MEET THE CHEF ADAM HANDLING

Sustainable cooking has never looked – or tasted – this good. We speak to chef Adam Handling on taking eco to new heights in Cornwall's Carbis Bay and catering for presidents and prime ministers.

Winding down the hill towards Carbis Bay Hotel & Estate, it’s hard to picture a more perfect Cornish setting. The emerald bay, glinting in warm shimmering sunshine, dominates the vista as the horizon reveals itself like blue-green pages of a book falling open. The steep valley sides are dotted with white-washed homes and verdant foliage and Carbis Bay Hotel & Estate sits snug right in the centre of this cosiest of Cornish nooks.

A presidential enclave

Privacy is one of the hotel’s calling cards, not least because the luxury coastal boutique hotel hosted the2021 G7 Summit. The presidential motorcades were quite the sight as they rumbled into the quiet Cornish hamlet last summer yet it’s easy to see why the estate was selected as the venue to showcase to the world the beauty of Cornwall.

We, like Macron, Merkel, Johnson and friends, stayed in the extraordinary beachfront lodges. The chic, neutral-toned desirable residences wisely makes the most of the sea views at every opportunity, spanning three sweeping floors. The hot tubs and roof terraces overlook the surf, and spiral stone staircases lead down to sumptuous bedrooms where you can laze and listen to the waves from your bed. A capacious open-plan living space with full kitchen, a fireplace, a grand dining table, and a private garden leads down to the butter-coloured sand. While the main hotel building has a traditional luxurious appeal, and was built by celebrated Cornish architect Silvanus Trevail, the newly built lodges are more modern-Scandinavian in style than seaside bolthole, offering exclusive living with only the best roll-top baths and sea views. High-quality natural materials used throughout lend a soothing quality to the swoon-worthy decor.

The spectacular living room features floor-to-ceiling sliding doors so, from sunrise to sunset, the captivating light from the water fills the space. Light again cascades into the bedrooms where yet more floor-to-ceiling glass frames the uninterrupted sea view. Two of our three bedrooms feature a wide connecting balcony, bringing the picturesque shore even closer. The balcony proved a perfect spot for a morning coffee overlooking the rolling waves. A lodge concierge is on hand for everything – aperitifs and signature canapes at sundown, bountiful breakfast hampers served at a time of your choice with the finest of Cornish ingredients and oven-warm bread, dinner reservations and turn-down services.

New beginnings Alongside the hamlet of Carbis Bay’s luxury beach lodges, and just steps from the main house, is the Ugly Butterfly. The new restaurant on the estate is the brainchild of revered chef, Adam Handling. Ugly Butterfly opened in August 2021 and sits elevated above the beach with uninterrupted views of the ocean so breathtaking that walking in feels like a cinematic experience in itself. Full-height windows run the entire length of the vast restaurant and bar space, filling the view to the metaphorical brim with sand, sea, surf and sky. This is one restaurant to book for lunch or an early dinner so your jaw can suitably drop.

“When you walk into the restaurant, you have that view, which is a million dollars,” says Adam. “I don’t think there’s a more beautiful place in the world.”

Ugly Butterfly embodies three crucial elements for Adam: sustainable, local and luxurious. The restaurant focus on sustainability means using every ingredient, creating food that is both artistic and theatrical. “We only use items sourced in Cornwall. We hope to look after and work with the locals, because if it isn’t in Cornwall we aren’t using it.”

ADAM HANDLING WITH HEAD CHEF JAMIE PARK

Adam says he strives to make menus that are delectable and the highest culinary experience, in spite of them being zero-waste.

BEACH LODGE

“I love luxury. I love to eat really good food. And I like to drink really good wine. And I like to know that I'm doing something good for the environment and good for the planet. But lazy chefs just put fermented food on everything and call it sustainable, because all they know how to do is ferment it.”

During the G7, Adam and his team oversaw all the presidential requests, including private lunches and breakfasts for the delegates. “It's always exciting, it's always nerve-wracking, it's always scary. But it was great to be able to showcase that sustainable can be luxurious,” he says.

“I wanted to utilise as much zero-waste as possible, but in a way where it's still luxury enough and tasty enough to serve to world leaders. Sitting down and speaking to the leaders about that sort of stuff, and them enjoying it was really quite really special.”

SEAFOOD PLATTER FROM THE BEACH CLUB

Hero of zero Ugly Butterfly is Adam’s newest restaurant, he also has Frog in Covent Garden and The Loch & The Tyne in Windsor. “We lost four restaurants in the group during the lockdown,” Adam continues. “When it came to reopening, I went down a different route. Everyone with a passion thinks they're invincible but nowadays, learning from the mistakes of the past, we said instead of opening a lot of restaurants quickly, we're just going to strip it back. I want each of my restaurants to have its own identity, rather than having a number two of a number one restaurant.”

“I don't want people to think, ‘oh, he just put his name on another luxury property and popped off’. I have a house in Cornwall and a house in London and I split my time 50/50. We spent months finding the right Cornish suppliers. This isn’t just a concept, it’s years of experimenting coming to the fore.”

The chef’s favourite dish on the menu is the ‘lobster, beef fat’, a dish that hails from another of Adam’s restaurants. “Many years ago, I bought a whole Wagyu cow from Highland Wagyu in Scotland. This dish was created because these 1,300 kilo animals have a lot of fat and one of the challenges was what we could do to utilise all the fat.”

The solution was to use the Wagyu fat to cook the fresh lobster. “Here, we now use a Cornish dairy that’s around five minutes from the doorstep.” The lobsters, we are told by our excellent waiter, are caught under the lighthouse we can see in the distance through the window of the restaurant.

I don't want people to think, ‘oh, he just put his name on another luxury property and popped off.

“It's just really wonderful to build up such a relationship with suppliers, a stone's throw away from the restaurant door, and use wonderful things from what they're doing in imaginative ways that they hadn't thought of doing either.

CHEESE DOUGHNUTS

CORNISH CRAB TART

CRAB CORONATION

So you excite both the supplier, the chef, and fundamentally of course you excite the guests, because they feel like ‘this is so cool’. But it's cool in a way where you’re actually having a great experience. It doesn't taste like garbage, and it's been sustainable. �

UGLY BUTTERFLY BAR

And I say that doesn't taste like garbage quite literally, because I can't stand bowls of fermented foods. I understand it's zero-waste but when I'm spending a lot of money, I want a delicious mouth-watering meal. I don't want to just be eating sour fermented stuff because it's saving the planet, I still need the experience, I still want the luxury.”

We can attest that nothing tastes dodgy or sour at the Ugly Butterfly. Fresh, local and zero-waste – the philosophy runs deep and works – even the fantastical cocktail menu features takes on classics but uses ‘waste’ from the kitchen: herbs, shrubs, peels and ingredients that infuse and produce the most wonderful distillates and flavours.

Luxury and connections The food is also a spectacular journey full of real standout moments. The ‘snacks’ – a table laden with achingly pretty and elegantly precise dishes is a triumph and sets the bar exceedingly high for the tasting menu proper, featuring tastes Adam loves, including a crisp duck and plum sauce, a flavour bomb cheese doughnut, and a punchy beef and kimchi roll.

The tasting menu is one of a kind – if you’re going to invest in a special meal, this is where ours would be. The execution is elevated and intricate, while the food is unpretentious and delicious. The ‘Bread, chicken butter’ dish is inspired by Adam’s fussy eater sister resolving only ever to eat roast chicken for Sunday lunch when they were kids.

The deliciously salty bowls of yellow butter topped with crispy chicken skin and IPA-infused sourdough arrives with a note that reads: ‘But Mondays were my favourite. Leftover chicken in a white floury Scottish bap with loads of salty butter. This is my take on the happy memories of that Monday morning roast chicken sandwich.’

Cornish crab with apple and jasmine is the prettiest plate – light and with a taste of both the sea and Cornish orchards tangy Victoria plum, beetroot and luxuriant English truffle accompanies salt-aged duck with crisp skin; while playful heart-shaped waffles top local salmon and sturgeon.

“Nostalgia, relatability, connection with dishes – it’s so important,” says Adam. “I think the way that you're made to feel in a restaurant is equally as important as how the food tastes. If you have great food somewhere but you’re treated like dirt, it’s never going to be a good experience. I want the diners to have a very one-to-one intimate experience at the Ugly Butterfly. For it to be memorable.

People think I'm a bit bizarre because I'm a chef yet I'm more front-of-house focused because, for me, it's all about how a guest is made to feel as soon as they walk in this place.” Fortunately, it’s clear his team are imbued with the same passion and ethos, keenly sharing titbits of Adam’s stories, menu revelations and details of the ingredients without it being forced, laboured or overbearing.

THE UGLY BUTTERFLY DINING

Following a belt-busting meal, the hotel has a host of relaxing offerings for guests to enjoy. A beautiful seafront orangery and patio is perfect for morning coffees and afternoon teas, while the hotel’s C-Bay Spa is recently renovated and features a spine-soothing infinity pool and open air Jacuzzi, with tiered decking offering private hideouts from which to drink in the glorious views.

The South West Coast Path passes across the hotel grounds – ideal for avid walkers. St Ives, with its mix of tea shops, galleries and shops, is an easy mile and a half (2.5km) hike along the breathtaking hills or eight minutes by the equally charming branch-line train that chugs into the Carbis Bay station just up the hill from the hotel.

All told, for a slice of Cornwall and one of the most innovative restaurants in Britain to date, Carbis Bay is a perfect seafront escape.

Text by Chantal Borciani