Visit Wales, the official Wales tourist board, have started a new campaign to attract visitors to Wales for a proper holiday: Wales Wants You. They’ve connected with Tamarind and Thyme to highlight some of the best of Welsh food. Our first trip as a married couple (kind of a mini honeymoon) was in Llanberis in Snowdonia and we both remember that trip quite fondly for the beautiful location, friendly people and good food… so yes, I have a soft spot for the country.
I cannot claim to be an expert in Welsh food but I remember being very taken with their bara brith, a sweet fruit bread, and their Welsh cakes, currant-studded flat cakes cooked on a bakestone (like a hot plate). And who can turn down a Welsh rarebit?! There’s lots I’ve not explored of Welsh cuisine though: I’d love to try Glamorgan sausages (made of cheese and leek) or a proper cawl (meaning soup but refers to what we think of as stew) and I am greatly intrigued by laverbread (seaweed!). And then there’s the meats and cheeses that I need to investigate too. There’s lots of information about Welsh food on their website too.
A large part of their new campaign is Piers Bramhall and his need for a proper holiday and I’ll leave it to this video to introduce all this to you:
I love that choir! People and sites all up and down Wales have been inviting Piers to their neck of the woods to see the real Wales. From what I gather, he and his girlfriend are starting their trip on Sept 5 – I’m keen to see where they’ll be eating!
I’ve been asked to make a pledge too – to recommend one place in Wales. As I’ve only been once (that short honeymoon that we absolutely loved), I have only a few places from which to choose. Well, I chose Pete’s Eats, the best caff in Llanberis. It was the friendliness of their waitresses and their pint mugs of tea and their fabulous chips that won me over.
And now for the competition – there are two prizes to be won!
Visit Wales have offered quite an exciting prize to one of my readers: a weekend away in Cardiff (September 10-11). The winner and a friend will travel by train to Cardiff on Sept 10, stay overnight at what I’ve been told will be a very nice hotel and will attend a Welsh banquet at Cardiff Castle on the afternoon of Sept 11, returning home that night. This banquet is a celebration of Wales with a host of Welsh chefs and food experts on hand to talk you through the menu. It’s also the grand finale of Pier’s trip and promises to be something quite special. I was to have attended the banquet too but, alas, I am out of the country that weekend.
The weekend away prize is only open to readers in the UK; however, there’s also another prize available to everyone including international readers – a hamper of goodies from Wales! Specifically, it’s this hamper, filled with treats to put together your own Welsh picnic (ooh, there are Welsh cakes in there – did I mention that those are delicious?).
To enter, please leave a comment letting us know a great restaurant you visited in Wales, a Welsh recipe you can share, a Welsh food product you love… or if you’ve not been to Wales or are unfamiliar with Welsh cuisine, let us know your impression of Welsh food or a Welsh food or dish that you’d love to try. We want to learn from you and hear what you think. The best answers will be chosen by us to win.
Please state where you are based so that you’re entered into the correct competition (or if you’d like to be considered for the hamper only if you cannot make the weekend) and ensure that your email address is valid – I and Visit Wales will contact the winners by email to let them know they’ve won and to arrange the trip and the posting of the hamper. The competition will close at 23:59 on Thursday, September 1 and I will announce the winners on the blog shortly after.
Do check out their main campaign page on Facebook too. There will be links to their other partners involved in climbing, cycling, music, art, eco and travel, all highlighting the best of Wales.
Sat, 27 Aug, 2011 at 06:56
Am ashamed to admit it but I visited Cardiff twice when younger, and largely subsided off of McDonalds and hotel breakfasts. Of course these days I realise the error of my ways, and would love the chance to return to Wales and do things properly. My impression of Welsh food is largely shaped by Great British Menu, so Welsh Lamb, fresh creamy cheeses and the seafood, all 3 things that I can’t get enough of.
Sat, 27 Aug, 2011 at 06:58
Apologies I live in Southend, Essex.
Sat, 27 Aug, 2011 at 10:44
I’m married to a Penarth boy, and married in Cardiff. He’s been an ex-pat here in the Midlands for a long time now, but trips back keep him going. I love Cardiff, and it has a really vibrant food scene. I was really sorry to hear Le Gallois in Canton had closed, as had a very memorable meal there, but also very fond of Bosphorus at Cardiff Bay. Sitting there on a sunny day (yes, even in Wales) with a flow of Turkish dishes to the table, sun glinting off the water, glass of wine in hand, just perfect. Not very Welsh, but like many capital cities a great melting pot of cultures.
Sat, 27 Aug, 2011 at 11:36
If you havent been to Cardiff, and are too far away to pop down for just an afternoon, go for this. It is very much a city on the up, too much so as far as other towns and cities in Wales would have you think. It does act as a draw for many good things in Wales, and as such, you can have a wonderful time exploring the capital.
Sat, 27 Aug, 2011 at 18:11
As an American, Wales means one thing: Sean Connery. Except that I just looked it up on Wikipedia and Connery isn’t from Wales at all, and I’ve been telling people that he is for some years now — it is genuinely one of my favorite pointless facts to bandy about at parties. It just won’t be the same when I inform them that smugly that Ioan Gruffudd is from Wales.
Additionally, it appears that what my boyfriend’s Norwegian/Swedish grandmother called “pikelets” are actually Welsh cakes, and that the word “pikelet” is not Norwegan, Swedish or Welsh at all. It is with a deepening sense of dread that I realize I know nothing at all about Wales other than that they seem to enjoy the letter ‘y’ to an exceptional degree.
It isn’t often that I find myself at a total loss regarding an entire country’s cuisine, and yet here I am. The internet tells me of laverbread, which sounds like something I’d be eating alone and cockles, which I’m pretty sure are made up.
Sat, 27 Aug, 2011 at 23:15
Then its time for you to come on over and get that first hand experience in! Cockles exist, and are a fine treat, and go to the right place, and you certainly wont be eating laverbread alone!
Sun, 28 Aug, 2011 at 07:07
Hi, Su Lin!
I’m not entering the competition, just pointing you at a Welsh item you omitted, at http://travelrat.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/oggie
If you remember, you were in Llanberis a couple of weeks after I was; did you get to ride the Mountain Railway?
Sun, 28 Aug, 2011 at 12:50
Hi, my name is Barry, and I’m in love with Wales. I’m a Kiwi, but when I was in the UK a couple of years ago, I took great delight in making several trips to Wales. I spent a week in Tenby, several days in Swansea and Cardiff, toured the coast, went to LLanberis, had a few days in St Davids and another night in Fishguard but of all the many places I visited, the place I liked the most was Dolgellau, where I had lunch at the Y Sospan cafe (way back in the day it served the last suppers to those about to be hanged). When I visited it was a quaint wood panelled stone-walled building, and it gave me my very first experience of bara brith, which I thought was a most delicious form of fruit cake. Dolgellau itself is a magnificent wee town, its central buildings are almost all made of granite.
When in Llanberis, I didn’t actually eat at Pete’s, as my hotel provided me with breakfast – alongside the normal components of a fry up, they provided me with a most un-Welsh fruit (at least in late winter): watermelon.
Sun, 28 Aug, 2011 at 14:17
I’m Welsh, although have lived in london for many years. There isn’t really anything that you could call Welsh cuisine, save for our fantastic ingredients such as the cheeses, lamb (mountain and saltmarsh) and our excessive love of beer -cwrw.
Mon, 29 Aug, 2011 at 02:19
I have to admit I’ve never really considered Wales as a holiday destination before. Not for any reason but you never tend to hear about them-until now!
Mon, 29 Aug, 2011 at 12:21
I admit that I know nothing about welsh food despite going to Cardiff and Barry. I remember eating lots of Chinese food though.
The hamper looks very nice…
Mon, 29 Aug, 2011 at 19:28
Love the Welsh rarebit but not tried the flatbread, which sounds good. Overall though my appreciation of welsh food is low compared to other nations. This is something I would definitely rectify if given a hamper or even better, a trip to Wales! Am based in North West England, so travelling there is not a problem!
PS: save the plum!
Mon, 29 Aug, 2011 at 22:07
I’ve lived in the UK for 8 years but have never visited Wales. Scotland and Ireland were ticked off within a couple of years but for some reason, I’ve neglected poor Wales.
In terms of Welsh food, I would love to try some proper Welsh mutton, perhaps in a lovely rich stew. I’ve heard about it a number of times but never seen it in the butchers here. We have a Welsh beef farmer at our market but I’ve never been able to buy mutton locally.
Tue, 30 Aug, 2011 at 14:21
I had a lot of rubbish food in Wales I have to say (this comment probably won’t get me to win this competition…) but was very pleasantly surprised by the lovely Y Polyn close to Camarthen. Welsh comfort food with a twist, very good indeed.
By the way, I tried laverbread and cockles and do not want to eat them EVER again.
Tue, 30 Aug, 2011 at 17:04
As I think someone has already said, there is a lot of Welsh produce that rightly deserves to be famous. We make some excellent beers and wines (yes wine!), the cheeses are sublime and the lamb is the best, bar none.
Although things like cawl, bara brith, laverbread and rarebit are dishes that might not shine out at a fine restaurant (I don’t see Heston Blumenthal cooking them anytime soon!), cooked well they are comforting, tasty and satisfying – what more can you ask?
Although I left Wales when I was very young, I love the country and the food always makes me think I’m home.
Tue, 30 Aug, 2011 at 22:03
Sadly I’ll be in Sydney when someone is living it up in Cardiff- but my first introduction to Welsh food was a piece of Welsh Rarebit at St John, my first trip to London. It floored me, with how satisfyingly simple it was. Quickly became part of our late-Saturday-night repertoire. Has saved me many a night.
Wed, 31 Aug, 2011 at 23:41
[...] day to enter to win either a weekend away in Wales or a hamper full of Welsh goodies! Please see this post for details. Advertisement LD_AddCustomAttr("AdOpt", "1"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Origin", "other"); [...]
Thu, 1 Sep, 2011 at 11:08
Hmm, I’ve only been to Wales once, for a long hike from Aberystwyth to Ysbyty Ystwyth (gotta love those Welsh names…). The countryside was absolutely stunning and, especially for me as a now-Londoner, beautifully quiet. And there were sheep everywhere… Regarding Welsh food, I sadly didn’t get much of a chance to taste any. We ended our hike at a friend’s Mexican-themed party & enjoyed a Sunday roast the day after. I would have loved to try some Welsh cake!
Thu, 1 Sep, 2011 at 14:34
Reading this has made me realise how little I know about Wales and its food. Visits are limited to a school trip to somewhere in rural North Wales (only just over the border from Chester). Food knowledge, possibly more shamefully, extends only to episodes of Come Dine With Me from Wales (hanging head in shame!) I suppose lamb is the obvious choice, but I know there must be so much more and would love the chance to find out more with a wonderful weekend away.
Jennifer (from London)
Fri, 2 Sep, 2011 at 00:42
The competition is now closed! We’ll contact the winners very soon and I’ll announce them on the blog too.