Short answer: Buy before midday — the better fillings sell out by early afternoon in peak season. Look for a hand-crimped edge and chunked beef, not minced, then eat it on the harbour.
Padstow's food reputation runs toward Rick Stein's empire, but a proper pasty is a different tradition entirely — here's where to actually get a good one.
A reliable, well-made traditional pasty from a proper Cornish chain — genuinely good pastry, and busy enough in peak season that arriving before midday matters if you want the full flavour range still available.
The tell is the pastry-to-filling ratio and whether the crimp is hand-done rather than machine-pressed — a genuinely good pasty holds together without being dense, and the beef should be chunked rather than minced.
Padstow's harbour is genuinely the best spot to eat a pasty in town — find a bench, watch the boats, and eat it the traditional way, from the thick pastry end inward.
Bakeries sell out of the more popular fillings by early afternoon in peak season — a morning pasty, eaten as an early lunch, beats hoping there's still a good one left at 3pm.
Given Padstow's overall food reputation, a pasty here can carry a slight premium over somewhere like Bude — still generally reasonable, but worth knowing before you compare notes with friends elsewhere in Cornwall.
Most Padstow bakeries are set up for takeaway rather than sit-down, which suits the harbour-bench approach far better than trying to find indoor seating in peak season.
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