A tasting tour of south Wales

Day one – Penally Abbey! 

Naturally I’d say have dinner with us on your first night here (Penally Abbey). We run a short menu, which you have to if you want to be truly seasonal. And it’s not about completely rewriting it for Spring, Summer and so on, it’s more of a gradual shift. From August to October we use a lot of salt marsh lamb, which is a doyen of deliciousness and very local of course. Then we work with whatever else is around – samphire, sea purslane, wild garlic. We grow lots of mint as well and I’ve got beds where I’m working on some more exotic herbs like lovage and caraway. My worst nightmare though, especially at certain times of year, is a guest that stays for a week and wants to eat with us every night. We want people to get out there and experience the area, not just the beaches and the cliffs, but all the great food as well. We don’t do lunch though, so people at least have to go elsewhere for that! Not every place is open all the time of course and we can help guests check things and work out a plan, so the following is only a rough guide.

Day two – Ultracomida for lunch, Paternoster Farm for dinner 

There’s a little place called Ultracomida, which is Spanish tapas but a lot of it locally sourced. Their main location is in Aberystwyth, but I prefer the little outpost one in Narberth. It’s communal dining, so you don’t choose who you sit next to, very sociable. The tapas is brilliant if you sit in, but they’ve also got a lovely delicatessen, and it’s a fantastic place for cheese, especially an absolutely beautiful cheddar called Hafod, which comes from Cardigan, and some fine stuff from Caws Cenarth. Cenarth make a Brie lookalike and tonnes of other cheeses, but I like the classics from them. Their blue cheese is beautiful, and they do one called Golden Cenarth, which is more like a Camembert. You can actually visit and see the cheese being made, but it’s a little way north and might not fit into your day. It’s probably easier to pick up some great ingredients from Ultracomida and take them out to one of the beaches or a spot down by the river for a superb picnic lunch.   

For dinner, you have to go to Paternoster Farm. It’s as rustic as the website makes it look but Michelle, who was lawyer in a former life, is a wonderful chef. She’s been going for about 12 years now and the restaurant is on a farm down a track, not the greatest if you’ve got a fancy car, but it is possible with care! It’s an old dairy parlour – very, very bougie, with a lovely feel and food that’s just to die for. It’s a fixed menu, so you don’t get any choice but if you’re a vegetarian, do let her know in advance, because she will do vegetarian food and do it beautifully. Again, it’s a small plates format, a tasting menu and everything is grown on her farm, so she’s got say, a particular cut or joint for one or two nights and then it won’t be on the menu again for a while. She’s also a real supporter of British wines and minimum intervention, so the wines can be a bit agricultural. I quite like it. My wife doesn’t! The last time I went there was on mothering Sunday. I saw on Instagram she’d opened up and she’d done a plate of potatoes which just make you want to bury your head in them, so floury and fluffy. So off we went. 

Day three – Hebron and Tap & Tân 

Hebron is a vineyard, about 800 feet up in the Preseli hills. The owners, Gemma and Paul, came back from 16 years of making wine in Spain where they were used to having to shade the grapes to keep them in good condition. Now they have to raise them just to keep them from getting mildew. They are minimal intervention, all-natural yeast, so their wines tend to be low alcohol. They ferment in amphorae painted with beeswax. It is so authentic, it’s untrue. They’ve gone away from posts and rails and they’re actually planting on willows, letting the vines go up and take over the tree, because that’s how they used to grow. Then they tether it to the next willow. As far as far as they’re aware they’re the only ones doing it. So, I recommend Hebron wines for and there’s an agricultural feel to the wine but it’s a wonderful thing to know what’s gone into growing it. They aren’t open all day and you need to phone ahead to arrange things, but Gemma serves a great range of small plate food on their tasting tours and it’s a great experience.  

For dinner and a total contrast, head for Tap & Tân, just up the road from us in Tenby. It’s a slightly industrial style interior and the focus is very much on meat! Matt worked at Bath Priory, so he knows what he’s doing and it’s more than putting meat on a fire. He takes enormous care over the aging of the beef and does some great flavours and everything is beautifully cooked. It’s worth keeping an eye on their site or social feeds too, because Matt has a BBQ that he calls “the beast”, one of those massive American ones, and they do pop ups here and there during the summer which are always great events.  

Day four – Wright’s, the dirtiest pit stop 

If you’re heading back west, or even north, you can stop at Wright’s for a last taste of sublime Welsh cooking. Owners Simon and Marianne do wonderful stuff, she’s a very accomplished chef. I would go and live there to eat their Welsh rarebit, which is the dirtiest version of it you can lay your hands on. They put nduja in it, so it’s got heat. They use my favourite, the Hafod cheddar, as the underpinning cheese and she fries the bread in eons of butter. It’s done as a sandwich and you can have it without the nduja or with a bit of extra chilli or sriracha. I love her salads too. Lovely winter salads with chicory, radicchio, candied walnut, candied cob nut, or something. They’re just so simple and delicious, and her dressings are just wonderful. There’s always something that ties it all together and it would leave a lingering taste as you went on up the road.  

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