'Everything here is great' The Times' glowing review of Wales 'world beating' restaurant scene

Wales Online

9 hours ago

'Everything here is great' The Times' glowing review of Wales 'world beating' restaurant scene
Times columnist and food writer Giles Coren has once again visited Wales to heap praise on our "world-beating restaurant scene."
Times columnist and food writer Giles Coren heaped praise on Black Bear Inn in Monmouthshire
(Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne)
The Times columnist and food writer Giles Coren has once again visited Wales to sample our "world-beating restaurant scene." After touring Pembrokeshire in 2022 and claiming, "I'd much rather eat this food here than, say, the food they serve at Sketch or Noma," Giles is back again to visit old favourites and try new venues.
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On his most recent trip, Giles revisited some of his favourite haunts in West Wales, including Grain, Santos Ty Tapas and Oriel y Parc in St Davids and famed fish and chip restaurant, The Shed at Porthgain. He also swung by the Black Bear Inn in Monmouthshire, which has made the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs list four times in a row. Couple Josh and Hannah Byrne moved from Bristol to Bettws Newydd to run the pub back in 2018.
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Since then, the small venue has garnered huge success and has become one of the best gastropub offerings in Wales. It was named in the Good Food Guide this year. You can read more about their story here.
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The Black Bear Inn has garnered huge success and has become one of the best gastropub offerings in Wales
(Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne)
Giles was clearly very taken with the pub. He praised the "exciting wines by the glass from France, Italy, and Spain" and "more exciting local beers, such as the famous Butty Bach, a smooth, malty pint from the Wye Valley Brewery."
The food was equally lauded by the 56-year-old gastronome, who wrote that Josh's famous deep-fried potato skins with whipped cod's roe "soared above my expectations" and admitted that he drove 149 miles thinking about them.
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He described the £6.50 dish as "Really potatoey, like the mummy and daddy of the first potato chip, hot and glassy crisp, sizzling in the fishy smear. Perfect with a big slurp of the Butty."
Whipped cod roe and potato skins
(Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne)
Giles also sampled the terrine of chicken and wild boar (£13), which was "good and coarse and strong," and the fava bean panisses (£5), which he said "displayed Michelin-level control and precision."
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The Welsh rarebit was worthy of a mention: "The Welsh rarebit (£5), my first in actual Wales, was historic: the mustardy cheese filling whipped up and risen in the bread slice like a soufflé."
His high praise is bittersweet. In May, the owners of The Black Bear Inn confirmed that they would be putting the pub up for sale.
The announcement came as a shock to many in the local community and further afield, given the pub's soaring success and reputation.
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Despite the sad news, the team has reassured customers that nothing has changed just yet. In a statement shared on social media, the owners stressed they were "not selling in a hurry" and expected the sale process to take at least a year, if not longer.
From Monmouthshire, Giles headed back to Grain in St Davids, Britain's smallest city, and said it's "still the best pizza and beer party in Wales, possibly the world." For the latest restaurant news and reviews, sign up to our food and drink newsletter here
St David's is a surprising foodie hotspot
(Image: Getty)
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He also visited Santos Ty Tapas, which opened in a former surf shop on the high street. Here, you'll find bold, flavour-packed Spanish tapas alongside beers, wines and a range of gin.
Giles wrote of the tapas spot, "The big, airy dining room still hums with the smell of hot saws going through MDF, but the food, coming out of literally the same kitchen as Grain (it sits between the two restaurants, joining them like Siamese twins), is already mostly on point. No doubt because Bob himself, Wales's greatest pizzaiolo, is in there, whose eponymous Marmite, manchego and garlic 'Bob' pizza remains the edgiest thing I have ever put in my mouth twice."
He added, "It's good, lively British tapas like in the old days; the place was rammed and a terrific time was being had."
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The food critic paid a morning visit to Brunch House at Oriel y Park and had the Savoury French toast'(£11). He described it as "a brick of brioche is 'loaded' with beans, cheese, bacon and a fried egg and arrives like a bubbling breakfast Vesuvius for maximum Instagramability."
The Shed has won acclaim from Sunday Times writer Giles Coren
(Image: Instagram / @theshedporthgain)
Giles still had time to revisit the Shed in Porthgain, which is "still going full bongos". He wrote, "Walk over the clifftop from Abereiddy and go either for one of Rob's lobsters, caught that morning, or just a haddock and chips. There is none better, with a comparable view, in the world."
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To read the full review from Giles Coren, visit The Times website.