it was actually the first place I worked at, maybe eighteen years ago. I was the barmaid there, and they’ve developed this beautiful kind of very European family style dining/drinking experience. And, Mike, Max, Pete, and Johnny are a family. And the boys do the cooking. Max is the smiley face behind the bar, and I just love it there. It’s best place to go out with mates. You can get as drunk as you want and no one cares.
That sounds amazing. What about you? Where do you head to for a bite to eat?
Eddy: Well, I was going to say the same because my daughter says it’s the best pizza around because we go there quite a bit.
But say if we’re in Padstow and you want to do something a bit different, but not necessarily different, jump on the ferry and go across to Rock. That’s quite nice and there are a few places there. Obviously, The Mariners is great. My younger daughter loves that because she loves she loves steak. So, they’ve got Côte de Boeuf and things like that on the menu as well. She loves just chewing the bone of a Tomahawk or a steak like that.
But then you’ve also got like Four Boys which is great as well.
You know, they’re both quite, I’m not going to say pricey, but it’s just a lovely place to be as well. And a little trip on the ferry as well. So, if you’re in Padstow Way that’s that adds a little bit as well.
It gives holiday vibes as well. It makes you feel like you’re not just going out for something to eat. It just adds a bit more to it.
I completely agree. If you can get on the water on a boat, you see the land from a completely unique vantage point. It feels like you’re on a proper adventure and it’s really easy access.
But then that way you would eat fish because you feel like you’re on a boat. You know, like you’re in Rome, you eat pizza. You’re by the sea, you eat fish and chips. It does make sense. You sort of eat where you are, I think, as well.
Rose: There’s a good selection there in Rock, isn’t there? There’s Four Boys where it’s more like a glass of wine and a little a little plate of fish or Mariners where you go and have really indulgent pub grub.
Eddy: And Saint Enodoc now as well.
Rose: And Saint Enedoc which is fantastic.
And what about a drink? Somewhere you head to. Finished work, finished your duties and you’ve got a bit of time and you’re going to hook up with your mates. Where do you head to?
Bin Two. It’s my favourite place on earth, I think. There’s a little wine bar slash shop in Padstow on the drang just slightly set back off the harbour. And it’s a tiny little cupboard of dreams just filled with different wines. Really experienced sommeliers there that talk you through. Or if you don’t know anything about wine, it’s really unpretentious. But it’s wines local beer and local cider. So, a smaller selection on the beers and ciders but if you love a glass of wine, it’s great. And they’ve got their own fizz called Fizzy Bum Bum.
And I’m quite partial to a Fizzy Bum Bum.
That’s perfect. I’ve been there and you walk in and it’s a shop. You look around and you kind of start getting enamoured by everything. And then you just start talking to them and they’ll pick something off the shelf and they’ll and they’ll cork it and then you’re in and you meet some interesting characters.
What about you Eddy? Where do you like heading?
Eddy: So, say we’re in Padstow, I’ll go to The Harbour Inn Padstow. It feels quite Cornish. It’s quite local. It’s quite friendly. But then also they do an open mic night every Thursday night.
Me and one of my chefs used to go when we finished service on a Thursday never joined in. Well, I didn’t anyway. I know someone that did actually. That’s good fun and again, you’re on the harbour. It’s just a little bit just tucked away.
Brilliant. And what about something interesting to go and do that might not be that well known or just a lovely spot that you like heading to or something to experience in Cornwall that you’d recommend to someone visiting or even people that are just looking for something different to go and do?
Rose: Okay. Can I give two?
Yes
Eddy: Can I take one of yours?
Rose: Saint Nectan’s Glen is absolutely gorgeous? Go for a walk. There it’s a waterfall and it’s very kind of mystical and a bit hippy and magical. You can walk up through Saint Nectan’s Glen and there’s a little cafe at the end that does lovely toasties.
Or a speedboat in Padstow. Going on a speedboat in Padstow, I think should be on the NHS handed out for mental health.
I think it’s the best thing you can do. If you’re feeling a bit low, get on a speedboat and have fifteen minutes round the bay. And you just can’t not laugh because it’s ridiculous and fast and funny and it’s just wonderful.
Am I going to ask you, Eddy? Have you got one or a favourite spot to visit?
Eddy: I would say Mother Ivy’s Beach, Padstow Way. Again, because that one I would go to when my kids are at school or I’m off work, or when I’ve got nothing else to do because there’s no lifeguards, no ice cream truck. There are kids there, but off season it’s not secluded, but it almost feels a bit private sometimes. And there’s a lovely walk as well around Trevose Head from there, which is a nice little walk to do as well.
Thank you both very much.