“To begin at the beginning: It is a spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters'-and-rabbits' wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea.”
- Dylan Thomas
I have long thought of Matt Powell, foraging chef and culinary visionary, as the Dylan Thomas of the kitchen. And it was a moonless night in the small town of Narberth, Pembrokeshire, with its burgeoning reputation as a foodie magnet.
Il Maestro’s chef’s tunic was indeed bible-black…although the 4 hours of gastronomic theatre that follows has an aesthetic perhaps more closely-aligned with the hospital theatre than Drury Lane. The scrubbed white of the walls and the lights that would cut through goose fat make the solitary figure in black all the more dramatic as he glides from stainless steel counter to hob in pared-back open plan kitchen. Annwn focuses the diner’s attention directly on the creative hub by setting the tables to face the chef, as stalls seats would the stage. With two of us, and one other couple, as the total audience for this particular show, we sat side by side, drinking a brace of British wines (a Welsh red and an English white) from the very select and exclusively UK wine list. It’s another bold move from a fearless chef.
There followed ten courses, delivered in a flawless and unhurried manner by Matt and his partner, Naomie, playing all of the roles. Matt comes front of house for every course, his modest conversation introducing each creation in his soft Welsh voice. Strain your necks like hawsers to catch the sotto voce commentary on each extraordinary offering. Slow food doesn’t begin to do justice to the long gestation and fore-thought on show here. Take the bara planc (Welsh for bread on the planc, or griddle) with a mother yeast half a century old. The menyn halltu oen served with this bread of heaven is no ordinary butter, even by the standards of refined restaurants. This is a homemade mixture of creamed butter and the fat of the air-dried lamb; half butter, half dripping, fully divine. The ‘bread and butter’ is served with slices of cured lamb and a signature Annwn dish, wild garlic preserved in its life cycle, as much a work of art on a plate as a starter.
We imbibe and chat and sample one incredible dish after another: oyster puree, preserved beetroots, spider crab roe with kelp cream, and duck egg yolk slow cooked for 4 hours, taking us to the ‘main event’, approximately scene III of V. Oen Melog (shoulder of salt marsh Welsh lamb, braised in salt marsh honey is this main, artfully trimmed with the foraged delights of marsh samphire, sea plantain, sea purslane, honey cream and lamb sauce. It is another old Welsh recipe re-invented by Matt for the modern diner.
Now for the fab four ‘desserts’ to take us to the final curtain: Meadowsweet cheese curds and honey; Ynys Gwales, gorse flower custard with birch vinegar meringue, pure art; and chocolate cockle shells filled with sea buckthorn gel.
Simples! Not.
If you can get your head around parting with £130 (per person for the menu) and 4 hours of your life, Annwn will not disappoint. Bear in mind that a copious lobster roll in Pembrokeshire can set you back £25, you may consider that you have got away lightly for the mesmerising show you have witnessed. Book soon - Matt is holding his prices despite the fact that he and his team have recently won a Green Michelin star!
Find Matt on Instagram here
