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Wales has developed a thriving restaurant scene over the last decade or so, and not just in major towns. Some truly outstanding food can be found in rural pubs and hotel restaurants. More and more restaurants are creating dishes using fresh local ingredients—Welsh lamb, Welsh Black beef, Welsh cheeses, and seafood from the Welsh coast—that show off the best of the region's cuisine.
On the beach at Oxwich, this stylish Michelin-starred eatery is considered one of the best in all of Wales. The beautifully presented dishes are made using excellent local ingredients, particularly seafood. Menus start at £80 for three courses. The solid wine list features some interesting additions from Wales, Macedonia, Croatia, Uruguay, Lebanon, and Armenia.
Wales has undergone something of a culinary renaissance in the last couple of decades and this fantastic center is a great place to explore why. Traditional cheeses, house-made ice creams, and other artisanal food products are for sale in the farm shop and deli; there's also a bakery, a butcher, a coffee bar, and a wineshop where you can pick up Welsh malt whisky. The Furnace restaurant serves breakfast and snacks including pizzas, while the Hayloft Bar & Grill has plenty of local meat dishes on the menu for lunch and dinner. Bodnant is on A470, 12 miles north of Conwy.
Close to Harlech's mighty castle, this friendly "restaurant with rooms" is a wonderful find. Chef Glyn Roberts uses locally sourced ingredients from salmon to lamb to create imaginative, beautifully presented contemporary dishes. The main house has three spacious, modern rooms and four more are in the annex, a 16th-century coaching inn. The aviation-themed bar (the inn's owner was previously a pilot) is well-stocked and has views over Mount Snowdon.
Located right next to the beach, this unassuming restaurant is one of the best in south Wales. Local produce like Welsh Wagyu beef is turned into a work of art, served on the terrace in summer. The fish dishes are popular and the extensive wine list has a good selection of French vino. Lunch is a good value with three courses for £45.
This excellent "restaurant with rooms" is renowned for its creative use of local products and the rustic-chic vibe. Fruit and vegetables come from the Griffin's own organic kitchen garden, while meat is sourced from surrounding estates such as the Welsh Venison Centre. If you'd like, stay over in one of eight cozy, vintage-style bedrooms, complete with Welsh blankets and fresh flowers; dinner packages are also available. The inn is in Felin Fach, 5 miles northeast of Brecon.
In a building designed by William Burges (the same architect who helped design Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch), this upscale restaurant with a Welsh-French menu is one of the city's top eateries. The six-course dinner tasting menu is £59 plus £35 for matched wines, and there's also a simple bar menu featuring cheese and charcuterie.
In a crenellated former park lodge a short walk west of the entrance to Cardiff Castle, this cozy tearoom is the place to go for superb cakes such as Victoria Sandwich or Lemon Drizzle. There's a good range of sandwiches and around 20 teas on the menu, but the splendid Afternoon Tea is the real draw here (reservations advised). The outdoor terrace overlooking Bute Park is a lovely spot when the weather is nice.
Flickering candles, open fireplaces, exposed stone walls, and top-notch locally sourced food are hallmarks of this restaurant and bar, which dates back to the 10th century. The menu contains a selection of Welsh-reared steaks and other meat dishes, but outstanding seafood is the real specialty—try the shellfish platter for two. The romantic setting is as much of a draw as the food. Check out the huge stone Flemish chimney.
Well, this is unusual: a trendy restaurant in which all the food is prepared by prisoners. The idea behind the Clink (British slang for jail) is that those serving time for minor crimes are given the chance to turn their lives around by gaining experience as gourmet chefs. The restaurant (just outside the prison grounds) is a bright, modern space, and the Modern British food is genuinely delicious. You might try the breast of roast chicken with sage crust and onion rings, or spring lamb with fondant potatoes and garlic puree. The restaurant is open for lunch all week, plus a single dinner sitting on the last Wednesday of the month. Note: they don't accept credit cards.
Regarded as one of the best chefs in the United Kingdom, Shaun Hill has been at the helm of this rustic-chic restaurant 3 miles northeast of Abergavenny since 2008. The focus here is on local, seasonal produce with international influences; lunch is £40 for two courses. There are also a couple of cottages nearby if you want to stay the night.
Although Cardiff doesn't boast any Michelin-starred restaurants, there is a slew of fine-dining eateries and this is one of the best. Inspired by the wonderful produce from his native western Wales, head chef Tom Simmons creates exquisite French-influenced dishes like lamb cannon with black garlic and beef tartare with truffle. The stylish restaurant, which resembles a gentleman's club crossed with a brasserie, is located in the fashionable suburb of Pontcanna, a ten-minute drive from the city center.
This two-Michelin-star restaurant, housed in a Georgian mansion set among parkland, is one of the best eateries in Wales thanks to its wonderful dishes featuring the best local, and international, meat and fish. There are just five tables next to the open kitchen and the only option offered by chef Gareth Ward is a tasting menu featuring a whopping 20 dishes—the whole experience takes 4 to 5 hours. There are also 10 elegant rooms if you would like to stay the night.
If you're vegan, it's beyond worth the ten-minute drive north of the city center to visit this award-winning vegan café. Run by a Hare Krishna monk, it's popular with the local student community for its good-value, creative dishes such as "bowls" made with a wide variety of ingredients including seitan, greens, and seeds. Be sure to try one of the house-made juices.
Housed in a red-brick building near the Cardiff International Sports Stadium, this shabby-chic restaurant specializes in Spanish grills and wine. Try the Asturian cider-cured salmon to start, followed by sirloin from a Spanish dairy cow, and then round it off with a Catalan tart accompanied, of course, by some sherry. The group also owns a stylish boutique hotel, Parador 44, located above the restaurant as well as a tapas bar, Bar 44, around the corner on Westgate Street.
With its gorgeous view over Cardiff Bay, this undeniably romantic restaurant is a popular choice. The classic French bistro menu is jazzed up with international influences like tempura tiger prawns and classic mac-and-cheese, but it's the steaks, especially the Chateaubriand, that diners come here for. The extensive wine list has a decent selection of vino from around the globe.
Seasonal, local produce is what it's all about at this sustainable restaurant located in an attractive old stone building in the town center. The five-course set menu features beautifully crafted dishes like heirloom tomato with Ragstone goat's cheese, nasturtiums, and pickled shallots; there's also a separate vegetarian and vegan menu.
On the banks of the River Usk between Abergavenny and Raglan, this "restaurant with rooms" serves imaginative modern Welsh dishes in a relaxed setting. The menu makes great use of local ingredients, like in the mussels with cider or leek and laverbread rissoles. There's a less expensive tapas menu including fried cockles.
This charming whitewashed inn serves elegant Welsh cuisine in a rustic dining room. Fish is a specialty, underlined with plenty of regional flavors like the salmon and leek fishcake, while the beef and lamb are locally sourced. The inn is about 1½ miles west of Raglan Castle. To get there from the castle, turn left out of the gates onto the one-way road, then backtrack towards Raglan, passing the castle again on your right. At the roundabout, take Clytha Road.
The surprise at this downtown restaurant, above the Gateway Café, is not that you've found Mexican food in Wales, but that it's so good. It's more than a little cheeky, especially in the large murals of Three Amigos and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid., which customers like to pose in front of. Although the menu only covers the basics of Mexican cuisine—quesadillas, taquitos, chimichangas, tacos, and fajitas—they're prepared with enough gusto to take them to the next level. However, authenticity takes a backseat to taste.
This laid-back restaurant is popular with locals, drawn by the delicious, fresh pizza made entirely to order. They also serve salads, burgers, and other comfort food. In an unashamedly crowd-pleasing move, all (adult) diners get a free pint of beer with their main. They also do basic B&B accommodations. Gallt y Glyn is just under 1 mile northeast of Llanberis.
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