Simon Hulstone cooks a one-off night at Newquay’s Ugly Butterfly

Two Michelin stars are about to share one kitchen above Fistral Beach. For one night only, the chef behind Torquay’s longest-standing Michelin star swaps his own harbourside dining room for the open kitchen at Ugly Butterfly, and the diners get to watch it happen from a few feet away.

The next name in Adam Handling’s dinner series

Chef Simon Hulstone of The Elephant in Torquay is the latest guest in Adam Handling’s Four-Hands Dinner Series, cooking alongside the Ugly Butterfly team on Tuesday 8 September. Over the last few months Adam has brought a run of Michelin-starred chefs into the Newquay restaurant to build one-off tasting menus, each cooked in the open kitchen side by side with the Ugly Butterfly team rather than handed over.

Adam Handling MBE said: “I’ve always believed the most exciting things in this industry happen when you cook alongside people who see food in a completely different way to you. This series is about exactly that. Bringing together chefs I genuinely admire and letting those different perspectives, backgrounds and styles collide.”

Ugly Butterfly, part of the wider Adam Handling Collection, was awarded its first Michelin star in January 2026. It looks straight out over Fistral Bay and has built its name on exceptional produce and immersive dining.

📷Credit: Jodi Hinds Photography

Who is Simon Hulstone

Simon Hulstone is chef proprietor of The Elephant, which he runs with his wife Katy on Torquay harbour. It was the first restaurant in the town to win a Michelin star and has held it since 2006, longer than any other in Torquay. The kitchen leans heavily on the restaurant’s own 96-acre farm in Brixham, which supplies much of what ends up on the plate, though Simon looks further afield when an ingredient is worth the trip.

Tickets for the Newquay dinner

Tickets for the evening are priced at £175pp and are bookable through OpenTable. The two chefs will cook side by side, each bringing dishes that reflect their own style, alongside what the collection describes as a shared commitment to sustainability and pushing British cooking forward.

Anyone wanting more detail on the evening can reach Ugly Butterfly on 01637 839739 or by emailing [email protected]. The restaurant is on Headland Road, up at The Headland overlooking Fistral Beach, and posts as @uglybutterflybyah on Instagram.

More from the Adam Handling Collection this autumn

The collaboration dinner isn’t the only thing on at the Collection’s Cornwall sites this autumn. Down the road from Ugly Butterfly, The Tartan Fox has its Fireside Feasting Nights running through to Christmas, starting with one this Friday, 4 September. For something a little different, there’s a Día de los Muertos murder mystery feast on Friday 30 October, with full details here.

Whether the Torquay-Newquay pairing becomes a regular fixture or stays a one-off remains to be seen. Either way, Fistral Bay gets a night with two Michelin stars in the same kitchen, and only one sitting to watch it happen.

📷Credit: Jodi Hinds Photography

📷Credit: Jodi Hinds Photography

📷Credit: Jodi Hinds Photography

📷Credit: Jodi Hinds Photography

📷Credit: Jodi Hinds Photography

📷Credit: Jodi Hinds Photography