Local Food Is Favourite Fare In UK’s Smallest Town

Mary Ann Gilchrist the chef patron of Carlton Riverside with husband Alan has put Llanwrtyd Wells on the culinary map with the fine cuisine in their new boutique restaurant with rooms. It has been awarded four gold stars by the AA Hotel and Restaurant Guide for its excellence of food, service and accommodation. The new 2008 Good Food Guide gives it the second highest rating in Wales with the score of 6, which she has maintained for a decade.

Far from following the current fad of finding local suppliers, she started this trend when they moved to Llanwrtyd Wells over a decade ago. Immediately she contacted local farmers, allotment holders, small holders, fishermen and foragers. Her cuisine at Carlton House earned a Michelin Star and already the new Carlton Riverside restaurant is gathering accolades.

“We have built up numerous contacts in the last decade. We use Irfon valley lamb from the Watkins farm at Abergwesyn, vegetables from gardens and allotments, eggs from a smallholder all very close by. Friends in the town gather hedgerow berries and delicious whinberries from the Sugar Loaf Mountain, as well as plentiful supplies of field and forest mushrooms.

“Welsh farmhouse cheeses are delivered weekly by Caws Cymru; we use Celtic Pride Welsh beef; Bacheldre organic flour for the bread I make on the premises; Rachel’s organic yogurt, cream, butter and milk; dry cured ham from Romy Cuisine of Hay on Wye. But we are rather a long way from the coast, being 1200 feet high in the Welsh Hills, so we source our fresh fish from the Llyn Peninsula and the trawlers of Swansea. We can’t get everything here in Britain’s smallest town,” said Mary Ann.

The menus at Carlton Riverside combine these Welsh ingredients in most intriguing contemporary dishes that use several cooking techniques to show how versatile they are. Slow cooked shoulder of spring Welsh lamb might come with a sauté of its sweetbreads and succulent slices pink loin. Welsh beef appears as rare poached fillet with slow cooked mini steak and kidney pudding and oxtail gravy.

Her precision with fresh fish is equally impressive with seared bass, grilled sewin (Welsh sea trout), wild Wye salmon and fresh lobster all making appearances.

The Gourmet Break menu includes superb wines selected by Alan to accompany each course, poured according to appetite. The a la carte Irfon menu presents a selection of Mary Ann’s most popular dishes. Several special dishes of the day are served in Bassett’s cellar bar together with a good selection of ales and wines.

Carlton Riverside has five very comfortable bedrooms with full facilities and luxury, all with views over the riverside, town and Welsh Mountains.

Llanwrtyd Wells, a Victorian Spa town is the smallest town in Britain. It hosts the Annual Man Against Horse Race and the World Bog Snorkelling Championships. It also has the unique Carlton Riverside Restaurant with Rooms. It is a delightful place to relax and is just an hour and a half from the Severn Bridge, Birmingham, Cardiff and Swansea. It is on the Mid Wales Swansea to Shrewsbury regional railway line, and there are plentiful connections to many areas of the railway network.

If you would like to visit Carlton Riverside to experience the fine food and hospitality, find out more by logging on to Carltonrestaurant.co.uk.