The story
Kota is an Asian fusion restaurant at Harbour Head, Porthleven (TR13 9JA), awarded three AA Rosettes in 2026. Chef Jude Kereama cooks a menu where British seafood meets Southeast Asian spice.
Kereama has Maori and Malaysian/Chinese roots, and the Good Food Guide (Very Good, 2026) points to his ingenious seasoning and sense of texture as what sets Kota apart. You can eat from the carte or take the six-course tasting menu, which comes with wine pairings.
Smoked mackerel doughnuts and oysters with rhubarb vinegar open the meal. Hand-dived scallops arrive with turnip, apple, buttermilk and lovage, while lemon sole sits in a coconut and lobster bisque with sea buckthorn and grapes. Meat has its place too: pork belly with cauliflower and plum boshi, or beef with black garlic, maitake and smoked potato.
Dessert might be a sweet-savoury choux bun with Jerusalem artichoke ice cream, black-garlic caramel and truffle praline. Baked cheese with hibiscus mayo is another option. The 50-bin wine list leans toward Kereama's native New Zealand and gives Riesling plenty of room, from bone dry to late-harvest sweetness.
Kota now occupies a private space inside its sister restaurant, Kota Kai, so two restaurants share one roof. The restaurant says its signature experience carries on unchanged.
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On the harbour head in peaceable Porthleven, Kota feels every inch the rustic Cornish bolthole, with its red tiled floor, mutually reflecting mirrors and engaging, friendly staff. What lifts it out of the ordinary are the flavour combinations Jude Kereama brings to all of his dishes. With both Maori and Malaysian/Chinese heritage, he has an ingenious approach to seasoning and spicing, as well as an understanding of textural variation – and the results never seem to fall short. Eat from the carte or choose the six-course tasting menu, which offers similar dishes with apposite wine pairings (‘pure fine dining,’ according to one reader). Nibbles of smoked mackerel doughnuts or oysters with rhubarb vinegar set the tone, ahead of hand-dived scallops with turnip, apple, buttermilk and lovage or lemon sole with a rich coconut and lobster bisque, sea buckthorn and grapes. Meat also gets a look-in, be it pork belly with cauliflower, plum boshi and cabbage or beef with black garlic, maitake mushrooms and smoked potato. Finish perhaps with sweet-savoury choux bun with Jerusalem artichoke ice cream, black-garlic caramel and truffle praline or baked cheese and hibiscus mayo accompanied by a rhubarb, raspberry and custard crumble. The 50-bin wine list favours Kereama's Kiwi birthplace, with Riesling allowed to demonstrate its food-friendly paces – either varietally or blended, acerbically dry or with the citric sweetness of late harvesting.
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