Powys, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

This well-known border-country inn is “still one of the best places to eat in the area”, with “well prepared and flavoursome food”. Long-time regulars miss Steve & Nicola Reynolds, who retired a couple of years ago, but the new management team of chef Tom Tudor and his partner Vittoria Turolla, FOH, have settled in well and the place is now “performing better again”.

2023 Review: This “fab former stately home” set in “beautiful grounds” in the Welsh countryside was restored by Laura Ashley co-founder Sir Bernard Ashley. Known for its “exceptional food”, it has lost two highly regarded head chefs in recent years, Nick Brodie and Sam Bowser, but still achieves strong ratings across the board.

2022 Review: This “busy” seventeenth-century inn is appreciated for its “simple, tasty, well-executed dishes” of “good honest food”.

“Highly recommend if you are around Hay on Wye” – a “small but perfectly formed restaurant” which puts its emphasis on “very locally sourced dishes that are well prepared” from a “carefully-put-together tasting menu” (five courses for £60 per person) “with unexpected but lovely flavour combinations”.

This “top-of-the-range gastropub” on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park has long been one of the most famous in Wales for good reason and is “always busy” as a result. “If only there were a lot more rural pubs working so hard on all aspects of the dining experience” – from “impeccable and considerate service” that creates “a lovely, welcoming, characterful ambience” to “flawless meals with an excellent selection of brilliant-value wines”. The menu changes daily with seven starters and seven mains showcasing meat from the lowland hills, vegetables from nearby Penpont and fish delivered fresh from Cornwall.