Best restaurants with rooms in Wales Published 11 January 2025
Wales has an exceptional selection of restaurants with rooms, where outstanding food and inviting accommodation come together seamlessly. From countryside hideaways to coastal retreats, these destinations offer memorable dining experiences alongside cosy, characterful stays, making them perfect for a relaxing getaway.
Whether it’s the inventive tasting menus at Ynyshir, the rustic charm of The Felin Fach Griffin, or the coastal allure of Runwayskiln, these establishments combine top-tier cooking with warm hospitality. Discover our picks for the best restaurants with accommodation in Wales and plan your next unforgettable escape.
Out in Cross Ash, to the northeast of Abergavenny, amid the majestic undulations of Monmouthshire, 1861 is a rural retreat and then some. The beamed dining room feels a little snug to some, but is undeniably atmospheric, and the f… Read more
Out in Cross Ash, to the northeast of Abergavenny, amid the majestic undulations of Monmouthshire, 1861 is a rural retreat and then some. The beamed dining room feels a little snug to some, but is undeniably atmospheric, and the front-of-house, led by Kate King, is a model of exemplary hospitality. Simon King cooks a menu of locally sourced country cuisine, with Kate's dad providing some of the home-grown produce. To start, truffled goat's cheese might be combined with pickled baby beetroot, while gentle alcohol-based saucing brings out the inherent qualities of main-course stars – Champagne and chive cream for a hake fillet, red wine and rosemary for a braised lamb shank. There is nothing earth-shaking about the cooking, but sometimes the earth doesn't need shaking, and those intent on sampling the range can opt for a six- or seven-course taster that might centre on two cuts of duck in passion fruit sauce. Sweet treats have included a pre-orderable pineapple tarte tatin. Wines start at £24. The restaurant now has six en-suite rooms for those wanting to stay over.
A lovely prospect in an entrancing bucolic setting, The Grove at Narberth not only does fine dining admirably but also caters for those seeking a simpler, more relaxed experience. Indeed, if you’re staying for a day or two, … Read more
A lovely prospect in an entrancing bucolic setting, The Grove at Narberth not only does fine dining admirably but also caters for those seeking a simpler, more relaxed experience. Indeed, if you’re staying for a day or two, the Artisan Rooms offers ‘a perfect balance of comfort and creativity,’ as well as a change of pace from the main event of dining in the flagship Fernery. Reached via a charming maze of public rooms (rugs, fireplaces, old settles, voluptuous sofas and plenty of Welsh arts and crafts), it is all about laid-back chic with an artisan, rustic edge in the form of gorgeous old pottery and patchwork finds.
The menu offers something for everyone, from fishcakes, upmarket burgers and beef shin with creamed potatoes and hispi cabbage to more sophisticated offerings along the lines of sea bream with cucumber, watermelon and chilli or lamb shoulder dressed with chimichurri and accompanied by charcoal mash.
Desserts exhibit similar scope – you could plump for the hearty comforts of rice pudding laced with rum and pineapple or go for the swankier chocolate-encased, gold-spangled chocolate gâteau with pistachio and cherries. It’s all very easy-going and enjoyable. There’s also the pleasure of ‘thoughtfully crafted’ Sunday roasts and a sophisticated wine list with plentiful options by the glass.
Hotel restaurants don’t always thrill, but while Blas has a focus on creating accessible favourites, it does this with plenty of panache – making it worth a visit even if you’re not staying overnight. Twr Y Felin… Read more
Hotel restaurants don’t always thrill, but while Blas has a focus on creating accessible favourites, it does this with plenty of panache – making it worth a visit even if you’re not staying overnight. Twr Y Felin sits on the edge of St Davids, walking distance from the centre, in an impressive building that was once a windmill but is considerably bigger than its history would suggest. It’s been refashioned as an upmarket destination in recent years, and there’s an enjoyable focus on modern art throughout – including in the restaurant, whose walls display work on a grand scale. The styling is modern, dark and slightly clubby, with a sense of occasion, while service is polished but warm. There’s an emphasis on local ingredients, so a typical starter could be crab from the neighbouring village of Solva with slivers of cucumber, melon and brown crab mayonnaise – a fresh, balanced, artfully presented dish. A main course of potato gnocchi also impressed – fluffy, light and pan-fried, topped with tender broad beans, yellow courgette, spring onion, a gauzy espuma flourish and some dainty fresh herbs. At the other end of the spectrum, braised beef cheek with caramelised onion, chives and brioche crumb also hit the spot, delivering melting savoury richness and a sweet onion counterpoint. Desserts, while reassuringly familiar, are done with style and originality – cheesecake with strawberries and elderflower sorbet, for example, delivered all the expected luxury in a picture-perfect package; after that, nibble on playful 'pâté de fruits' petits fours shaped like teddy bears. The wine list features more than 30 Old World finds at a range of price points.
From bar to beer garden, the Heathcock majors in laid-back sophistication: expect simple white walls, reclaimed furniture, a decent selection of beers, and warm, efficient service. Here, informality never equates to idleness, and … Read more
From bar to beer garden, the Heathcock majors in laid-back sophistication: expect simple white walls, reclaimed furniture, a decent selection of beers, and warm, efficient service. Here, informality never equates to idleness, and the same is true of the food, which – for all its rustic edges – is intelligent and considered. A big, chunky sourdough doorstep, say, quilted with the cheesiest, beeriest Welsh rarebit you could wish for, a bottle of Worcesterhire sauce on the side. Or grilled Wye asparagus teasingly dressed in grated Welsh black truffle and breadcrumbs then laid on a swirl of wild garlic purée. Native ingredients are trumpeted: a clutch of fluffy ricotta dumplings luxuriate in a heritage tomato sauce, with chunks of fresh tomato tasting of the summer sun thrown in for good measure. Game makes frequent appearances, as do native fish and seafood: smoked eel might be breadcrumbed, deep-fried and served with horseradish, rhubarb and chard on sourdough toast, while native mussels go Welsh with a leek and cider sauce. This is a small-plates menu, so expect to try at least three dishes each – and be sure to order dessert: a flawless, cloud-like rhubarb soufflé was a ‘sparkling highlight’ for one diner, while a perfectly crisp and syrupy pear tarte tatin delighted another. A good spread of European wines includes plenty by the glass. A recent addition is a Champagne and oyster bar upstairs.
Llansteffan sits on the blue-green Tywi estuary, its ascending streets of pretty houses topped by a magnificent castle. Set at the upper end of the village, close to the church, the Inn at the Sticks covers many bases: bedrooms an… Read more
Llansteffan sits on the blue-green Tywi estuary, its ascending streets of pretty houses topped by a magnificent castle. Set at the upper end of the village, close to the church, the Inn at the Sticks covers many bases: bedrooms and a deli/wine bar in addition to the main pub/restaurant space. The setting is rustic in a stylish, uncluttered way, with quarry tiles and wood floors, exposed beams, brickwork and a couple of chunky wood burners.
‘Welsh sharing plates’ describes the menu (expect beef, lamb, cockles, faggots and excellent cheeses), although you might also encounter Asian sticky pork with pak choi, sesame seeds and crispy noodles, or sweet, gleaming Vichy carrots teamed with the breezy, lemony freshness of whipped feta and topped with almond and chilli crumb, basil gel and a drizzle of honey.
Astonishing flavours, colour and verve take this place far beyond normal pub fare although it never stints on the classics. The beef, beer and Perl Las blue cheese pie is on-point in every department, delivering a bounty of big, tender chunks of meat, a deep and dark savoury gravy, and a perfectly risen puff-pastry top. Other standout dishes include cockle popcorn – light-as-air batter, with a drizzle of homemade chilli vinegar and a punchy little pot of aïoli for dipping.
The bar stays high for desserts ranging from a beguilingly soft and gooey 'bara brith' sticky toffee pudding set on a butterscotch and tea sauce to a Welsh coffee panna cotta sporting a candied walnut crumb and a sleek caramel sauce. To drink, there’s an excellent choice of wines as well as beers.
‘Quality, service, location… it has it all,’ exclaimed a devotee of Porth Tocyn – an enduring family affair and an easy-to-like Guide stalwart for more than six decades. The next generation, Henry Fletcher… Read more
‘Quality, service, location… it has it all,’ exclaimed a devotee of Porth Tocyn – an enduring family affair and an easy-to-like Guide stalwart for more than six decades. The next generation, Henry Fletcher-Brewer and wife Kelly, understand hospitality as acutely as the rest of the clan, and are gradually chucking out the chintz as this much-loved hotel takes on a more tasteful contemporary look. Drinks are served amid gleaming dark wood and fresh soft furnishings, with stormy landscapes telling of rough seas; the dining room is simple and expansive, looking over well-established coastal gardens.
At lunchtime, a country house spirit pervades the menu – think moules marinière, steak sandwiches and grilled fish, plus a beautifully presented roast on Sundays. The seasonally attuned dinner menu has also earned plaudits from readers: ‘impressively large’ pan-seared scallops with chorizo, cauliflower purée, roe fritter and a herby passion-fruit dressing might give way to moist and tender venison loin, guinea fowl presented two ways or rack of Welsh lamb with a mini shepherd’s pie, creamed leeks, roast carrot and mint jus.
Palate-cleansing sorbets do their job, while desserts could range from Eton mess or rhubarb crumble with cream to an unusual tonka-bean posset. The kitchen works hard to please (the souvenirs on sale are jars of homemade marmalade), and eminently courteous staff are always affable and eager to help. A very respectable wine list keeps its mark-ups in check.
St Davids has always had a relaxed, back-to-nature vibe and this former bakery fits in nicely, serving up wild pickings (and more besides) in an informal but stylish setting of exposed brickwork walls, industrial metal lighting, s… Read more
St Davids has always had a relaxed, back-to-nature vibe and this former bakery fits in nicely, serving up wild pickings (and more besides) in an informal but stylish setting of exposed brickwork walls, industrial metal lighting, stripped wood floors and scrubbed rustic wood tables. The vibe is warm and friendly, the cooking imaginative yet down-to-earth: you’ll get nibbles such as sugar kelp popcorn or tempura-battered oyster mushrooms with red chilli and sea buckthorn dip, as well as more considered dishes – maybe a perfect piece of wild sea bass served with asparagus in a light sauce sparkling with fresh tomatoes and bright green three-cornered leek oil. In contrast, a main course of Jerusalem artichoke and beef cottage pie with pickled wild garlic and black truffle cheese heads back to the rustic side of the tracks, while adding welcome layers of interest to a homely classic. It’s a no-choice, six-course tasting menu (with a separate vegan option) so be prepared to go with the flow; you’re in safe hands, right through to desserts such as a moist almond tart topped with peaches and winsome Chinese lanterns, served with creamy meadowsweet custard. The drinks list follows suit, with everything from nettle ale to birch-sap wine. Really Wild is also a shop and community foraging hub, with accommodation on the top floor of the Art Deco building, where each bedroom is appropriately named after a type of seaweed.
Well worth the walk down from the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, the remote expanses of Marloes Sands can be completely submerged during high tide (you have been warned). Located in a farmyard adjoining the car park, Runwayskiln's litt… Read more
Well worth the walk down from the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, the remote expanses of Marloes Sands can be completely submerged during high tide (you have been warned). Located in a farmyard adjoining the car park, Runwayskiln's little café serves breakfast baps before 11am and a short but varied lunch menu ranging from smoked haddock gratin or crispy slow-roasted Myrddin Heritage pork shoulder with smoky black-bean chilli, pickles, chipotle mayo and soft corn tacos to ‘light and almost ethereal’ beer-battered fish with chips and mushy peas. In summer, picnic benches make the most of the coastal view, while the courtyard has a kiosk serving ice cream and toasties. Self-contained, hostel-style bedrooms too.
Arriving at Seabreeze, hopefully to gentle winds coming in from the Irish Sea, most readers are struck by the friendliness of the staff. Overlooking Cardigan Bay, and with eight en-suite bedrooms, the building looks like many othe… Read more
Arriving at Seabreeze, hopefully to gentle winds coming in from the Irish Sea, most readers are struck by the friendliness of the staff. Overlooking Cardigan Bay, and with eight en-suite bedrooms, the building looks like many other guest houses on the strip, but what sets it apart from the competition is the food served in its unpretentious restaurant. 'Local' and 'seasonal' are the watchwords – the kitchen looking to the land and sea with equal dedication. Salt-cod fritters arrive with lemon aïoli, injecting a European note that extends to a main course of spelt risotto flavoured with beetroot. There is classic fish and chips, too, and seafood is well-handled across the board – 'perfectly cooked' sea bream, for example. Confit pork belly (cooked long and slow) is matched with black pudding croquette and caramelised apple, while Welsh Black ribeye comes with everything from battered onion rings to peppercorn sauce. Keep an eye on the blackboard for daily specials. Among desserts, bread and butter pudding and sticky toffee pud play the comfort card, with vanilla panna cotta (accompanied by rhubarb and shortbread) touching base with mainland Europe once again. The 'great-value' wine list opens at £21.50 for an Italian white, Chilean red and Californian rosé.
Set in the green pastures of the bucolic Monmouthshire hills, Abergavenny is famous for its annual Food Festival but draws in foodies year-round thanks to the nearby Walnut Tree, which continues to hold pilgrimage status hereabout… Read more
Set in the green pastures of the bucolic Monmouthshire hills, Abergavenny is famous for its annual Food Festival but draws in foodies year-round thanks to the nearby Walnut Tree, which continues to hold pilgrimage status hereabouts. Owned by the same family-run team, this former coaching inn in the town centre is an elegant proposition. Behind the Georgian façade is a stylish hotel offering a plethora of eating spaces, from the modern, expansive Oak Room restaurant to the Foxhunter Bar, a pretty courtyard for fair-weather socialising and the Wedgewood Room (noted for its high teas). Intent on pleasing everyone (including children), the lunch and dinner menus run the whole gamut of comfort food, from burgers, pies and sandwiches to grander fare such as lobster thermidor, generous seafood platters and dry-aged Welsh beef – although veggie offerngs are thin on the ground. Best value is the fixed-price Angel menu, which has yielded some impressive dishes ranging from an 'impeccable' octopus carpaccio with jalapeño and squid-ink dressing to perfectly cooked rack of lamb with a light but deeply flavoured summer bean broth. After that, lemon meringue trifle, sticky toffee pudding and a 'Café Gourmand’ selection of perfectly pleasant (if slightly old-fashioned) mini-desserts bring things to a fittingly indulgent close. The open fires in the winter are a big hit, as are the ‘friendly and attentive' staff. The choice of wines on the menu plays it safe – ask for the full list if you want a more wide-ranging, thoughtful selection (including some Welsh sparklers). Otherwise, dip into the extensive choice of cocktails.
Part of Charles and Edmund Inkin’s 'Eat, Drink, Sleep' trilogy – which also includes the Gurnard’s Head and the Old Coastguard in Cornwall – this ever-popular pub with rooms is, in many ways, an archet… Read more
Part of Charles and Edmund Inkin’s 'Eat, Drink, Sleep' trilogy – which also includes the Gurnard’s Head and the Old Coastguard in Cornwall – this ever-popular pub with rooms is, in many ways, an archetypal dream of a country inn. It transports you to a half-imagined heyday of fireside sofas, knobbly brickwork, low beams and quarry tiled floors, with craft ales at the bar and fresh, home-cooked food buoyed up by produce from the kitchen garden.
For all its heritage vibes, the Griffin is also a slick, modern operation, with polished service and a properly cheffy kitchen (headed by Gwenann Davies). Her repertoire includes traditional ideas such as broccoli and Stilton soup or lamb rump with faggot, peas and red wine gravy alongside more contemporary dishes – perhaps a sticky glazed BBQ short rib with sweet, spiky kimchi, luscious sriracha mayo and fresh herbs, ahead of pearly, crisp-skinned hake with a crunchy, breadcrumbed crab and chorizo cake, set on an intense, velvety, red pepper purée.
Each dish is carefully considered, right through to dessert. A voluptuous white chocolate mousse with berry ice cream, fresh raspberries and crunchy, bittersweet honeycomb provided a satisfying end to our most recent visit. Sunday lunch is an ultra-traditional feast featuring meat from the lowland hills, greenery from the garden and plenty of homely touches. In addition to real ales, drinkers can pick from a fair-sized wine list that has been annotated with personality as well as knowledge; the numerous options by the glass are well worth considering.
Grove of Narberth is in a remarkable location – a glorious, whitewashed country house of various vintages, surrounded by gardens that are 'a riot of colour in spring and summer' with ancient oaks and verdant, tree-lined fiel… Read more
Grove of Narberth is in a remarkable location – a glorious, whitewashed country house of various vintages, surrounded by gardens that are 'a riot of colour in spring and summer' with ancient oaks and verdant, tree-lined fields. The interior delivers all the hoped-for modern country house glamour: an abundance of comfy sofas, chic decor, polished service. All of this comes together in The Fernery, a smart, white tableclothed affair, candlelit in the evenings, with the focus on local, seasonal ingredients and global flavours. On the eight-course tasting menu, smoked potato could be teamed with dashi, asparagus and bottarga, while succulent beef cosies up with fermented shiitake, alliums and potato. Squab pigeon is paired with celeriac, cherry and nasturtium, and native Black Bomber Cheddar is matched with apple, carrot and a fresh blast of coriander. Herbs are put to good use here – note a dessert of macadamia nuts with rhubarb, mascarpone and sweet marjoram – and much of what’s on the menu comes straight from the hotel’s own kitchen gardens. The extensive wine list is backed by an expert sommelier, so expect solid guidance through choices that extend from native Welsh finds to classics from the New and Old Worlds, including Billecart-Salmon Champagnes and plenty of sustainable, organic options (many of them available by the glass).
As settings go, this is a cracker, tucked in a valley near a rambling stream surrounded by trees and greenery. Inside, it’s very much a village pub, with a proper locals’ bar, but the dining room is a slightly more ser… Read more
As settings go, this is a cracker, tucked in a valley near a rambling stream surrounded by trees and greenery. Inside, it’s very much a village pub, with a proper locals’ bar, but the dining room is a slightly more serious prospect – subtly smart, but still rustic, with well-spaced tables and a menu driven by local fare. Expect elevated pub dishes – maybe smoked haddock fishcakes to start, with fennel kimchi, yuzu mayonnaise and sprightly coriander, or Parmesan polenta chips with harissa mayonnaise. Main courses cover all the pub classics: beer-battered haddock and chips with crushed peas, tartare sauce and curry ketchup; honey-roast ham and chips; steak pie with buttered greens, chips and gravy; local steak and chips. There are appealing meat-free options, too, such as butternut squash and potato pie or a double-stacked veggie burger with Emmental cheese, burger sauce, lettuce and house chips. The crowd-pleasing vibe extends to desserts along the lines of sticky toffee pudding with clotted-cream ice cream or a warm chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, but there are also lively spins on the familiar, such as lime posset with mango compote, cardamon biscuit crumb and a coconut and vanilla sorbet. A modest but appealing wine list offers most options by the glass, with a focus on affordability.
For a venue with a towering culinary heritage, the Walnut Tree wears its reputation modestly. It's a low-slung, two-storey village inn a couple of miles to the east of Abergavenny, known to ambitious diners since the 1960s, when i… Read more
For a venue with a towering culinary heritage, the Walnut Tree wears its reputation modestly. It's a low-slung, two-storey village inn a couple of miles to the east of Abergavenny, known to ambitious diners since the 1960s, when it was run by Franco Taruschio. Shaun Hill, in residence here since 2008, brings his own vast experience – a half-century of it – to the party. A firm believer in the culinary principle of feeding others with what you like to eat yourself, his taste and discernment are well-nigh flawless, while the gastronomic fireworks on display here – and there are plenty – are achieved with great panache.
Amid a regularly refreshed display of quality artworks, the mood is as serene as the tranquil location demands, with all the action happening on the plate. Rooted in classical technique, such dishes as a starter of venison faggot with Roscoff onion purée or richly appointed main-course brodetto (from the Adriatic fish casserole tradition) achieve astonishing depth and resonance. There are more contemporary modes in evidence too (vivid beetroot-cured salmon furnished with pickled cucumber and horseradish cream, for example), but a commitment to forthright, readily comprehensible flavours results in dishes such as the double-act of veal sweetbread and lamb's kidneys with mash in grain mustard sauce. A plant-based main course, meanwhile, gives cauliflower steak a run for its money, aided and abetted by pine nuts, golden raisins and romesco.
The dessert menu will leave you spoilt for choice, dithering between the likes of chocolate Paris-Brest with praline ice cream, and an orange and almond cake with mascarpone and bergamot ice cream. Starting with house selections in just about every measure you might command, the wine list is an immaculate, far-reaching roll call of outstanding small growers and original flavours. A good showing of half-bottles invites exploration.
Tucked above a country lane in a winding, wooded valley, the Whitebrook is perfectly in tune with its surroundings, majoring in picture-perfect dishes strewn with wild flowers, seeds and herbs. It’s quite a formal affair &nd… Read more
Tucked above a country lane in a winding, wooded valley, the Whitebrook is perfectly in tune with its surroundings, majoring in picture-perfect dishes strewn with wild flowers, seeds and herbs. It’s quite a formal affair – very smart, with polished wood floors, pale walls adorned with original art and well-spaced tables sporting crisp napery. The service is impeccable and knowledgeable, with much to explain about the intricacies of the dishes. Chef/owner Chris Harrod prizes vegetables as highly as meat and fish, often making them the star of the show: take a carrot tart, for instance, combining intense, juicy grated carrot with buttermilk sauce and alexanders seeds in an airy, wafer-thin crunchy case, or technicolour, meaty mugwort-smoked beets with 'divine' homemade black pudding, sticky Madeira sauce, caramelised shallot, wild leaves and petals. Foraged ingredients run wild and free through the whole menu – white crabmeat gets paired with fennel fronds and pineapple weed sauce; woodruff cultured cream elevates radishes blanched in lemon verbena; and arrowgrass, sea spinach and blightweed brighten a pearly piece of Cornish day-boat turbot with smoked roe and Jersey Royals. A main act of gloriously tender suckling pig with pine-nut purée, tiny garden leeks, girolles, broad beans and nasturtium leaves was followed by a blast of folksy freshness: honey and elderflower cream with a jewel-like pool of dandelion honey and a sprinkling of sweet cicely. The menu flexes effortlessly from fresh to earthy, and from light to dark – so this dish was followed by a deeper, richer affair: Herefordshire black cherries with meadowsweet, cherry-stone ice cream, milk crisps and crumbled hazelnut cake. The sommelier-backed wine list is a veritable tome, covering most regions and price points – including a superb selection of reasonably priced bottles from UK vineyards.
* Following Bryan and Susan Webb's departure in July 2024, Tyddyn LLan is now run by chef Gareth Stevenson (ex-Palé Hall) and his partner Maria. Watch for a new review coming soon. *
The stone-built Georgian country house … Read more
* Following Bryan and Susan Webb's departure in July 2024, Tyddyn LLan is now run by chef Gareth Stevenson (ex-Palé Hall) and his partner Maria. Watch for a new review coming soon. *
The stone-built Georgian country house in north Wales, not far from Wrexham, is very handy for a day's wandering in the Berwyn mountains. Bryan and Susan Webb have the seasoned hoteliers' knack of knowing exactly what people expect, which, as one winter report commented, is nothing less than 'a first-rate experience: staff are friendly and welcoming, the place itself is a delight, and the food is exceptional in every way'. 'Numerous and delicious' canapés in the lounge get everybody on-side, before entry to the many-windowed dining-room. There is plenty of country-house refinement to Bryan Webb's cooking, but none of the play-it-safe blandness that often comes with the territory. Instead, fine prime materials produce veal sweetbreads in creamy tagliatelle with morels to start, or perhaps a cut of monkfish on curried lentils. Pedigree meats such as Welsh black beef, Goosnargh duck and local lamb - the last in spring livery with peas, broad beans, artichoke and mint - line up alongside John Dory in crab bisque with leek mash for the main business. Then there are Neal's Yard cheeses in fine fettle, for those prepared to forgo chocolate marquise with caramel ice cream, or a panna cotta fired up with blood-orange and grappa. An unapologetic focus on classic French wines is evident on the extensive list, where quality suits the cooking and glass prices start at £8.50.
The sense of almost mythological remoteness is accentuated as you head towards the west Wales coast, past the RSPB nature reserve, to the singular residence that is Ynyshir. Once owned by Queen Victoria, it has become one of the U… Read more
The sense of almost mythological remoteness is accentuated as you head towards the west Wales coast, past the RSPB nature reserve, to the singular residence that is Ynyshir. Once owned by Queen Victoria, it has become one of the UK's foremost destination dining options – thanks to Gareth Ward and his superlative kitchen and front-of-house teams. Ynyshir runs to its own agenda, with dozens of dishes over the space of four or five hours, requiring a level of concentration that will be amply rewarded with revelatory food rocking with stirring flavours, textures and temperatures, plus a soundtrack curated by the resident DJ. Highlights from our latest visit ranged from a lobster claw with peanut brittle and spritzed lime (served on a hot metal plate) to another appetiser of raw prawns in Thai green curry sauce with slivers of sugar-snap. When the music amps up a little (Iggy Pop's 1977 hit, The Passenger, in our case), it's time to sashay into the dining room. What makes the experience so enjoyable is that there is no set way to eat the food; use whatever implements look right and ignore the neighbours. When we had finished our corpulent Orkney scallop, we lifted the dish to our lips and drank up the milky wagyu-fatted sauce. East Asian notes are a golden thread running through many of these dishes, sometimes almost conventionally so – as with the maki rolls that begin with yellowfin tuna, nori, white soy, sesame and English wasabi. Among the sushi offerings, the sea bream with compressed apple and more wasabi is a textural triumph. Miso-cured duck liver mousse with smoked eel and puffed spelt has plenty to say for itself, but so does a piece of Irish duck served in a style somewhere between Peking and char siu, but before we peak too soon, there's lamb rib to come, slow-cooked for an eternity, tender as marshmallow in shiso and onion, ahead of confit wagyu and mushroom ketchup alongside egg-yolked rice. A culinary joke takes us from savoury to sweet, via a burger with pickle and a homage to the McFlurry, flavoured with banana, birch syrup and caviar. A glitterball suddenly switches on and the smoke bucket is carried ceremonially through the room, to the strains of Bronski Beat’s Smalltown Boy. Desserts gently return us to the comfort zone with toffee pudding (albeit sauced with miso) and an elegantly layered, liquorous tiramisu. There is a feeling that you might need to prepare for Ynyshir by forgoing solid sustenance for 48 hours, but our feedback files show how volubly people adore the novelty, the challenge and the sheer unadulterated fun of it all. And it is less relentless than it sounds: 'the tempo of the performance surges, then slackens and surges again, led by the music, and the fever-pitch deliciousness of some of the dishes,' our inspector noted. Wine picks are as original and as assertive as they need to be for the food, and are flexible enough to accommodate the gentler end of the spectrum (a Bulgarian Pinot Noir was a success with lamb). However, some cheaper options don't quite have enough impact for many of the potently flavoured dishes.
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