Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Powys
Hardens guides have spent 15 years compiling reviews of the best Powys restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 26 restaurants in Powys and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Powys restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Powys Restaurants
1. Gareth Ward at Ynyshir
British, Modern restaurant in Eglwys Fach
“It’s highly recommended that you take the long drive to the west of Wales” to visit this small hotel – a “gorgeous” house once owned by Queen Victoria as a retreat next to the RSPB reserve of the same name. “The level of originality and innovation on show in Gareth Ward’s kitchen is absolutely phenomenal” and – in the year where Ward and his partner Amelia Eiriksson took a stake in the business (and dropped ‘Hall’ from the name) – scores here have headed into the stratosphere, with numerous reporters “blown away” by “an experience like no other”… “the best meal ever”… “the next star on the World’s 50-best”. The 17-course tasting menu is a slow-food journey, and one reviewer describes the “indecently tasty” results as reminiscent of “the good old days of The Fat Duck”. “Interesting, sometimes unusual, ingredients and flavour combinations are in perfect harmony using elaborate cooking processes explained by sous chefs brimming with enthusiasm. Staff are professional but relaxed, approachable and unpretentious. It’s worth every penny!”
2. Llangoed Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Llyswen
It’s “onwards and upwards” for this country house hotel, in a “lovely location, handy for the Hay Festival”, and long of note for its “old-hall decadence”; Nick Brodie’s “exquisite” cuisine won extremely consistent praise this year: “worth every penny!”
3. The Felin Fach Griffin
British, Modern restaurant in Brecon
Felin Fach - LD3
“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”.
4. Pysgoty
Fish & seafood restaurant in Aberystwyth
The Harbour, South Promenade - SY23
“Situated on the harbour front and directly facing a beautiful sea vista”, this “small and intimate” gem is “amusingly located in a converted art deco public toilet but the ambience is more that of a Californian beach shack – especially in summer when you eat outside on a sail-covered deck”. To eat: “essentially fish and seafood that’s simply but beautifully cooked”.
5. Checkers
French restaurant in Montgomery
Broad St, Powys - SY15
“Traditional and classic French cuisine with wonderful twists and flavour marriages” justify the pilgrimage to the Welsh outback for the many loyal fans of Stéphane Borie & Sarah Francis’s 17th-century inn on the town square – a “peaceful and private” escape with five rooms.
6. Ultracomida
Mediterranean restaurant in Aberystwyth
31 Pier St - SY23
A relaxed Spaniard of some renown for its “well-prepared, tasty tapas”, and whose owners are also “working to bring an imaginative range of Spanish wines (especially reds) onto its list”. Downside? The back-of-deli seating – high stools or a communal table – can make it feel “a bit cramped”.
7. Carlton Riverside
British, Modern restaurant in Llanwrtyd Wells
Irfon Cr - LD5
There’s a consensus that, while the new regime is “trying hard” the cooking at this famed riverside mid-Wales inn has become “less adventurous” since the exit of Alan & Mary Ann Gilchrist (“maybe they think that’s what the local market is looking for”); that said, their protégé Luke Roberts’ food is “still exceptionally well-cooked” and it “remains a great stalwart in these parts”.
8. Pen y Cae Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Pen Y Cae
Brecon Rd - SA9
2016 Review: This restaurant and gallery (with rooms), in a smartly converted former pub, is a solid all-rounder offering “consistently good” food and “friendly service”; “remember to check out the owners’ aviaries (plus meerkats, wallabies etc.) at the back of the pub”!
9. St Johns Place
British, Modern restaurant in Hay On Wye
St. John’s Chapel & Meeting Rooms, Lion Street, - HR3
2017 Review: “Only open part of the week, but worth the wait” – this café in an old chapel provides “a small, well-considered, weekly-changing menu, with good imaginative combos”.
10. Gwesty Cymru
British, Traditional restaurant in Aberystwyth
19 Marine Terrace - SY23
2016 Review: It’s “one of the better venues in the area”, but despite solid ratings this boutique-y seafront hotel inspired the odd disappointment this year, not helped by sometimes “perfunctory” service; still, most reports are of “excellent” dishes from local produce. “If the weather permits, get into the garden”.
View full listings of 26 Powys Restaurants
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Top Powys Restaurants
These are the top restaurants in Powys based on reviews by Hardens users.
Checkers
The Felin Fach Griffin
Llangoed Hall
Carlton Riverside
Ultracomida
Pen y Cae Inn
Gwesty Cymru
Gareth Ward at Ynyshir
Popular Cuisines in Powys