Impressed
Dinner and the Hidden Cinema at the St Mawes Hotel
I first heard about the Hidden Cinema during a visit to the St Mawes Hotel a few months ago. During a tour, I was shown this tucked away gem – right in the heart of the building. When given the opportunity to attend a dinner and movie night, I jumped at the chance.
Dinner and movie nights take place on a Friday evening, usually once or twice a month. You arrive for a two-course dinner at 6.30pm (further courses can be enjoyed for an additional cost), followed by the film at 8pm. We arrived to find a table reserved for us on the upper deck – with glorious views across the water. After a wet and overcast day, we were lucky that the weather cleared in the evening and we could properly appreciate the location of this lovely hotel.
There’s the option to dine on two levels – the lower and upper decks. Downstairs has more of a luxury pub feel, with a log burner, sofas, bar area and tables. Upstairs is quieter, with fewer tables – but still with a relaxed feel.
Our menus arrived and we decided to go for starters and main courses, even though the selection of puddings looked incredibly tempting. I chose red wine poached pear tart, goats cheese and caramelised onion to start, whilst my partner opted for the mussels special - both were delicious.
For the main course we opted for pork belly with borlotti beans and spinach, and monkfish with red lentil dahl and mango and cucumber salsa. Again, both dishes were lovely and just the right size - I’m not a fan of huge portions if I’m having more than one course.
Aside from our choices, the menu also included a number of specials and other meat, fish and vegetarian dishes - there really was a great selection to choose from.
Just before 8pm we were shown through to the cinema, collecting warm tubs of salted popcorn on the way in. Individual tubs of ice cream were also available, but we just couldn’t justify devouring more food after a lovely dinner.
The cinema has been really well thought out, with luxurious reclining leather seats, complete with blankets and cup holders. A world away from the uncomfortable, often aged, seats I’m used to elsewhere. Once we were seated and settled, the film began.
In my local cinema I often have to sit through nearly half an hour of adverts, before the film even starts. It was a real treat to sit down, get comfortable and within minutes watch the opening scenes. We chose to watch Arrival, a 2016 American science fiction movie.
When the film ended, we reluctantly returned our seats to upright and headed for home. I can thoroughly recommend a dinner and movie night at the St Mawes Hotel – it was a real treat and a world apart from a traditional cinema experience. The hotel also hold family friendly Sunday afternoon cinema events, a Wednesday ladies’ lunch and locals’ movie night.
