Five restaurants in South Wales have been named among the best in the UK by The Good Food Guide 2023. 

Rocket and Rye in Cowbridge was named the best local restaurant in Wales while four other restaurants in South Wales also made The Good Food Guide's 100 best local restaurants of 2023.

The Good Food Guide’s best local restaurant award has been running for 13 years and celebrates "the places that are the beating heart of communities around Britain".

This year's awards received more than 37,000 nominations from restaurants across the UK, the strongest field of contenders The Good Food Guide said it had ever seen.

Describing how they decide the winners, The Good Food Guide said: "Using the nominations as a driving force, we inspected all 100 of the restaurants that made our final list, plus a great number more, to decide which ones should make the grade. 

"Some are old favourites, others are new to the Guide and prove that we need you to help us highlight the very best places. This is your brilliant list."

The South Wales restaurants named among the best in the UK

Speaking about Wales, The Good Food Guide said: "With its food strongly defined by the sea, the mountains and lush pasture, Wales has proved to be a magnet for talented chefs in the past two decades.

"They put the principality’s exceptional produce to very good use."

Rocket and Rye in Cowbridge was named the best local restaurant in Wales in the Good Food Guide 2023.

Rocket and Rye - Cowbridge, Glamorgan

Overall rating: Good

Uniqueness: Good

Deliciousness: Good

Warmth: Good

Strength of recommendation: Good

The Good Food Guide said: "Pitched somewhere between café and restaurant – and succeeding on both counts – we absolutely loved Rocket and Rye’s attention to detail, the quality of ingredients, their unerring commitment to cooking everything in-house, and the little upmarket flourishes in otherwise familiar dishes – especially the smoked onion mayo and Parmesan on the fries.

"‘What’s not to love about this gem,’ say regulars who enjoy popping in for a quick coffee and slice of cake – or ‘succumbing to the lure of the menu and having a couple of small plates’."

Four other restaurants in South Wales also made The Good Food Guide's 100 best local restaurants of 2023.

Heathcock - Cardiff, Glamorgan

Overall rating: Good

Uniqueness: Good

Deliciousness: Good

Warmth: Very Good

Strength of recommendation: Good

The Good Food Guide said: "From bar to beer garden, the Heathcock majors in laid-back sophistication: expect simple white walls, reclaimed furniture, a decent selection of beers, and warm, efficient service.

"Here, informality never equates to idleness, and the same is true of the food, which – for all its rustic edges – is intelligent and considered."

The Black Bear Inn - Bettws Newydd, Monmouthshire

Overall rating: Good

Uniqueness: Good

Deliciousness: Good

Warmth: Good

Strength of recommendation: Good

The Good Food Guide said: "Against the dramatic backdrop of the Black Mountains, Bettws Newydd is an idyllic rural community with this ‘very unassuming' country pub at its heart.

"Seating just 36 indoors, with a small terrace at the back, it is run without pretence or formality and has a delightfully homely vibe."

Y Polyn - Nantgaredig, Carmarthenshire​

Overall rating: Good

Uniqueness: Good

Deliciousness: Good

Warmth: Good

Strength of recommendation: Good

The Good Food Guide said: "Remoteness is a virtue at this strikingly reconfigured 16th-century tollhouse.

"Run by Mark and Susan Manson as a cottagey restaurant with rooms, Y Polyn feels determinedly unpretentious, with bare mismatched tables, staff in jeans and diners encouraged to pour their own wine – although the glass-sided extension adds some modernist cool to proceedings."

The Warren - Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire

Overall rating: Good

Uniqueness: Good

Deliciousness: Good

Warmth: Good

Strength of recommendation: Good

The Good Food Guide said: "Set up by a young painter, a gardener and a chef from the festival scene, this is a free-spirited community hub supporting local and organic businesses – with a sider order of open-mic nights, quizzes and sundry get-togethers.

"As the name suggests, the restaurant occupies a labyrinth of little rooms illuminated by candles and fairy lights with exposed beams, shelves of homemade provisions and vintages trappings – and it's driven entirely by renewable energy."

The other Welsh restaurants named in the UK's best 100 by The Good Food Guide 2023

There were seven restaurants across Wales named in The Good Food Guide's 100 best local restaurants of 2023:

  • Y Polyn - Nantgaredig, Carmarthenshire
  • Rocket and Rye - Cowbridge, Glamorgan
  • The Warren - Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire
  • Heathcock - Cardiff, Glamorgan
  • Paternoster Farm - Pembroke, Pembrokeshire
  • The Black Bear Inn - Bettws Newydd, Monmouthshire
  • Yr Hen Printworks - Cardigan, Ceredigion

To see all the restaurants in the UK that made the top 100 visit the The Good Food Guide website.