TABLE-HOPPING
Our latest restaurant recommendations plus street-food spots from across the UK
Our latest restaurant and streetfood recommendations
The Black Bear Inn, Usk
Having taken over Bettws Newydd’s village pub in November 2018, Josh and Hannah Byrne are making the most of their new rural setting to create hyper-local menus that change by the week. With the likes of Bristol’s Poco Tapas and Bar Buvette, as well as The Hind’s Head in Bray, on his CV, chef Josh has an appreciation for impeccably fresh produce and a taste for bold and ambitious flavours.
There are just three options for each course, one meat, one fish and one veggie – all are scrawled on the huge blackboard and determined by what’s growing close by. Meat is sourced on a whole- or halfanimal basis and Josh butchers them himself, using every last inch.
His creations are a homage to the couple’s new life in the Welsh countryside: hogget, sourced from a nearby farm, is slowly braised until blissfully soft and ultra-umami, and served with mash loaded with cream and butter, and a heap of forest-coloured greens from Hannah’s veg plot. Locally foraged ceps bathed in butter and garlic are meaty giants of the fungus fraternity. Save room for bar snacks, too – house favourites include deep-fried Porthilly rock oysters, traditional welsh rarebit, and ham and mustard croquettes.
Low-intervention and organic wines take the lead on a comprehensive drinks bill. There’s also an interesting selection of artisan cider and perry, including a rather special champagne-method bottle from Herefordshire producer Gregg’s Pit. theblackbearinn.co.uk
Marmo, Bristol
Run by husband-and-wife duo, chef Cosmo and front-of-house Lily (who met at uni in Bristol), Marmo offers a bargain selection of seasonal dishes celebrating the South West larder.
There’s a mosaic beneath your feet as you enter this neighbourhood restaurant and wine bar, plus herringbone hardwood floors, cream wood panelling on the walls framed by vino-inspired prints, vast windows and an open-plan kitchen and bar. And with such a short menu that’s so well priced – three courses at lunch for as little as £17 – simply order it all.
Mussels arrive soft, plump and drunk on West Country nectar (aka cider), their liquor moreishly sweet, saline and mellow from tender shredded leek. Delica pumpkin (so favoured by chefs thanks to its concentrated pumpkin flavour) sings of the season, parcelled up in ravioli, bathed in sage-scented butter, and topped with toasted walnuts. Pork collar, with smashed chickpeas, chard, raisins and pine nuts, is a last-minute substitution for pork belly – Cosmo, who trained at St John, orders in a whole pig at the start of the week, working his way through the animal with each menu iteration – but doesn’t suffer for it, achieving a golden crust and a blushing, juicy heart.
With Luca, Six Portland Road and Bar Buvette under her belt, former lawyer Lily knows what a good wine list looks like. There’s a strong choice by glass and carafe, as well as bottle – and if you want anything to take away there’s another bargain 30% off the list price. Bodegas Vinessens Benimaquia Tinajas from Alicante is an amber, organic blend of moscatel and merseguera that stands up to the seafood and ravioli, as well as, even, feather-light gnocchi with a rich, earthy venison ragu. marmo.restaurant
Decimo, London WC1
Decimo is the new playground of London’s cool creatives, serving a refined selection of
Spanish and Mexican small plates and sherryspiked cocktails. Whizz up the Willy-Wonka-esque red capsule lift that hugs the outside of King’s Cross’s new, achingly hip hotel, The Standard, straight up to the 10th and top floor. Here you’ll find a 70s-inspired dream, with trippy rattan-patterned ceiling panels, red tiled tabletops, colourful Mexican fabric-backed chairs, burnt orange glassware and velvet stools, warm woods, rust-coloured leather, a curvy bar, cacti, succulents, a DJ booth and a peekaboo kitchen. You can come just for cocktails but stay for dinner to drink it – and the showstopping views across London – in.
Michelin-starred Peter Sanchez-Iglesias has made the move from his internationally lauded (and family run) Casamia and Paco Tapas in Bristol to run the kitchen with head chef Josh Green. Dinner goes on till late – up to midnight on Tuesday and Wednesday, and 3am Thursday to Saturday – and you can spend as little (tacos start at £5, croquetas at £3.50) or as much (£80 for a creamy tortilla the size of your fist, yielding under the weight of 50g of onyx Exmoor caviar) as you like.
Order the following, though, and you’ll be pleased with your spend either way. Marinated red peppers arrive blistered, minced and moulded atop a marble doorstop – sweet and smoky, they tell a story of a kitchen that respects its ingredients. Croquetas de jamón are well practiced. Spankingly fresh, clean white crabmeat is made addictive thanks to its decoration of fresh and jellied jalapeño, sprightly lime mayo and shredded coriander. And gambas blancas de huelva, the prized, delicate Andalucían prawns, arrive served on ice, just-cooked, salty, sweet and as supple as Decimo’s attractive soft-leather furnishings. decimo.london
The International Welsh Rarebit Centre, Defynnog, Brecon
If you’re a fan of the ultimate cheesy toasty treat (tant pis croque monsieur, que sera sera quesadilla), the blithely named International Welsh Rarebit Centre deserves a detour.
Set within a former schoolhouse in the small village of Defynnog, in Wales’s brooding Brecon Beacons, this warren-like, Scandistyle café, bakery and store (you can buy bread baked in-house, Welsh honey, local jams, Coaltown coffee and more to take away) has spotted a gap in the market and filled it with good humour, community spirit, a crackling wood-burning stove and chin-drippingly good rarebits.
Each day sees a choice of six or so different rarebits on offer, from a classic Welsh (thick homemade toast topped with grilled cheddar and mustard) to a hoppyflavoured Irish stout version, a Mexican option spiked with jalapeños and coriander, and – the winner on our visit – a special made with toffee-ish caramelised apple, crunchy walnuts, smoky Caws Cerwyn cheese and fresh rosemary. All come with salads made with ingredients sourced either from owner Rose’s garden, or from nearby Penpont Farm. Children can opt for a smaller, mustard-free ‘bunny rarebit’ or, along with that rare breed of cheese haters, order a bowl of homemade soup.
Just beware: this is the kind of place you might drop into for coffee and cake, stay on for lunch and then end up still there in the evening having taken in the café’s current art exhibition, spun a few Brubeck records on the back room’s player, practised the Welsh word of the day on the locals, caught some live music and booked in for the next pop-up pizza night or supper club. 01874 636843