Talay Thai Kitchen

TALAY Thai Kitchen sits on the harbourfront at Wharf Road in St Ives, its name taken from the Thai word for both seafood and ocean. It runs on a walk-ins-only basis - no bookings, first come first served - and serves Thai tapas-style small plates alongside papaya salad, seafood curries and Thai milk tea, cooked to recipes described as authentic rather than adapted for a British menu. A cocktail lounge sits alongside the kitchen, running a daily happy hour with Thai-inflected drinks and Asahi on tap.

The harbour-view seating is part of the draw as much as the food - reviewers regularly single out the setting alongside the Massaman curry and the seafood. It's built enough of a following since opening that the same team expanded to a second site in Porthleven in 2026, in the harbourside building that used to house a Rick Stein restaurant. Expect a wait at peak times given the no-reservations policy; the kitchen holds a 5-star food hygiene rating.