Country cousins

Chicken pie?

It's Saturday and we are in Penzance for a mooch around the art gallery and shops. I love Penzance - the Egyptian house,  the arty crafty shops, the sound of seagulls. We started the morning with coffee in the cafe at the new art gallery and it was bad. My cappuccino was tiny and the foam faded to sludge. Artfully presented with a spoon filled with chocolate coffee beans, it did not live up to the presentation. I get tired of  places that try so hard that they miss the point. When I want a coffee, I  want it now and I want it to be good. This is what the cafes and bars in Madrid do effortlessly.

So when it came to lunch we decided to take a punt on the intriguing cafe across the street called "Country Cousins". It is caught in a time warp with prices to match but it offered home cooking and that steamy welcome you get when the food is served up hot and to order. OK the decor was interesting. Lots of beams, oilcloth tablecloths and the ubiquitous tiny white vases with yesterday's flowers. There is even a stuffed rooster on a shelf above the counter alongside the insect zapper.

My piping hot lunch of roast pork cost less than four quid and came with an extra vegetable to the advertised "three vegetables" and N was very happy with this "Hungry man's breakfast" (I take it hungry women don't eat breakfast?). I would go back and especially as they have wi fi and a licence! Just don't let any TV makeover people in or it will be all stripped floorboards and blackboards before we know it - with prices to match!