The people behind Wales’ most beloved restaurant
The Walnut Tree Inn near Abergavenny is a long-time Michelin star holder, but it’s so much more than that to its team and customers. Lifetyle editor Kathryn Williams reports
THE beauty of The Walnut Tree Inn is... well, it’s quite a few things, to be honest. Not only does it serve absolutely stellar food in an easy, relaxed setting – a wonderful location among the green hills of Llandewi Skirrid, just outside Abergavenny, with its long-held (with a bit of a break) Michelin star – there’s also the feeling that this place has been home to decades of joy and celebration.
A celebration of good food, friendships and history. There’s been a restaurant here since the early 1960s when celebrated chef Franco Taruschio charmed Welsh diners, and ones from further afield, with his Italian dishes – the mushroom lasagne was legendary – and it became the place to eat for a good four decades.
Now its co-owner with Caradog Hotels, part of the group of venues which includes the Angel Hotel in Abergavenny, is the much-celebrated Shaun Hill who has had a close relationship with The Walnut Tree Inn for 30-plus years, as a diner of Franco’s and celebrating his 40th birthday at The Walnut Tree too.
Also part of the staff after an impressive 51 years is the woman who’ll greet you most days if you come in for lunch, Pauline Mckay. She started for a week in February 1972 and has been a firm fixture since – celebrating her golden anniversary at the inn with a big party in 2022.
It says something about a place where people circle back time and time again. If, like Swiss restaurant manager Etienne Humbert, you’re approached to fill a post and The Walnut Tree’s reputation precedes it, the answer is, of course, yes. While the dishes are certainly made with pride and creativity, the way customers feel is also a source of great pride.
Shaun, who took over the Monmouthshire restaurant in 2007, said: “For a lot of them, it’s like being in a club. If you come here on a Saturday, for instance, at lunchtime, lots of people know each other and they stay here until five o’clock talking.
“And so obviously they’re comfortable here, they don’t feel oppressed by the waiting staff, or uncomfortable, that they should be gone.”
The staff must feel comfortable too for the dynamic to be easy enough to make the diner feel at home. And Etienne reveals that Shaun is a big part of this, saying: “Shaun is a great man, even though he’s been cooking for 50 years, been on TV, won loads of awards, he’s still down to earth and easy to approach.”
The 35-year-old, who trained in hospitality management in his home country, adds that there was a mix of appeal, including the opportunity to work with Shaun, that brought him to The Walnut Tree initially and its reputation gives him a sense of pride.
After the pandemic there was a bit of a struggle with staff, but Etienne is pleased that the current team is gelling. “When we recruit, we try to get the right people, the right attitude, maybe not with the strongest CV, but who are willing to learn and help each other,” explains the father-of-one, who has settled into Abergavenny life well, with his little girl attending a local school.
“We’re only open four days a week, so it’s always the same team working together so we need to get along because that’s key to a successful business. If we’re having fun while working, then we’ll have fun interacting with the guests,” said Etienne.
Shaun, who at 76 has worked in every version of high-end culinary posts you can think of, started his career in American chef, restaurateur and TV presenter Robert Carrier’s eponymous restaurant in Islington, London, in the 1960s where he cooked for the likes of Francis Bacon and Kenneth Williams.
He then took his skills to the Gay Hussar in Soho, Gidleigh Park in Devon and then ran his own restaurant from his home in Ludlow for 10 years.
And he worked with Michel Roux for British Airways on their first-class menus. This fed (no apologies for the pun) into his love of travel and soaking up cuisines and flavours from around the world, the influence of which remains evident in his menus today.
But he was drawn to The Walnut Tree after becoming a frequent customer during Franco Taruschio’s reign when he was based in Ludlow, an easy drive for Sunday dinner on the day his Merchant House restaurant was closed.
After years as a fan, the opportunity popped up for Shaun to steer The Walnut Tree back to its former glory. When Taruschio left the business in the early 2000s, the mantle passed to new owners Francesco and Enrica Mattioli, who along with Stephen Terry – now owner/head chef at the Hardwick on the other side of Abergavenny – saw the restaurant gain its first Michelin star in 2002.
Fast-forward to 2007 and The Walnut Tree lost its star, Terry had an ill-fated appearance on Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Shaun was given the opportunity to grab the place by the scruff at the end of that year. By 2010 the venue had regained its Michelin star and it’s riding a wave of popularity with both new and old diners.
Shaun said: “My wife wanted to retire from all this to do consultancy work and I did and then this place got into trouble. I don’t think it was very badly run. It was all very difficult. And they did a very silly TV programme called Kitchen Nightmares.”
I ask if it’s frustrating that when you search online for The Walnut Tree, the appearance on
Kitchen Nightmares pops up. More than a decade-and-a-half on, did they wish that would disappear?
He said: “It was for a few years because for a while it was shown in different parts of the world semi-constantly because these programmes air in America or Australia. And I’d get all these abusive emails telling me how unpleasant I was and it was nothing to do with me. It was bad for The Walnut Tree.
“However – as I said – this place, it’s always had its core fans, a short train or car journey away was my own audience from Ludlow, so we managed to get it back on its feet again.”
Not wanting to plunge into kitchen life full-time once again, Shaun took a while to reckon with his part-time role, but he had to ditch his consultancy work to concentrate on The Walnut Tree.
He says: “The Walnut Tree’s quite a special place. I like it because it’s a proper restaurant. There are big differences between a hotel restaurant and a place like this. Because a hotel has to feed people who have come for the view of the surrounding area, because they’ve got relatives around here, not everybody wants to eat an ambitious meal, but a restaurant needs people to come out specifically to eat. And that’s why there are so few of them.
“In the country – and by the country I mean England as well as Wales – it’s harder to keep going, so I quite like the ones that have made it.”
Someone else who thinks The Walnut Tree is a special place – and is part of the reason why it’s so special – is Pauline, who’s from down the road in Abergavenny and thought she wouldn’t see out a week behind the bar here. That was in 1972 and she’s been here ever since. Well, other than the brief period it closed in 2007, but it wasn’t long before Shaun and co ensured she was back at her rightful place behind the bar.
Pauline is a team member valued both by those at The Walnut Tree and those who have visited over the decades and have been greeted by her, some of whom have become firm friends. And while some famous faces have dined under her stewardship front of house, there’s been just one who sent her all starstruck – the inimitable Miriam Margolyes.
But first, I asked her what the place was like when she started in the 1970s at the age of 21 when she thought she’d only last the week.