Photography: Will Barker
Cardiff claims to be Wales’ culinary capital, and now it’s got a Michelin-star restaurant to prove it. Chef Tom Waters’ modern Welsh dining spot, Gorse, made history this month when it was awarded the coveted accolade, making it the city’s first-ever Michelin-starred restaurant.
‘The idea was to put the best of Welsh produce on a plate,’ Waters told the BBC after his win. ‘We work with Welsh growers, farmers, artisans, just a lot of local people,’ he said.
Located in the suburb of Pontcanna, the tiny Cardiff restaurant seats just 22 people and is the ultimate, intimate dining experience. The building was formerly a coffee shop and store and has been turned into a contemporary dining room by Welsh studio Kärna Design, with Waters’ open kitchen providing the focal point for the action.
Gorse’s menu celebrates seasonal, locally sourced ingredients, and this celebration of Welshness spills over into the restaurant’s simple, restrained interiors. The intimate space has white-washed walls and is hung with textured plaster casts of flowers harvested from the Gower peninsula by Kate Bowen, alongside works by Sera Wyn Evans. Crockery is made by local ceramicists Matt Jones, Anwen Pegrum, George Akerman, and Sian Reese-Williams.
Wooden tables and chairs add to the restaurant’s organic feel, while green tiling adds a flash of colour and nods to Wales’ verdant landscape.
Gorse offers four, seven or ten-course menus, with each dish rooted in Welsh flavours and heritage. Example dishes include native Welsh seaweed broth, roasted monkfish with mussels, lovage and spruce vinegar, Breconshire fallow deer with roasted celeriac and pickled elderberry, and preserved wild mushrooms.
