Harden's survey result
For 25 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. This year diners have submitted over 60,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK.
Summary
“Walking in the Brecon Beacons and eating great food – does life gets much better?” This “stupendous value” gastropub has for years been a linchpin of the local dining scene: “the cooking’s of a very good standard” and “it’s a tremendous venue for Sunday lunch, brunch or just loafing about”.
Summary
“A real gem” in the Brecon Beacons that’s long been a mainstay of the area’s dining options, and whose food is “always imaginative without being pretentious”.
Summary
Profound satisfaction this year with this “wonderful” pub in the Brecon Beacons – one of Wales’s more consistent culinary destinations. “Lovely”, “relaxed and confident” service earns particular praise, but the “excellent locally sourced food” is highly rated too.
Summary
This “quintessential British pub” is a “charming” spot at the foot of the Brecon Beacons; it inspires lots of praise for “good and satisfying meals”, but sentiment was undercut by a couple of “awful” reports this year.
Owner's description
This is The Felin Fach Griffin, a dining pub with rooms nestling near the book town of Hay-on-Wye between The Black Mountains and The Brecon Beacons, not far from the market towns of Abergavenny and Crickhowell.
We think many of us want to return, if only momentarily, to a slower pace of life. Everything our team do here is designed to achieve that aim for you.
Time spent in this part of the world will unwind you. Relaxation within the building contrasts with the magnificence of the country that surrounds it.
You will sleep in the most comfortable beds, you will eat simple, but well executed and delicious food. Beers, wine, sherries and fruit juices: all chosen because we love them.
We support our local community, source our produce with sustainability in mind, and set our prices for our regular customers, not the incoming tourists.
We have always loved this part of Wales and over the past twelve years we have come to love this building. We hope you will too.
We are open all year: please do come and visit us and bring along your friends, dogs or children.
Restaurant details
The chef
And, like so many things, food is best kept simple. We have built the reputation of the Griffin's kitchen on this maxim.
Menus change daily and seasonally. In winter you might have venison from the nearby Welsh Venison Centre, or in summer Welsh lamb with peas picked that morning from our own kitchen garden.
Our garden team takes the concept beyond what we could have hoped for, turning our food miles into food paces.
The best strawberries we've tasted. Red, white and blackcurrants, raspberries, apples, pears and medlas. And sticks of pink rhubarb.
Peas, broad beans and salads. Leeks, onions, red and white cabbages and rows of garlic. And the ingredients for the picallilli and chutneys that we sell in our little shop.
