Time Out has named 13 Welsh restaurants among the top 2% of eateries in the UK in its 2026 edition of The Top 2% – A Guide to the 200 best restaurants in the UK. The venues span from Cardiff to Anglesey, including Betws-y-Coed and Eglwys Fach.
The guide notes that Wales has "a whole lot more to offer" than Welsh cakes and rarebit, citing an "abundance of locally sourced produce and a culture of experimental chefs."
Compilation and Notable Entries
Compiled by Time Out, the guide includes familiar names, Michelin star holders, and lesser-known venues. The team said they "travelled the country, booked tables, ordered meticulously, and eaten exceptionally well to bring together the 200 restaurants we think deserve your attention – and, of course, your cold, hard cash."
Among the featured is Ynyshir in Eglwys Fach, Wales' only two-Michelin-star restaurant, which TV chef James Martin has called the "best place to eat in the world." Its menu costs £450 (plus VAT), and Time Out describes it as a "riotous restaurant [that] might be the most fun there is to be had in a fine-dining setting." Ynyshir and Anglesey's Sosban and the Old Butchers, housed in a former butchers shop, were recently named in La Liste's Top 1,000 Restaurants for 2026.
Cardiff and Beyond
Cardiff's only Michelin-starred restaurant, Gorse, described as "wildly delicious," and its Pontcanna neighbours Thomas and Heaneys also made the list. Cult ramen spot Matsudai, a favourite of Jay Rayner, and neighbourhood brunch spot Milkwood were included as well.
Time Out's best gastropub in Wales, The Black Bear in Bettws Newydd, was praised as a "charmingly rustic but smart, rural gastropub." Chef/owner Joshua Byrne recently discussed selling the business.
Full List of Welsh Restaurants
The complete Welsh entries are: Asador 44 (Cardiff), Daffodil (Cardiff), Gorse (Cardiff), Heaneys (Cardiff), Matsudai Ramen (Cardiff), Milkwood (Cardiff), Olif (Betws-y-Coed), Purple Poppadom (Cardiff), Stella Italia (Cardiff), Sosban & the Old Butcher's (Anglesey), The Black Bear Inn (Bettws Newydd), Thomas (Cardiff), and Ynyshir (Eglwys Fach).
