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Join Favorita in transforming the historic Harbour Cafe, Newlyn into a welcoming restaurant for food, friends, and community
We are Henry and Laura, founders of Favorita Cookery.
Henry spent 24 years working as a chef starting in Sydney and then in London, including working at Hibiscus, then as Head Chef of the much loved Moro and Morito. Laura worked for 20 years in film and TV as a Set Decorator.
During the pandemic, we started Nourished Minds Cookery, running free classes for charities and building a community through food. We loved it so much that we quit our jobs and created Favorita Cookery, travelling across Europe to run intimate cooking holidays whilst continuing with our charity work. These trips celebrate the places we’re in, focus on bringing people together around the table and creating valued life long friendships.
Our love for food and culture inspired us to travel across Europe, working, learning and eating as we went, experiencing fantastic produce and styles of cooking. Like many chefs, Henry always dreamed of having his own restaurant, but for a long time we were not quite sure where it would be.
On our return to the UK, we stayed in Sennen, a place Henry has loved since childhood and where we both felt instantly at home. We decided that maybe this was the place to put down roots, and not across the water as we had originally thought.
What was so great about cooking in Europe, we found in spades in Cornwall! We’ve loved exploring the local farms, abundant seafood and finding really good small producers in the area. We are really excited to have all of this available to us and to celebrate it at Favorita whilst using the knowledge gained from our travels. The community here thrives on its people and traditions. We want Favorita Newlyn to be open, welcoming, and connected to this place and its community.
Now we’ve settled in Newlyn, West Cornwall and fallen in love with the Harbour Cafe. This was a much cherished, long running establishment which sadly closed during the pandemic, our aim is to bring this place opposite the Newlyn Fish Market back to life and realise our dream for Favorita.
We have been saving for a few years now, but the harbour cafe needs a bit more work than we had anticipated. Whilst we knew there were always going to be essential improvements and updates to be made to bring it up to standard, the challenge of this project has grown as we have stripped back the layers of the old building. We need your help and support to bring this disused cafe back to life and make it part of the fabric of the community again.
We’ll be serving a short, seasonal menu of Mediterranean inspired plates, built around local produce, fresh seafood from Newlyn, top quality meat and dairy, and vegetables grown nearby. Expect simple, confident cooking that allows great ingredients to shine.
Our food takes its lead from southern Spain and the tapas bars we love, grilled or fried fish, crispy aubergine, potatoes with a liberal coating of olive oil, best enjoyed with a cold beer or a glass of sherry, before travelling across the Mediterranean, drawing influence from Turkey and Lebanon.
You’ll find warm spice, bright herbs and punchy chilli running through the menu, skewers of charred meat, fresh flatbreads, slow cooked beans and vegetables, and vibrant, exciting salads.
The menu will be made up of small plates designed for sharing and flexibility, whether it’s a quick snack or a full meal. Generous, unfussy food, built around flavour and the best ingredients we can find.
If you’ve ever eaten our food, joined one of our cookery holidays, or simply believe places like this matter, we’d love you to be part of it. Buy a voucher for a future meal, or simply back the project and help us open the doors. We’ll save you a seat.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 27th June 2026 at 11:07am