The Quiet Knowledge of Autumn at Annwn.
It has been a very long time since we last released a journal entry. From the moment we opened Annwn there hasn’t been a day that has allowed me time to get anywhere near to sitting down and writing anything.
Ceps Emerging on the banks of a stream - A true early autumn spectacle.
The Dining room at Annwn, sticking to the Welsh Vernacular design. Welsh slate floor and tables made from local wood. The backs of the chairs draped with local Jacobs Sheep blankets.
Theres always plenty of leeks in the garden.
The rhythm of the seasons carry’s us on, and only now, as autumn begins to show itself, does it feel the right moment to pause and share our journey this far.
Looking back, it’s striking how far Annwn has come since we first opened, and especially since our relocation to Narberth. In the beginning, perhaps I tried too hard to be creative, pushing to prove what could be done.
Over time, the food has settled, becoming more grounded, more polished closer to the essence of what I always wanted it to be. Annwn is finding its feet.
As most of you will know that along the way, we have been humbled to receive recognition that still feels almost surreal.
A place in the Michelin Guide and the award of a Michelin Green Star for sustainability. Inclusion in the Good Food Guide’s “Top 20 Most Exciting Restaurants”, although back three years ago this has been a real highlight for us, to get that recognition in just a few months still feels amazing. Praise from Restaurant magazines top 100 and other national guides again in such a short space of time is mind blowing. Not forgetting our original score of 90/100 on La Liste just five months after opening!
Each accolade is an honor but more than that, they affirm that staying true to the land, to the seasons, and to a sense of place resonates far beyond our own kitchen.
The most important thing to us though are the reviews we have received online from guests who have joined us, this means more than you will ever know. Thank you everyone!
We realize that it takes a big step for guests to join us as it is a long evening and you have to have a bit of an open minded approach to what a restaurant like Annwn is.
Its important to me that we keep asking questions and keep looking for answers and to not give up that approach.
Life without chasing knowledge and not searching for questions and answers would be very boring indeed.
Gathering Seaweeds on clear early autumn day.
Where Annwn Begins
Most days I am in the kitchen, but the food at Annwn doesn’t begin there.
It begins in the woods, along the shoreline, and in the quiet spaces of Pembrokeshire where plants, seaweeds, and wild herbs quietly grow.
It also begins in the soil we tend to ourselves, vegetables lifted fresh from the cool early autumn ground, their earthiness carrying the truth of the season straight to the plate.
To step outside, even briefly, is to reconnect with what first drew me to this path. To step back, to look and to learn. These walks and harvests are as much about knowledge as they are about gathering. The more I return, the more I understand and the more I see how much there is still to discover.
Carrots - Freshly picked.
Menus Written by Season
This is what Annwn is built on. Menus here are not always fixed or planned that far ahead. They can emerge naturally, shaped by what is happening in the moment.
A sudden flush of mushrooms, a flower that blooms for only a week, the first frost will soon tighten the soil, a shift in the weather, each leaves its imprint on the food. What you taste at Annwn is the outcome of an ongoing conversation with the landscape.
A Layered Landscape
Walking along the banks of the Cleddau on an overcast midsummer day.
Pentre Ifan - An ancient burial chamber and said location of just one entrance to Annwn.
Landshipping - Pembrokeshire - Wales
Pembrokeshire itself is layered. The Landsker Line runs across the county, an old meeting point of cultures, languages, and traditions that have shaped this place for centuries.
North and south, Welsh, English, Norse, Flemish, Irish and Norman, ancient ways and newer influences, this borderland has always been a place of exchange. In its own way, Annwn carries that story forward. It too is a meeting place: between wild and cultivated, old knowledge and new technique, memory and innovation.
Foraging into October can be extremely rewarding and Pembrokeshire becomes even more wonderful in the Autumn.
More Than Dining
Annwn is not simply about dining. To eat here is also to learn, to carry something with you.
Foraging, harvesting, and cooking with the seasons are skills that once shaped everyday life in Wales. They are quiet traditions, easily overlooked, yet deeply grounding.
When guests leave, we hope they take more than the memory of flavor. We hope they carry with them an understanding of the land that produced it, and perhaps even a sense of hiraeth, that longing connection to place which grows deeper the more we pay attention to it.
Gorsedd Arberth - Ar Perth
Bara Planc - Traditionally cooked on the bake-stone.
Bara Planc - A Welsh staple that is rarely seen these days. We make this bread from Bio-dynamic Rye flour and the Hen Gymro wheat flour. The yeast culture or Leaven I use for this bread is extremely old, well over 50 years we believe, given to me by a close friend at least 15 years ago. Its only fair that I should name the yeast Arawn.
I am not aware of anybody serving a traditional Welsh bread in any restaurant in Wales at this time?
Reinventing Welsh cuisine - Preseli hills Lamb shoulder cooked in Preseli hills Honey. Spring 2025, this photo was taken by Leia Morrison as part of a toast magazine article.
Salt-marsh Plants - Spring 2025, this photo was taken by Leia Morrison as part of a toast magazine article.
Food for Thought
In an ever-changing world, where so much feels uncertain, these skills and this knowledge endure. They root us. They remind us who we are and where we come from.
Annwn offers not only food for the body but also food for thought, the kind of nourishment that lingers long after the table is cleared.
Come and Join us….Get in touch - info@annwnrestaurant.co.uk
Diolch yn fawr - Matt and Naomi.