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Y Polyn

“Stylish but never stuffy, worth seeking out”

LOCATION

NANTGAREDIG, CARMARTHENSHIRE

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Y Polyn is a former tollhouse, now well established as a destination pub for lovers of Welsh food, and handily placed for the attractive county town of Carmarthen and the National Botanic Garden of Wales. The first-floor has been converted to create private dining rooms, ideal for family gatherings and parties. The bounty of West Wales is at the forefront of the uncomplicated, tempting dishes that come from the modest kitchen here, and ‘Fat equals Flavour. Live with it’ is the unapologetic ethos. Starters include the famous Y Polyn fish soup with gruyère, rouille and croûtons; and venison ragù, pappardelle, pangritata and parmesan; follow that with roast rack of Welsh lamb, spiced lamb and potato terrine, onion, garlic and thyme purée and curly kale, maybe, or pork belly, caramelised endive, black pudding, apple purée, buttered mash and crackling. The warm pear frangipane tart and stem ginger ice is a winner, or there’s sticky toffee pudding and apple knickerbocker glory. All this has gained the inn two AA Rosettes for its accomplished cooking. The excellent beers come from local Breweries.

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AA Pick of the Pubs

Y Polyn

NANTGAREDIG, SA32 7LH

Phone: 01267 290000

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Discover Carmarthenshire

Carmarthenshire is the largest of the historic counties of Wales, and known to have been inhabited since prehistoric times. Carmarthen, its county town, with its Roman fort, claims to be the oldest town in Wales.

Carmarthenshire was a heavily disputed territory between the Welsh and the Normans in the 12th and 13th centuries, and many of the castles and forts dotting its landscapes date from this period. They include ruins at Carreg Cennen, Dinefwr, Dryslwyn, Laugharne, Llansteffan and Newcastle Emlyn, as well as the slightly better-preserved Kidwelly Castle. Carmarthen Castle, meanwhile, saw further fighting during both the Wars of the Roses and the Civil War, when it was captured twice by the Parliamentary forces, and ordered to be dismantled by Oliver Cromwell.

In these more peaceful times, the economy of the county is mainly agricultural (the 19th-century Rebecca Riots, in which local farmers and agricultural workers protested against higher tolls and taxes, started in Carmarthenshire), and its fertile farmland is known as ‘The Garden of Wales’. A more literal garden, the National Botanic Garden of Wales, opened in 2000.