Narberth restaurant Annwn has received the latest in a string of accolades: inclusion on the prestigious worldwide restaurant selection, La Liste.
The illustrious guide, based in Paris, uses reviews, guidebooks and chef’s recommendations to formulate a score out of 100. Annwn scored 90 which places it well up the thousand-strong list.
Annwn’s chef patron Matt Powell says he is delighted with the result.
“I was just looking through the list on Thursday morning when it came out. I wasn’t expecting to be on it at all, and then all of a sudden there we were,” he said. “It was mind blowing really.”
Annwn is an intimate space with only ten covers where each diner gets to experience the theatre of Matt cooking his dishes in an open kitchen, which are then served at the table by Matt himself, assisted by his partner Naomi.
Many of the ingredients used are foraged from Pembrokeshire’s shoreline and countryside. The menu changes throughout the seasons, reflecting the diversity of the local Welsh ecosystem and the quality of local suppliers. Local lamb, lobster, prawns and sewin all make an appearance throughout the year.
Matt is a staunch supporter of Welsh ingredients and a keen student of historic Welsh cuisine.
” My goal has always been to put Annwn on the world stage and to be recognised as a Welsh restaurant that is striving to reinvent Welsh cuisine – to look at our past and food history, to ask questions,” he says. “For me it’s all about studying these old traditions. To learn, recreate and refine.
Annwn was located at Lawrenny from September 2021 until September 2022, during which time it was named as number 14 in the Good Food Guide’s 20 Most Exciting Restaurants.
On May 12 the restaurant opened its doors in a new home in Narberth, where it has since been awarded a place in the Michelin Guide.
Matt says inclusion in La Liste is the icing on the cake.
“To make this start on such a solid base and to be named among the great chefs and restaurants in the world is just amazing,” he says.
