A Cardiff restaurant and Welsh food tour have partnered up to offer an immersive evening filled with music, poetry and traditional local dishes.
As the doors open, customers are immersed in an open room filled with the aroma of freshly cooked food. The evening begins with a welcoming from the host, Ieuan Rhys, who greets guests with a light-hearted speech full of humour and Welsh banter.
The Welsh House can be found on the bustling high street of Cardiff’s City Centre. Collaborating with ‘Loving Welsh Food’ to deliver an exclusive, carefully picked three-course menu, the restaurant guides customers through the history of Wales with traditional dishes and homegrown produce.
The restaurant has become home to an evening offering a unique combination of dining and performance over the next month. The opening night of the event, named ‘Taste of Wales,’ welcomed customers from across the globe, spreading the Welsh culture overseas with traditional and contemporary song and poetry and even hosting a Penderyn Limerick competition.
Ieuan Rhys, performer and guide at Loving Welsh Food, said, “Events like this are important as our culture is a window to our identity. For years, people abroad have known about Scotland and Ireland, and England, of course, but seem to know very little about Wales. So, an evening like our ‘Taste of Wales’ in a way educates people about our culture, and food, in a fun way”.
The menu starts with a savoury Welsh Cake served with a small tub of Wales’ own Shirgar butter. The combination of Leek and cheese gives a melt-in-the-mouth taste, leaving guests craving more. Mixed with the saltiness of the butter, this starter is just the gateway to a menu full of Welsh delights.
The food that follows allows guests to choose from The Welsh House Shepherd’s Pie and seasonal vegetables or traditional lamb Cawl topped with Welsh Cheddar. The food offers a sensory experience of Wales, quite literally providing ‘a taste of Wales’.
All workers, including waiters and waitresses, can speak Welsh fluently, introducing guests to the culture of Wales provided by an authentically Welsh team. The ode to the Welsh language does not stop here, as customers are entertained by professional performers in between courses reading poetry and delivering traditional songs, mostly in this unfamiliar language.
Ieuan Rhys said, “It’s so important to highlight the Welsh language in our evenings. Again, lots of people don’t know that we have our own language. There is a saying in Welsh “Cenedl heb iaith- Cenedl heb galon” meaning a nation without a language is a language without a heart. We introduce our guests to our language through song and poetry, again in a fun and entertaining way. Our language makes us different to other UK countries, and our guests are amazed that 29% of us still speak one of the oldest living languages in Europe.”
Loving Welsh Food is a company started by Sian Roberts. It offers food tours around independent restaurants to introduce locals and visitors to Welsh Cuisine. Her passion for food has run throughout her career, and she has created a two-DVD Welsh and English language food and cooking series.
Sian Roberts said, “I knew there was a place in the market for something like this. I created the DVD, but it didn’t sell very well, although when I asked why, it turns out they’d placed the DVD behind some books, but that’s another story. So, I wanted to try something new. There aren’t many places in Cardiff offering solely Welsh food, and so the Welsh House works really well for us.”
In addition to the focus on food and Welsh delicacies, the performers hired are professionally trained, mostly in Cardiff itself. Rhianna and Gareth give melodic versions of traditional Welsh songs and even Shirley Bassey renditions. The melodic ode to Wales, also known as the land of song, is a true representation of Welsh culture.
“Sian runs a company called Loving Welsh Food and has been promoting Welsh produce for years. She organizes food tours around Cardiff, and when I’m not acting, I guide these tours. During the pandemic, we couldn’t do anything, so we set up a ‘Poems & Pints’ evening on Zoom. Once the pandemic was over, we decided to carry on with the evenings in front of a live audience. The Welsh House produces a menu with Welsh produce, so it’s a chance for us to promote this along with our culture.”