Pembrokeshire's food sensations wow Lonely Planet 2023

Now fewer than five Pembrokeshire eateries are included in the guide, and casting an eye over their offerings, it’s easy to see why.

Their chefs are undoubtedly drawn by the rich pickings of rock pools, cliffs, hedgerows and hills and their menus bear testimony to the wealth of produce on offer but also the undoubted skills of the creative teams.

Here is a run down on each of the five eateries which have won a place in the Lonely Planet guide:

Fernery at the Grove commands great respect for its ingredients, many of which are foraged from their own kitchen garden, while others are carefully sourced locally, with lamb coming from the nearby Preseli mountains and fish from local fishermen.

The restaurant at Still Wild Fernery (Image: The Grove)

Starters include diver-caught scallops, fennel, cucumber, yoghurt, curry spices and white chocolate caramel or rabbit smoked loin and confit leg terrine, shallot, egg yolk and pan juices.

Main courses embrace Preseli Bluestone Lamb, roast loin, glazed neck fillet, carrot mousse, turnips and baked garlic mash or Atlantic halibut en croute and cockles with roast cauliflower served with laverbread.

Proceedings conclude in style with desserts such as pecan pie, Llawhaden clotted cream and roast fig or Valrhona chocolate, bitter chocolate and amaretti delice, caramelised kumquats and vanilla seed ice cream.

Annwn is a Welsh food movement that pays homage to the traditional surroundings and landscapes of Wales.

The single menu changes with the seasons, shunning food miles in favour of seasonal and locally foraged produce that showcases Wales’ wild ecosystems and the incredible quality and diversity of local sustainable producers.

This year’s early summer menu features foraged delights such as aged kelp broth, oxalis, shoreline plants and laver seaweed, velvet crab roe and dressing crab apple, meadowsweet cheese curds with Goodwood honey, gorse flower custard and birch vinegar meringue and chocolate cockle shells with sea buckthorn gel.

Cafe Môr is another culinary delight celebrating the best of Pembrokeshire seafood and ensuring that some of it is kept safely on the shores of of its mother county.

Cafe Mor (Image: Cafe Mor) Choose from fresh crab, both white and brown, smothered in Welsh sea salt butter and fresh lemon juice, lobster in a roll and a host of seaweed inspires burgers. Café Mor is anchored in its iconic seaweed boat, the Josie June, at the Old Point House in Angle.

The Grub Kitchen in St Davids is the UK’s first edible insect café/restaurant servings culinary delights such as spiced cumin and mealworm hummus , mixed insect pakoras, and Bolognese made with insect mince and the famous cricket cookies.

The Bug Kitchen was founded in 2015 by award-winning chef Andy Holcroft amd has been met with rave reviews, with visitors coming from all over the UK and further afield to try the fare.

Llys Meddyg in Newport, champions foraged ingredients from the shores, hedgerows and its own kitchen garden alongside seasonal fresh ingredients from passionate local producers, cooked in the wood-fired kitchen and designed to celebrate what’s best in season where the mountain meets the sea.

The Llys Meddyg restaurant (Image: Experiencedtraveller)

Local suppliers include organic vegetables from Southern Roots in Nevern & Troed Y Rhiw, New Quay while the meat is from local butcher TG Davies, Newport. The oyster , crab and lobster are all sourced from Pembrokeshire suppliers while the ml is from the Carningli Dairy, Newport.