The Hardwick in Abergavenny is one of Monmouthshire’s most lauded restaurants; indeed one of the best in Wales. Run by owner and head chef Stephen Terry, the gastropub-restaurant offers modern British dishes (with a distinct Mediterranean influence) using high quality local produce.
We recently celebrated my birthday here during a lovely weekend of house-hunting in the local area.
Inside a traditional pub setting guests enjoy Terry’s refined menu without the over-the-top white linen table cloths and silver service that can get in the way of a down-to-earth experience.
‘Panzanella salad with Amanda Stradling’s award winning organic heritage tomatoes and Homewood Halloumi’ (£13) is a beautifully dressed salad of tomatoes, leaves and bread, topped with a generous and beautifully fried slice of halloumi.
‘Fried pork meatloaf on toast with pickled jalapenos, creme fraiche, Swiss cheese, mustard and a cheeky fried egg’ (£10) are moist and full of flavour.
‘Breadcrumbed pork belly and black pudding, pickled white cabbage and apple and mustard sauce’ (£11) is not as moist inside as I’d hoped, but with a lovely gentle savouriness of flavour, and lovely with the apple mustard sauce.
‘Chargrilled free-range chicken breast wtih sage and parsley pesto, savoury granola, roast Crown Prince squash, Butternut squash puree, rainbow chard and Bristol made Feta cheese’ (£24) is superb. Moist, full-flavoured chicken with a delicious pesto, and the two squashes full of flavour and cooked to perfection, the whole dish lifted by the fresh Feta and crunchy granola.
‘Croquette of braised shin of beef, ox-tail and ox-tongue with heritage kale, roast and pureed celeriac, heritage carrots and red wine sauce’ (£24) are outrageously tender, intensely beefy blocks, perfect with the simple vegetables and rich sauce.
‘Pan fried Cornish mackerel fillets with whole salt baked beetroot, cavolo nero, deep fried crushed new potatoes, smoked eel and whipped horseradish cream’ (£26) is a fish-lover’s feast, with three generous mackerel fillets, perfectly cooked for crisp skin and meltingly soft flesh, and so good with the cubes of smoked eel and the fantastic horseradish cream. All the sides are good, with the deep-fried potatoes winning first prize.
‘Chocolate mousse, honeycomb and Pembrokeshire sea salt caramel sauce’ (£9) is even more decadent than it looks, a sweet-toothed feast of silky chocolate mousse, crunchy honeycomb and thick, sticky caramel sauce.
‘Poached conference pear in red wine with rice pudding and toasted almonds’ (£8) is so beautifully balanced it almost makes me cry! The pears are just right, that Goldilocks point between too hard and too soft, and the rice pudding is blissfully rich, but with just a hint of sugar, to contrast with the much sweeter pears. The crunch of toasted almonds is the perfect garnish.
My friend orders a modest dessert of a single ‘Scoop of Gower Gottage brownie and malted milk ice cream’ (£3) and is so enamoured with the flavour and texture that she orders a second scoop straight after!
Certainly, The Hardwick is an expensive restaurant, especially with wine on top. But the quality of ingredients, and the skilled cooking, make it a very worthwhile treat, and a great place to celebrate a special occasion.
Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!26 Comments to "Dinner at The Hardwick in Abergavenny"
This looks my kind of meal, Kavey! And your photos and descriptions are making me ravenous..
Thanks Aaron, glad my descriptions give a good sense of the meal!
Such interesting combinations of flavours in every dish! The chicken plate seems definitely the one I’d be ordering, there is nothing in there that I do not adore. And the sage and parsley pesto intrigues me a lot!
Yes, it was a beautiful dish. The menu changes very regularly, and is very seasonal, so there will always be different dishes to try.
Oh my, I knew it was a good idea to open this post so late at night when I don’t have any food near me… But it was worth it! All of those dishes look absolutely amazing! It sure seems like one of the finest restaurants in Wales.
It’s a very successful and popular restaurant, I can totally see why. Definitely worth visiting for a treat if you are visiting Wales.
All the dishes look so yummy. I have been longing for some good chocolate mousse for quite some time. And I think I find have found the right place to order it. I am sure that dessert must be a treat with the honeycomb and the caramel sauce. Quite innovative! I think I will order that chicken dish too. Seems like all my favorite ingredients are in it.
Everything we had was really good, and lots of choice on the menu so you would easily find dishes that appeal.
Belated birthday wishes!
The food looks incredible – every single dish! Glad you had a nice birthday meal. 🙂
Thanks, our visit was a couple of months back, but I had a queue of content to publish so the review has posted a little late! But thanks for the wishes, much appreciated!
All of the food looks delicious, not something you typically expect from pub food so it’s well worth a visit. I can imagine this gets booked up with advanced bookings. I am a sucker for pork belly so I would probably choose that if I visited.
It’s definitely more upscale, one of the better known gastropubs of the area!
The chargrilled chicken with the sage and parsley pesto sounds and looks superb! If I am ever able to travel to your area, I will certainly be making a stop there!
I agree with you, that chicken is making me drool and hungry. It looks like they cooked it well and juicy.
She did a good recommendation!
We are not from this area, but were visiting friends who live there. That said, we are hoping to move there soon, which would be a huge move from our current London lives!
That chicken dish was excellent!
The Hardwick looks like a great place to eat! I am traveling to the UK next spring again and will keep this place in mind when we swing through Wales. The pork fried meatloaf sounds especially delicious to me. It looks like most dishes are also very affordable!
It’s one of the best gastropubs of the region, so definitely worth a visit.
LOL this is not the Abergavenny I remember of my childhood! The food does look amazing – you are right it isn’t cheap, but from your description that might be down to the provenance?
That would be my guess, yes. Good quality ingredients, definitely.
Belated birthday.
Some restaurants offer great food. Here too, everything seems to be prepared with lots of passion. The quality of ingredients is visible. That is why it all looks so good and tasted nice.
Thank you, and yes, great quality ingredients, for sure!
Oh wow I am super hungry< now. O never visited Abergavenny, but it is definitely on my list now… even if just for the food. The Panzanella salad is my absolute favorite here.
It’s a great region to visit, and Abergavenny also hosts an amazing food festival every year.
This restaurant seems like my kind of place. I am not a big fan of British cuisine but modern British dishes with a distinct Mediterranean influence using high-quality local produce is too hard to resist. I’ll definitely like to try this.
British food is definitely not bland, though it has that reputation, it’s mostly from a poor period after the austerity of WW2. These days, much of British food is like this, it’s British but with influences and ingredients from around the world!
This totally looks my kind of meal . Your pictures are amazing. The food and the presentation looks so good . Thanks for sharing this wonderful place with us