Paternoster Farm
Pembroke , Pembrokeshire
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'Field to fork' doesn’t get more direct than this. Paternoster is a working farm in the depths of rural Pembrokeshire, reached down a puddly track off the B4320. You arrive to a charming muddle of farm buildings, at the heart of which is the whitewashed restaurant in a former milking parlour. Safari-style tarpaulins shelter a farmyard dining area, while inside seating is at assorted vintage tables, some of them slotted into the old milking stalls. It’s earthy and rustic, with animal skulls and wooden kitchen utensils on the walls, pampas grass hanging from the rafters, and a happy glow from storm lamps and candles. Staff are warm and welcoming – it has a family vibe, with Michelle Evans cooking up a gleeful array of tapas-style dishes in her open kitchen. All the meat on the menu comes from the farm, bolstered by local veg and fish from the Pembrokeshire day-boats. The food is generous, hearty and exuberantly flavoured: a dish of smooth butterbean houmous came topped with chickpeas and an extravagance of toasted seeds, while a plate of pillowy beignets, replete with cheese and sprinkled with Parmesan, arrived with a deliciously forthright slick of aïoli. The meat dishes are not to be missed (tender 'lambchetta' teamed with silky, buttery mash and a lively salsa verde was a star player), but seafood is a delight too – maybe plump hand-dived scallops baked in their shells with garlic butter or a whole Dover sole, caught that day and topped with vibrant salsa verde. Desserts play to the farmhouse setting: think lemon posset with pink-peppercorn shortbread or creamy brûlée-topped fig rice pudding with peach and loganberry. The wine list offers eight natural tipples at amenable prices, including a Welsh sparkler from Hebron vineyard.
