RESTAURANT NAMED BEST IN WALES – FOR THE THIRD TIME
A PENARTH restaurant has been named the best in Wales for a third year in row.
Restaurant James Sommerin officially offers the country’s best dining experience, according to the coveted 2017 Good Food Guide.
The restaurant, which has only been open for three years, is the highest Welsh entry in the guide’s latest Top 50, sitting at number 34.
Other Welsh eateries featured include: Ynyshir Hall, Powys, which ranks at number 40; The Whitebrook in Monmouthshire, which features at number 47 and Llangoed Hall, near Brecon, at number 48.
The Top 50 is made up of the restaurants which scored the highest marks from the judges but the guide, owned by Waitrose, also features other highly scored restaurants across the UK, with a total of 60 from Wales making it this year.
Restaurant James Sommerin overlooks the sea in Penarth and is renowned for its fine dining menu which includes dishes like Welsh lamb with broad bean, pink turnip and cumin (£26); 32-day aged sirloin with oxtail, shallot and red wine jus (£28) and sea bream with langoustine, chickpea and artichoke (£22).
It has also recently opened nine bespoke rooms for guests to stay the night.
Elizabeth Carter, Waitrose Good Food Guide Editor, said of the restaurant: “Their menu offers a procession of simply spectacular dishes full of tantalising flavours.
“A commitment to local produce shows in everything from perfectly cooked cod with squid-ink, salty samphire and crab bisque, to treacle sponge with rosemary and olive oil ice cream.
“James’ wife Louise is a phenomenal host, and she’s ably supported by a courteous but keen-as-mustard young team.
“One local diner told us it was the best restaurant for hundreds of miles. Sommerin also does his bit for the community, participating in local events and organising kids’ cookery classes.”
The top restaurant this year is L’Enclume in Cumbria, which scored a perfect 10 and has kept the number one spot for the fourth year running.
The Top 50 list is published just a month after the Good Food Guide revealed that Sosban in Llanelli and The Old Butchers Restaurant in Menai Bridge, Anglesey, had won the Good Food Guide’s Reader Award for Best Local Restaurant in Wales following a vote from the public.