Bites: Flavours of Wales

Good Welsh bites aren't that rare, so enjoy the best of Wales this St David's Day

Bricklayers Arms, Chirbury Road, Montgomery, Powys (01686 668177)

Just over the border but so committed to Welsh produce that it won a Taste of Wales award last year, joining the Good Food Guide's stamp of approval. Even the flour for home-made pasta and bread is milled nearby. Glowing reports and a matching fierily painted bar and first floor beamed restaurant. Take it as read that the origins of venison and juniper sausage with leek mash, and free range pork belly with fennel and Angelsea sea salt are as local as can be.

Carlton House, Dolycoed Road, Llanwyrtyd Wells, Powys (01591 610248)

The most retiring of Wales's star-spangled elite, this townhouse dining room is treasured. Mary Ann Gilchrist's short and deceptively simple menu is underpinned by the best Welsh ingredients, including all the meat and cheeses. For £35 or so, three courses might include Camarthen ham (air dried, like Parma) with celeriac remoulade; Welsh beef with seared foie gras, morel and Madeira jus, and warm chocolate fondant.

Penhelig Arms, Terrace Road, Aberdyfi, Gwyneth (01654 767215)

Why get fish from anywhere else when you're right on the Dyfi estuary? Expect the freshest wild seabass, crabs, mullet and mackerel at this stylish inn. Cooking has a traditional backbone and everything that can be sourced locally is: goat's cheese with roast peppers; lamb shanks braised with winter veg; Welsh Black sirloin with bearnaise. Cheeses are Welsh, except for Montgomery's Cheddar from Somerset.

Pharmacy, 150 Notting Hill Gate, London W8 (020-7221 2442)

An unexpected champion of Welsh produce. But once you learn the talented chef is called Hwyel Jones it's less odd to find the Damien Hirst pharmaceutically inspired restaurant has a St David's Day menu running from today for a week. On this £27 three-course menu: leek terrine with crab, sewin (sea trout) with Menai oysters, cockles and laverbread; Brecon venison with Black Mountain liqueur, with bara brith ice cream and Welsh cheeses.