A Taste Pilgrimage to Wales

Inspired by a humble yet legendary hostelry-hotel and watering hole of the same name in Patagonia, the Touring Club in Penarth, near Cardiff in Wales is a crafted dining spot and bar created by a maverick group of friends set on a relaxed, honest epicurean experience. 

Already commended by Michelin with a Bib Gourmand and recognised by Conde Nast Traveller as one of the UK’s top new restaurants, its simple, unaffected and honest vibe is providing a panacea to locals and the visiting cool crowd.

Sociable, slick, a nod of nostalgia and adherence to the less-is-more principle, the owners of The Touring Club are a band of fellow Welshmen including Dylan Griffith (Smörgåsbord Design Studio), Rowan Hobbs and Grant Maunder (The Brecon Hotel, Adelboden, Switzerland) together with Chef Bryn Williams, (formerly Chef Patron of Odette’s in Primrose Hill, London). The Touring Club is as much a story about a creative collaboration as it is about providing an easy-go casual dining experience in stylish surroundings that has a simple ethos that works.

Its brilliance lies partly in the uncomplicated food and drink menu – appealing to those who like a craft beer or cocktail accompanied by delicious bites in a more informal setting. The cocktail menu is sprightly and enticing with Aperol Sours and Gin Basil Smashes, while locally brewed IPA beer and gin provide a flavour of the environ. The small plates prepared in an open kitchen are an appetising small-scale mix of local oysters, crab on toast, Welsh rarebit, scallops and a lamb chop trio, designed to be consumed either at the bar or the shared first-floor dining table.

Its interior design, however, although intended to create a pure, elementary aesthetic, is, in fact, a carefully curated, comfy combo of local craft, worldly input, designer touchpoints and more whimsical objects of interest. The eye is drawn to the bar, where pleasingly curved D-tiles from the Netherlands sculpt the drinking spot. Tactile and eco-friendly stools are made from cork, designed by Skram in the US, while the Douglas Fir table and benches are from Danish brand Dinesen. Another aspect of the communal design is the clever front window that pivots open to form a 90° canopy, allowing punters to sit both inside and outside, chatting to each other over a beer, oysters and wines.

Homegrown talent and craft come in the form of the unique Welsh Stick Chair, designed by Smörgåsbord and made exclusively by hand by Welsh craftsman Chris Williams using traditional hand tools and a design that harks back to the 13^th century. Bespoke plates and cups made by local artist Andréa Anderson come in earthy and burnt orange hues that colour match and complement the enamelled cast iron Le Creuset pans in the open kitchen. Look to the hand-painted Grivel ice axes, which bring you right back to the original inspiration – that off-grid hotel in Patagonia…

One to add to your little black book of insider places for pilgrims of taste, The Touring Club is a sweet-style hotspot that packs a punch for your palette. It is set to hit the road from its Penarth base, spreading the ethos of good friends meeting, drinking, chatting, and dining.