It’s nice to catch up with you again. How are things with you, did you have a good summer?

It's been a big year for us. We’ve really pushed our events this summer; making the most of the sun and seasonal produce. The Argoe x Pizza Plz collab and sardine festival were a lot of fun. The celebrations finished with friends playing music on the terrace, echoing out over the harbour - it was great to create a bit of a party atmosphere. We launched The Cornish Sardine Festival alongside a group of local fishermen and others from the Newlyn community. It was a big hit - we fed over 1000 people in two days, and it was special to see so many locals and visitors celebrate a fish that’s so important to our town.

For those who haven’t come across Argoe, could you give us an idea of what you’re up to?

We’re a seafood restaurant right on the harbour in Newlyn. More than just opening a restaurant, I wanted to create a space here where we could celebrate the local industry, and invest in a genuine connection to where our produce comes from. I just felt there was something missing, the sort of thing often found in Spain and Portugal - a humble harbour side restaurant that cooks simple and honest food. I want Newlyn to be one of the best places in the UK to eat seafood.

Am I right in thinking your family has played a part in Newlyn’s fishing community for a few generations?

Yeh, that’s right. My father and grandfather started Trelawney Fish in the 80s. It’s still operational today, and sits just over the road from us on The Strand. They started on Newlyn market with an unofficial stand in the corner of the building, buying fish at the morning auction and driving it around the country in a van overnight. I grew up around it, so fish has always been present in my life.

As a kid it’s not that attractive a career prospect, something you only do for a lack of other options. But actually that heritage has given me a lot - a natural understanding of how things work in the industry, and a lifetime of knowledge to invest in my own businesses. I share a curiosity for anything fishing related with my dad and brother, and that has taken us to markets, harbours and fishmongers all around Spain and Portugal - definitely a big influence in what I do.

Although I never met my grandfather, stories of him cooking elaborate multi dish feasts at home for friends, where each course was a different fish, have become a bit of a legend that guides me in providing experiences through cooking seafood.

What gave you the idea to start Argoe?

Travel has a lot to do with it I think. Experiences abroad that I missed at home, and for sure an approach to seafood that truly respects and reveres it. Something we really should have here in a town so tied to the sea. A bit of luck in finding the site, and help from family, friends and the local community to make the idea a reality.

In quite a big way my other business, Forgotten Fish, was the warm up for Argoe too. It got me back working with food after a brief foray into furniture making (which came in handy when building the restaurant alongside my brother!), and set a precedent for valuing the whole fish, nose to tail style, as well as celebrating under-utilised species like megrim sole, spider crab and horse mackerel.

Although we now serve things that people know and love as luxuries, like lobster and turbot - you’ll always find them on the menu alongside the less prized fish, which are equally as good when you know how to source and cook them.

What’s your tip for cooking seafood?

Cook it over fire and don’t add anything unnecessary. Salt and oil, that’s all you need.

Argoe bridges Newyln’s fishing heritage and the regeneration of the harbour - is that something you always planned?

I think Newlyn has done well at moving with the times whilst holding onto its identity, and really that’s because the fishing industry here is thriving and still defines the town. Where you see new things open, they have popped up in gaps left by businesses and industry long gone, as opposed to displacing anything needed and used by the community. So it feels like, so far, we’ve been able to have the old and the new without upsetting the balance. It’s something I’ve always been conscious of, as I knew the potentially negative change a business like mine could bring to a town.

I believe though, that if you are mindful of that, you can create great things. Our more low key, fast food style events are something we channel that idea into; days or evenings where we serve things as simple as an incredible fish finger sandwich, or a lobster roll, and all the community - families, kids, friends and fellow business owners - can come and celebrate the local catch with us, and eat for less than a tenner. Although it’s not what we’re known for more widely or beyond Cornwall’s borders, for me it’s one of the most important things we do, and I know it is appreciated by locals.

You mentioned that travel has had a big influence on your cooking? Are there any places or memories that stand out for you?

Spain as a whole just keeps on inspiring me each time I go. I’ve taken several trips driving across the country, often starting in the Basque Country and travelling across the North Coast. You get to pass through so many lesser travelled spots that way; Basque coastal towns beyond San Sebastián; the fishing ports and mountains of Asturias; the North of Galicia, almost like being back in Cornwall. To define Spain as we see it from here, tapas and paella, misses the vast diversity of food you find on the way. Our style is influenced a lot by that cookery and its essence of paring things right back. Often a menu will read as just an ingredient, and what you get on the plate will be just that. But it will be the best version that it could ever be, treated in just the right way, with the appropriate cooking technique and nothing added. And starting with the best produce too of course.

Travelling with my dad and brother, one of my most memorable experiences was a Sunday lunch at a restaurant we stumbled on in Rinlo - specialising in lobster rice. We sat in an upstairs dining room overlooking a river that flowed directly onto the rough coastline where their famed shellfish was caught. It was filled with Spanish families, several generations, all enjoying the same dish. More soupy than a paella, rich with the stock of many a shell, and brought to the table in a wide aluminium serving dish, chunks of lobster, crawfish and prawns poking out from the rice and broth. The magic of that has stuck with me, not just for the food, but the experience of watching a room full of people all sitting down together over one shared dish.

I’m back in Galicia as I write this, the green, rainy corner of Spain with some of the best seafood in the world. Plates of razor clams cooked on the plancha, tiny queen scallops, velvet crab, simply steamed mussels; definitely worth the drive.

We sent you a Fitzroy Jacket to test when you were down on the harbour - how did it hold up?

It was great, beautifully made jacket that had the feel of something I’d worn a dozen times, the moment I put it on. Great fit, light and comfortable but warm enough to be wandering round Newlyn harbour on a windy winters day. Pared back style, the kind of functional clothing I like to wear.

If you were to drop everything, where would you go if you had… two days, two weeks, two months?

LONDON - always good to get out of Cornwall and remind yourself of what’s going on beyond our little bubble. I’ll go back to Mountain or Brat every time because what they’ve done with their restaurants has always been an inspiration to me.

BARCELONA - such an underrated food city, in the off season, amongst the tourist traps there is a seriously good traditional food scene. Sitting at the bar at Cal Pep might be my favourite restaurant experience anywhere in the world. No menu, same team every time you go, buzz of the kitchen and dining room combined into one, and some of the best plates of seafood you’ll ever eat

JAPAN - It’s been on top of the list for so long but we’ve never made it there, one day…

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