Is this still a secret? Do I have to introduce myself?
Yes, please.
Fine. Rupert Cooper, owner of Philleighway Cookery School and the Cove Cafe at Hayle.
We’re joined by the wonderfully unpretentious Rupert Cooper, owner of the beloved Philleighway Cookery School and the utterly charming Cove Cafe on Hayle Beach.
With seven years of making cooking accessible to everyone, Rupert has perfected the art of stripping away the complicated bits and getting straight to the delicious heart of things. Whether you’re mastering the ways of the Asador, diving into Japanese techniques, or exploring Middle Eastern flavours, his philosophy is beautifully simple: remove the barriers, keep it real, and make sure everyone goes home ready to actually cook.
From his cozy log-burner warmed cafe where the menu changes constantly to keep things exciting, to his passionate advocacy for octopus that’s currently causing absolute havoc for local fishermen, Rupert embodies Cornwall’s relaxed but knowledgeable food scene perfectly.
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So what’s the vibe at the cookery school? Is it something that anyone can go along to, or is it something for professionals?
No. Not at all. That’s the whole kind of premise, for everyday cooks and food lovers alike to come and enjoy and hopefully learn something and leave happy and content.
Amazing. I’ve been lucky enough to go to a few courses there. I am apparently now a trained Asador. I’ve done some Japanese cooking, and I came to a Middle Eastern one.
And they’re brilliant. And you leave with lots of food as well. And do you do a whole different range?
Yeah. I think when I took over the cookery school, seven years ago now, the curriculum was to be varied to make sure people left with stuff that they could show off and be proud of what they can produce in in relative short amount of time. Whether that’s a four hour course or a whole day course. That’s the key thing really.
The nice thing that I found as well was you broke everything down to make it really simple. So, if someone’s at home, when you watch a cookery show or when people used to watch cookery shows, you think, I’ve got to get all those ingredients and that looks quite complicated. But you made it really simple and that’s your thing, isn’t it?
Hugely so. And for me, it’s how I remove barriers to doing something. So, if you need that bit of specialist equipment, well, can we sack that off? Do you have to have that? Do you have to have that ingredient?
So, for me, it’s about stripping it back and making sure people go home and cook.
Brilliant. And what about the Cove Cafe? One of my favourite places. It’s right on the beach.
We can almost see it. It’s around the corner. You took that over a few years ago as well and what what’s the vibe there? What do you do there?
It’s still my sort of premise and mantra goes to whatever I do, whether it’s outside catering, the cookery school. It’s about enjoying food. It’s almost a basic format or as simple and as accessible as possible. And I’d hope that that sort of transpires to everything I do within the food scene because essentially that’s how I like to eat and cook.
I’ve been there and had some particularly tasty dishes and smaller plates and nibbles. What are your specialties there?
Without sitting on the fence too much, we don’t have any specialties. We’ve got a few staples. I think our fish soup stays on quite a lot because I like that recipe. It’s one I’ve done for ages, and it goes down well.
But the main thing is because we’ve got so much variety, it changes so often. We can hopefully gain the same customer that will pop in two, three times in a week if they’re feeling particularly flush and they want us to go out for dinner or lunch a little bit. So, it’s keeping the menu varied as much as possible.
It’s a particularly cozy place as well. You’ve got a log burner in there. So, in the colder months, it’s one of my favourite places to just sit and warm up after being in the sea.
And so, thinking about that, if you’re going out, when you get a chance to go out for a bite to eat, where would you head to?
I mean there’s a whole host of places. I do like the Taproom at Verdant in Penryn. Their pizzas are class. Stephen Knowles is the chef and they do some banging pizzas. And pizza’s my favourite thing in the world. If I could eat nothing for the rest of my life, it would be that.
You’ve got those guys. The guys at Bango at Penryn as well. Two looking at South Coast.
North Coast, Mick at Porthminster cafe.
Talking to Fraser, and actually haven’t had the pleasure of going to the Fish Shed but having tasted some of his lovely samples this weekend, that’s definitely a place I’m going to look at going to as well.
I just had some of their samples too, and they were just absolutely delicious.
Again, we talk about simplicity, and I appreciate the concept here is about street food. So, facilities and equipment are going to play a big role in that. I just like really tasty stuff and really good value.
What about if you’re grabbing a drink with some friends. Top suggestions of where what comes to mind, where you really want to go?
Straight off the bat, you’ve got St.Ives Brewery. Slipway is up there with my favourite beer ever in life, let alone just in Cornwall. So St.Ives Brewery, those Friday, Saturday nights, it is a cracking place to have. If you want something, like a glass of wine, you’ve got the Headland Hotel, with a nice vista, nice view. Fistral Beach Bar. Then you’ve got Schooners at St Agnes.
So, if you can find a view and the weather’s like this, it doesn’t really matter where you are.
Just to explain to everyone. There aren’t any clouds. The sea is aquamarine. We’re sitting on the beach. This apparently, is work. It doesn’t feel like it.
Not at all.
You obviously use a lot of really lovely food producers. Any that come to mind that people should try for some of their ingredients. Some people are doing some special stuff at the moment?
Weirdly, there are a couple of fishermen I kind of know vicariously through the cookery school on the Roseland, and they’re saying octopus is causing absolute havoc. And they are literally landing it so much, and they don’t know what to do with it. So, I can see if people jump on board with that. I like cuttlefish and octopus anyway. But if maybe the people at home in the domestic settings can brave the opportunity to cook some octopus, I think you could be in with a real winner as a cost effective high protein and sustainable ingredient.
I think the thing with octopus now… (I love octopus). I’m half Portuguese, so I was brought up with octopus. I’ve got one tattooed on my leg. The thing with octopus is, a lot of people are squeamish of it, and it looks like a weird creature. But if you talk to the fishmonger, they will explain how to cook it simply, won’t they?
And it isn’t a task to make it come out not chew. There are a whole host of different ways of cooking it, from the most obvious to some other ones, and it is a delicious ingredient, isn’t it?
I absolutely love it. I think it’s brilliant. It’s meaty. It can take flavour. I’m actually going to do a dish for my demo with an octopus dish on Sunday, because I just love its utilisation.
Brilliant. And, to wrap up then, we’ve been asking everyone if you wanted to give a recommendation of something to experience in Cornwall that would be really special. Anything that comes to mind?
Go and get a bag of good quality charcoal from Blackwater, Cornish Firewood Company. Get a little bag of that. Get a load of beers from St. Ives. Go to the beach and have burgers, sausages from Etheringtons or Trevaskis Farm or any decent butcher in Cornwall and just have a wicked evening on the beach with their little homemade barbecue.
I think that’s a brilliant idea. People should remember, those sorts of things are really simple. Just don’t buy the food from the supermarket. Go and find the specialty stuff, and it isn’t that much more expensive. It’s so much more flavoursome. And when you put it on the beach and you’re cooking in the sand, you feel like you’re properly on holiday, don’t you?
Definitely. You’ve got the whole lifestyle to enjoy and utilise the beach, look after the beach, and all these amazing opportunities we have down in the South West.
Brilliant. Thank you very much.