Latest news with #GilesCoren
Wales Online
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Welsh pub has one dish top restaurant critic says he drove 147 miles thinking about
Welsh pub has one dish top restaurant critic says he drove 147 miles thinking about Masterchef judge and critic Giles Coren was blown away when he visited the Black Bear which has made the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs list four times in a row Masterchef guest judge and notable food critic Giles Coren has once again visited Wales to sample our "world-beating restaurant scene." On his most recent trip, Giles visisted some of his favourite haunts including Grain, Santos Ty Tapas and The Shed at Porthgain. But it was the Black Bear Inn in Monmouthshire, which blew him away. The pub has made it onto 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. 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. Giles was clearly very taken with the pub describing the pub's rarebit as "historic".. 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. 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." But the Welsh rarebit was the thing most 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." He added: "It puts pressure on a dish when you've driven 149 miles thinking about it, but this soared above my expectations." 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. 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. To read the full review from Giles Coren, visit The Times website. Article continues below
Wales Online
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
'Everything here is great' The Times' glowing review of Wales 'world beating' restaurant scene
'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. 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. 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. 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. 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." 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. 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) 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." 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." Article continues below To read the full review from Giles Coren, visit The Times website.
Times
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
Deacon's Bank restaurant review: ‘Lamb belly bites — only £7!'
I t's true, I do not review in Derbyshire very often. In fact, I just googled 'Giles Coren and Derbyshire' to find out exactly how many times I had reviewed in Derbyshire in the past 25 years and the answer is… no times. Although I did discover that, 'Giles Coren has a family connection to Derbyshire through his maternal grandparents, who fled to Derby in 1939 possibly due to the Israel/Palestine conflict.' Which is a nice try from the search engine's AI Overview, but rather misunderstands what Jews were fleeing in 1939. But it is true that my mother was born in Derby not long after my grandparents arrived there from partially annexed Czechoslovakia so, yes, I know what you're thinking, she could have played professional cricket for Derbyshire. If they had had women's cricket then, of course, and she smoked a bit less. But she wasn't there for long. The prewar East Midlands were more appealing to my brutally deracinated grandparents than Nazi-occupied central Europe, but not as appealing as Stanmore, which is where they ended up, and spent the next 40 years. And I've never reviewed in Stanmore either, so it's nothing personal I've got against Derbyshire.
Times
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
The female chef exposing restaurants' sex and drug culture
'H i, Slutty,' I say to the young female chef who is holding out a hand to greet me. It feels rude calling this stranger 'Slutty', but Slutty Cheff is the alias under which she has built a cult following on Instagram of 43,000. Her anonymous account, where she never reveals her name or her face (it is usually obscured by a burger emoji or a burger-shaped balaclava), has become a hot favourite among Gen Zers. She won't tell me which restaurants she has worked in, but says they are the sorts of places where the critics Giles Coren and Grace Dent would eat. Her online persona is a version of her that is 'obnoxious, narcissistic, self-obsessed and at times sarky and mean. Right now, no way am I mentally stable enough to put my face [out there].'
Times
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
As I watched people glued to their phones I realised — we are forgetting how to talk
Recently I found myself at dinner with m'learned colleague Giles Coren. Without wishing to confirm preconceptions about what Giles and I get up to in our free time, it is relevant to this story that you know we were dining at one of London's fanciest new restaurants. Each dish was pristine, caviar-ridden. Nobody was escaping for less than £250 a head. And yet something felt off. I couldn't put my finger on it. Then Giles leant across the table. 'Have you noticed everyone here is on their phones?' He was right. Entirely right. Next to us, two businessmen hadn't looked up from their emails once. Next to them, a family with two teenagers in baseball caps, ignoring their food and instead gorging lasciviously on TikTok
