Wales Eating, Culture and Events

Where to Eat  

If you’re staying in a hotel, guesthouse, or B&B, a hearty cooked breakfast (generally served 8-9am) will usually be offered as part of the deal and may see you through the day. Evening meals are served from 6 to 10p, though in rural areas, especially early in the week, you may find it difficult to get served after 8:30pm. Cafes and tearooms (the terms are used pretty much interchangeably0 can be found absolutely everywhere and are generally the cheapest places to eat, providing hearty, cholesterol-laden breakfasts, a solid range of snacks and full meals for lunch (and occasionally, evening meals). Wales’ steady influx oaf New Agers has seen the cheap and usually vegetarian wholefood café become a standard feature of many mid-and west Welsh towns. Throughout the land, cafes and restaurants are also increasingly equipped with espresso machines, though barista competence levels are low.
Food in pubs varies as much as the establishments themselves. Competition has seen mediocre places sharpen up their act and many pubs now offer more imaginative dishes than microwaved lasagna and chips. Most serve food at lunchtime and in the evening (usually until 8:30 or 9pm) and in many towns, the local pub is the most economical place (and in smaller towns, sometimes the only place) to grab a filling evening meal. Relatively few Welsh hostelries have done the full gastropub conversion but the standards in some pubs can now be very high. Such places, along with bistros and restaurants sport menus which rely extensively on fresh local produce. They can often tell you which farm the beef came from and in coastal areas the chef may even know the fisherman.
The Cardiff Brewery Brains has recently been buying up pubs around the country and smartening them up (cheap food, good beer and comfortable surroundings), but often robbing them of much individuality in the process. People of all nationalities call Wales home and few towns of any size are without Indian or Chinese restaurants, though the likes of Japanese, French, Thai, American, Mexican and Belgian are limited to the more cosmopolitan centers. Our restaurant listings include a mix of high-quality and good-value establishments, but if you’re intent on a culinary pilgrimage, you’d do well to arm yourself with a copy of the annual Good Food Guide (Which? Publications), which includes detailed recommendations. Throughout this guide, we’ve supplied the phone number for all restaurants where you may need to book a table. In pubs and cafes you can expect to pay £6-10 for a main course, closer to £15 in good restaurants and around £20 in the very best places.

Drinking

As elsewhere in Britain, daytime cafes are not usually license to sell alcohol and though restaurants invariably are, pubs remain the center of social activity. The legal drinking age is 18, though an adult can order alcohol for someone aged 16 or 17 who is dining. Some places offer special family rooms for people with children and beer gardens where younger kids can run free.