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Wales has developed a thriving restaurant scene over the last decade or so, and not just in major towns. Some truly outstanding food can be found in rural pubs and hotel restaurants. More and more restaurants are creating dishes using fresh local ingredients—Welsh lamb, Welsh Black beef, Welsh cheeses, and seafood from the Welsh coast—that show off the best of the region's cuisine.
In Cardiff's biggest shopping mall, this very popular Sicilian-Italian restaurant is renowned for its pizza. The pasta's pretty good too—try the crab spaghetti or "Cardiff Sauce," which is the chef's take on carbonara with added blue cheese. There's a good gluten-free menu, but a limited selection of wine and beer (all Italian). Leave room for a cannolo.
On the top floor of Cardiff and Vale College's City Centre Campus, this smart restaurant with panoramic views from the floor-to-ceiling windows is run by catering and hospitality students. The menus, which change with the seasons, are overseen by some of the top Welsh chefs working in the United Kingdom. The beautifully presented dishes are made with local produce; even the bread is baked here. The restaurant also offers cooking master classes and short courses.
This charming whitewashed inn serves elegant Welsh cuisine in a rustic dining room. Fish is a specialty, underlined with plenty of regional flavors like the salmon and leek fishcake, while the beef and lamb are locally sourced. The inn is about 1½ miles west of Raglan Castle. To get there from the castle, turn left out of the gates onto the one-way road, then backtrack towards Raglan, passing the castle again on your right. At the roundabout, take Clytha Road.
This charming little vegan bistro offers an interesting menu full of freshly cooked food. Expect copious Buddha bowls with a rainbow of vegetables as well as spicy dishes, wraps, and plenty of mouthwatering sweet treats. The coffee is pretty good, too.
Sheep's-milk ice cream, delicious cakes, and local produce mixed with international flavors are offered at this little café. Many customers come just for the coffee, especially the Lebanese variety.
