Powys Restaurant Guide

“Most exciting food is served to the beat of The Prodigy and The National” at Gareth Ward’s “small but super-comfy country house hotel in the wild, wild west of Wales”: “a very different and accomplished” experience, whose many fans say is “well worth the (extensive) detour”: “some of the best dishes I have eaten from a tasting menu of 20 plates in a chilled space with great staff, banter, and fun”. Prices are high, though, and its funky approach including the “sonic assault” of the soundtrack mean that even those who praise “astonishing and inspired” cuisine can be in two minds about (or occasionally dead set against) it: “I quite like hip hop and do think the servers should have a good time, but this is a bit like having an expensive and romantic meal in a room that has been taken over by teenagers”.

This “real country house hotel” provides lashings of “old-fashioned romance in a beautiful setting”. Long “a lovely place to stay and eat”, its culinary reputation has soared in recent years with chef Nick Brodie’s “delightful” cooking, enjoyed in the evening from a six-course (£60) or nine-course (£90) tasting menu.

“London food at Welsh prices” and a “great ambiance” (it’s set in a former cider mill) are the main draws to this veteran gastroboozer, praised for maintaining “consistently high standards year in, year out”.

“Set in the chef/owner’s own home – which is a beautiful old black and white house, full of character and charm” in “a pretty village set in rural Welsh countryside” – Kerry Huber’s “small, French-themed spot” offers “a fabulous seven-course tasting menu” (£32.95) that’s “beautifully presented and cooked and served in a very intimate dining room reminiscent of that in a Jane Austen novel! Superb value for money too”.