A first look at Mor
Published 10 August 2026

There are many great seafood restaurants in Cornwall, from heavy hitters like Rick Stein’s The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow and Outlaw’s Bistro in Port Isaac, to local favourites like Argoe in Newlyn and North Street Kitchen in Fowey. But with the opening of Mor at the swanky Carbis Bay hotel, London-based landlubber chef Tom Sellers (whose Restaurant Story in Bermondsey is rated Exceptional in the guide) has found his sea legs and sailed ahead of the rest of the fleet.

Sellers has bagged a stunning location, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows directly overlooking the golden sands of the bay. Formerly Adam Handling’s Ugly Butterfly, Mor (named after the Cornish word for sea) boasts a large dining room and spacious bar that have been artfully reimagined by designer Shayne Brady. Drawing inspiration from Shintoism and Celtic mysticism, there’s lots of natural wood, fabrics in a range of subtle wheaten tones, a Cornish granite fireplace and a beguiling ceiling installation made from strips of fabric that move in a light breeze like breaking waves. Although there are sea views from every table, you’ll want to be at one of the window tables for the full immersive effect.

Staff, decked out in chic blue-grey chore-style workwear suits made by Finisterre in nearby St Agnes, look like they could form their very own Celtic mystic cult. Headed up by Katie Russell (formerly of Elystan Street), they make a welcoming, chatty and charming team. Make no mistake, this is high-end, luxury dining and the service runs like clockwork, but there is also a lightness of touch and a subtle informality that makes you feel like you’ve popped into your favourite local bistro for a bite to eat.

If you can tear yourself away from the view, you can watch the chefs, including Tom Anglesea (Sellers’ group executive chef), Corrin Harrison (formerly of Gwen in Machynlleth) and Sellers himself, manning the open-fire grills in the large open kitchen. The day’s catch is on show in a glass-fronted display set into the kitchen counter. On the day we visited, it included brill, pollock, red mullet and a large mackerel that had been landed just one hour before our lunch.

Sellers orchestrates the menu’s global influences masterfully, especially on the selection of nine cold and eight hot starters. The bang bang squid salad was a delicious riff on the dish made famous by The Ivy in the 90s. Perfectly tender, flash-cooked and thinly sliced squid combined with strips of carrot, kohlrabi and a plentiful amount of fresh herbs, and tossed in a punchy Vietnamese-style dressing with sesame, chilli, lime, fish sauce and palm sugar; nuggets of peanut brittle provided sweet and crunchy contrast. It was an inspired and memorable dish that we were told has already become a bestseller. Grilled skewers of octopus and shiitake with a tare sauce and spatchcock BBQ quail with fermented chillies were expertly cooked and boldly flavoured.

Main courses are designed to share. You can choose between the day’s catch served grilled or steamed, or a selection of chargrilled meats that might include a T-bone steak from Cornish butcher and grazier Philip Warren and lamb chops from The Cornwall Project. All come with garden salad, potatoes and half a dozen condiments. For some tableside theatre, order the Cornish crab, which is first presented to the table, then whisked away to be cooked and picked to order (if you’ve ever picked crab, you’ll know that’s quite a feat) and then served with no little ceremony. However, we felt like we’d hit the jackpot with the oven-baked crisp seafood rice. This very superior take on paella was served in the pan and heaving with prawns, lobster, mussels, clams, langoustines and pieces of sea bream fillet. Charcuterie from Coombeshead Farm and a rich, velvety rouille added even more flavour and texture. The real prize was the perfectly formed layer of crispy socarrat at the bottom of the pan.

Desserts didn’t quite live up to the savoury courses. A version of Australian chef Neil Perry’s fanous Medjool date and custard tart wasn’t as good as the original I’d had at Perry’s Margaret restaurant in Sydney last year, and wasabi was an unwelcome addition to some otherwise lovely toasted-rice soft-serve ice cream. Textbook madeleines, fresh from the oven, saved the day.

The concise wine list, compiled by charismatic sommelier Tara Ozols, reflects her American roots with bottles from Oregon and California, as well as her passion for sake. Prices start at £45 for a Muscadet from the Loire and top out at £745 for a 2018 Pauillac. White wine drinkers get the better deal with 20 choices below £100, while those who prefer red have just eight options before they hit three figures.

Although Mor is never going to be a cheap night out, it does compare favourably pricewise to the local competition in St Ives while delivering a level of comfort, luxury and wow factor that other restaurants struggle to match. It’s easy to splurge here; that T-bone will cost you £170 for example. Equally, you could just share that seafood rice (£70) with a couple of glasses of Portuguese Arinto at £9 a pop and have an affordable but memorable experience. But where’s the fun in that? Just give me Mor, Mor, Mor.