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hand picked restaurants

The Groves Hotel is located right in the heart of Aberystwyth and the culinary team have an established track record of success and excellence. Good use is made of local produce and a typical three-course dinner at £16.00 might be chicken brochette grilled with a Creole sauce followed by Welsh lamb with Miss Vaughan's pudding (don't even ask - just go and enjoy it). An apple liqueur tart makes a mouth-watering close, though some of the Welsh organic cheeses are particularly enticing.

Another of those beautiful conversions from farm to hotel and restaurant which seem to have become a bit of a feature in Wales as farming adapts. Miles and Jacky Glossop have done a fine job and the eating arrangements have obviously featured highly on their priorities.

The wonderfully flavoured products of the locality are noticeable by their presence, including smoked salmon from the Black Mountains and Pantysgawen goat's cheese, with the emphasis on honest-to-goodness country cooking. Penbontbren is rural Wales at its most compelling.

The Harbourmaster Hotel on the quayside in Aberaeron will offer you comfort in the most idyllic of locations on the west coast of Wales; there really cannot be many prettier waterside locations anywhere in Britain. This listed landmark building reopened in May 2002 after total renovation and is graded a four star inn by the Wales Tourist Board. In 2004 they were awarded Les Routiers Cafe of the Year.

Glyn and Menna Heulyn, who believe that Aberaeron and the area is Wales's best kept secret, were both born and brought up locally and have returned to Aberaeron to fulfil their ambition of creating a hotel that will do justice to this lovely place, which it so clearly does.

They quality of the food matches the beauty of the surroundings, and they serve freshly prepared local and Welsh produce whenever possible. Feast yourselves on the locally caught lobsters and crab, as well as sea bass, mackerel and sewin when in season. The land surrounding the town produces beef and lamb of the highest quality and the area has an ever growing reputation for organic vegetables and herbs.

A meal could consist of: roasted parsnip soup; chicken, wild mushroom and walnut sausage, fruit chutney, hazelnut and balsamic dressing or Thai style mussels with ginger, chilli, garlic and coconut milk to begin with, followed by whole lemon sole with herbs, kumara chips, cashew and coriander pesto; duck confit, vanilla and lime mash, port jus or chargrilled Welsh Black beef fillet, sweet potato and celeriac dauphinoise, shallot sauce.

There ought to be more places like the Hive around - lots more. Located in the centre of Aberaeron, with inspiring views over the harbour, they serve what people like best, which is homely, mainly locally caught or grown food in a recognisable and tasty form. Their support comes not only from the tourists who flock to this beautiful area, but also from the locals who know a good thing when they see it.

Lunch could be Welsh ham or Welsh Black beef, spit-roast free range chicken, crab and lobster salads, Ploughman's lunch of those wonderful Welsh cheeses, soups and chowders. You might even get very lucky and arrive on a day when their fish stew is on the go - a compilation of cockles, mussels, white fish and scallops in a strong shellfish broth, served with crusty breads and aioli.

For pudding it is difficult to avoid recognising that this is the home of Holgate's honey ice cream, one of the finest products of its kind known to man. If it's the waistline that worries you settle for Honey Yoghurt ices, coconut, banana, passion fruit or pistachio.

The Hungry Trout in Ceredigion is just minutes away from the New Quay which provides some spectacular seafront views for diners intent on enjoying the bounties of the coast, more specifically Cardigan Bay. The ambience at this remarkable seafood restaurant is warm and welcoming, creating a relaxed fine dining experience and the terrace offers a wonderful al fresco option. The fish and seafood is the freshest you can find although they also have a few meat and vegetarian dishes in the unlikely case of you finding piscatorial delights unappealing

A typical menu might bring you grilled sardines with paprika followed by a main course of plaice fillets with a sun-dried tomato and olive tapenade baked over tomatoes and spinach. On the other hand there's also chicken liver parfait and rack of Welsh lamb if you prefer the evening à la carte. An extensive list of homemade desserts should satisfy those of a sweet tooth and the extensive wine list also includes a large selection of brandys, liqueurs and ports.

A very traditional, but with-it, Edwardian-style restaurant is the hub of this elegant hotel with wonderful views of the Welsh mountains. The well-tended gardens include herbs and salad ingredients and there is a feeling overall that everything is well under control, and confidence soars. Local produce features strongly with Cardigan Bay crabs, Welsh lamb and really fresh fish. The menu makes more than a nod towards modern trends but never at the expense of the integrity of the raw materials. An interesting wine list will not disappoint, and house wine is £13.

An imposing cliff-top hotel with extensions that are at first sight a trifle off-putting. However, closer inspection reveals a welcoming and comfortable restaurant with stunning views over waters which may well contain relations of some of the goodies that are about to grace your table.

A roulade of salmon and trout served with a salad and cucumber and yoghourt dressing, followed by a cutlet of pork served on a bed of apple and sultana compote with a Calvados sauce, brought to a pleasing conclusion with a delicious summer pudding, naughtily accompanied by clotted cream, should be sufficient to ensure that you consider staying to admire that view the following morning.

Standing at the head of the spectacular Mynach Falls, the Hafod Arms started life as a small hunting Lodge in 1787, before being enlarged into a Swiss style chateau in 1839 by the 3rd Duke of Newcastle. There can be few more splendid locations in Britain.

In recent years the Red Kite, with its impressive 5 foot wingspan, has returned in force to mid-Wales, thanks to a sustained programme of reinstatement, adding yet another gentle attraction to this outstandingly beautiful area.

At night the muted rumbling of the falls provides a mysterious background to otherwise quiet surroundings. From the windows of the restaurant it is possible to see down the Rheidol Valley, perhaps with an ear cocked for the steam-whistle of the small gauge steam train as it completes the final stages of its long uphill haul from Aberystwyth, 12 miles down the line.

The food is homely and without pretension. A keenly priced a la carte menu could include herring sautéed with tomato, lemon and garlic, roast leg of Welsh lamb with mint, leek and red pepper stuffing, followed by almond meringue with banana and toffee sauce, and coffee. Service was charmingly friendly.

The menu changes almost daily, offering up to five or six choices of each course, with carefully considered variety. A wine list bears the stamp of Tanners of Shrewsbury, always a good sign, with three very credible house wines, the whole list at prices that are a positive incentive to over-indulge. Should you do so - and we did, by arrangement - the rooms are comfortable, many enjoying the same spectacular views into a part of wild Wales that still remains not over-visited and intensely natural.

As a setting for short breaks, romantic trysts, conferences and private parties The Hafod Arms has a great deal to commend it.

Gardd y Nos is a stylish British restaurant with a large sun deck and airy setting offering British and Welsh cuisine. On a warm evening, as you sip your favorite drink the scent of the Mediterranean plants around you will transport you to your last spell in a southern climate.

Order a Cardigan Bay crab profiteroles with chili ginger oyster dressing and crisp fried pak choi to begin your gastronomic journey. For main course consider slow roasted spiced belly port in spinach and cambozola puree with apple, mango and raisin chutney, sablee scallop potatoes and seared courgettes and fresh fish from the quay and seafood from Cardigan Bay. For those of you with a sweet tooth you could try toffee melon meringue cream with mango coulis hot bread pudding and chilled chocolate and ginger torte with orange and grand Marnier sauce.