Although pubs across Wales have recently seen their numbers diminish due to competition, a few establishments have created lasting memories. At Sosban and Old Butchers on Anglesey, a former butcher’s shop now serves as a platform for innovative ideas production.
Paternoster Farm in Pembrokeshire provides an authentic field to fork experience while Chapters in Hay-on-Wye offers refined brasserie fare with classical technique.
1. Ynyshir
Ynyshir provides an immersive dining experience – in more ways than one. Gareth Ward’s restaurant with rooms has drawn universal praise for both his delicious culinary creations as well as its bold approach to fine-dining culture. Recently it took top prize at the Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards!
Ynyshir stands out from Michelin-star restaurants in that its service team (11 in 2017) serves dishes from its kitchen bench. Notable regional sheepskins and handmade pottery from Wales showcase Wales, but the experience goes much beyond this.
Dinner at Ynyshir typically lasts four to five hours, giving our chefs ample time to take you on a global culinary journey, from delicious wagyu beef and Iberico pork dishes, through preserved fruits, Asian-influenced flavour combinations with British influences, preserved fruits, sensory immersion techniques such as filling the room with birch smoke to heighten the experience. A pumping soundtrack and sensory immersion techniques such as filling it add another level of intensity.
2. The Walnut Tree
The Walnut Tree restaurant has long been one of the top dining destinations in Wales since being first established by Franco Taruschio in Llanddewi Skirrid near Abergavenny in 1960. Michelin-star restaurant since 2011, The Walnut Tree serves up delicious Italian fare that will leave your tastebuds satisfied!
Restaurant 24 is known for creating fresh food inspired by culinary tradition that highlights beautiful ingredients. Led by Shaun Hill – who has been cooking for 50 years! – the team at Restaurant 24 are all passionate about food as an art form.
Etienne Humbert, Swiss restaurant manager of The Walnut Tree in Berne, describes its charm as being due to how it makes people feel welcome. Customers frequently return for repeat dining experiences with relaxed service that allows guests to feel right at home; making the restaurant perfect for friends and families to share an enjoyable meal together.
3. Janet’s Authentic Northern Chinese Restaurant
Janet Wei’s restaurant in Pontypridd offers exquisite Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Malaysian food that won her the champion street food award at last year’s British Restaurant Awards. You won’t want to miss her mouthwatering dim sum, volcano rice and bao bun dishes served up by this self-taught chef who also earned herself an accolade as champion street food vendor!
Aberaeron boasts a delightful boutique hotel adorned with forget-me-not blue hues and luxurious sea views, boasting unforgettable sea vistas from each room. Their restaurant specializes in locally sourced seafood such as monkfish KFC with black pepper aioli and spring onion jam as well as twice baked perl las souffle dishes.
This inn, situated in a village pub with wood burners and wooden floors, offers truly delightful hospitality. Additionally, there’s an exceptional deli (the only one within miles), Welsh cask wine list and full-flavored traditional dishes with an innovative flair such as Venison tartar with sesame seeds and Radish from their kitchen.
4. Y Talbot
Nestled within a picturesque small town encased by the Cambrian Mountains, Y Talbot Inn provides the ideal platform for discovering nearby hills, rivers and valleys. Offering superior food and accommodation with local ingredients a focus, Y Talbot focuses on offering only top quality services and accommodations to guests.
Y Talbot Inn, an ancient drover’s inn, offers an intimate setting ideal for midweek or weekend breaks. Oak beams and stone walls create a welcoming ambiance reminiscent of times gone by.
Mick and Nia Taylor have created an essential stop on visitors’ tours through Wales by car, bike or foot. Their hotel and restaurant provides secure bicycle storage as well as a drying room to encourage cyclists, mountain bikers and walkers. Furthermore, a state-of-the-art ground floor accessible bedroom provides accommodations for those with limited mobility.
5. Bar 44
Just minutes from Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, this former canal warehouse serves up a taste of Spain in Cowbridge and Penarth with outposts run by Tom and Owen Morgan (who also run Asador 44, an award-winning sister restaurant) under their supervision. Their menu combines delicious local ingredients alongside some signature dishes like pork belly with an apricot glaze, crispy bravas, sea bream cooked on a plancha served with squid ink alioli as signature dishes.
Cardiff branch of Bar 44 boasts an extensive drinks menu and is unique among UK branches in that they pour three different sherries from full-sized barrels behind the bar, providing customers with both delicious food and drinks to enjoy! They have also just published a cookbook called ‘Bar 44 Tapas y Copas’ that blends recipes with stories from their travels through Spain.
6. La Bodega
English dictionaries define a bodega as either a wine shop or barroom–in other words, it’s somewhere for drinking–while in Spain they also serve as storage for coffee beans that give this restaurant its unique character.
At first glance, Burger Bodega may resemble New York City bodegas: corner stores catering to millennials that sell everything from lottery tickets and coffee beans to vintage cereal boxes and detergent liters. Every booth, counter and surface has been given an infusion of graffiti-style color for an eye-catching visual treat.
Entering this unpretentious restaurant, you’ll experience daily life in Spain through its windows. Enjoy an early morning tradition such as enjoying an ideal cortado and fresh croissant; meet friends for la hora del aperitivo; or dine on wine-paired meals.
