It is a drive down the M4
Pan-fried seabass, rich lobster tails, and native oysters slurped straight from the shell, Wales is having an absolute moment when it comes to seafood.(Image: Rock & Scallop)
Just over an hour’s drive from Bristol, down the M4 into Wales, there is a hidden gem.
A tiny village by one of the country’s best beaches now has a stunning seafood pop-up, and a WalesOnline reporter had to give this a try.
This is what Portia Jones had to say about this new spot in Southerdown:
Pan-fried seabass, rich lobster tails, and native oysters slurped straight from the shell, Wales is having an absolute moment when it comes to seafood. The frothing clear waters of coastal Wales are home to a well-stocked seafood larder where you’ll find laver seaweed, lobster, crabs, prawns, and edible plants, and the Welsh fishing community is keen to keep the best of the haul for the local market.
That means restaurants, cafes, and innovative pop-ups can take advantage of our coastal bounty and serve showstopping seafood dishes piled high with Welsh lobster, crab, mussels, and scallops.
As a hungry writer, I’m always keen to try a seafood supper, especially one from an indie venture, so when I heard there was a seafood pop-up near one of Wales’ best beaches, I knew I had to get stuck in. I hopped in the car with my obliging husband and headed to Southerndown in the Vale of Glamorgan to see it for myself.
The Rock and Scallop is located in the outdoor area of the Three Golden Cups pub and campsite. It’s a laid-back maritime-themed shack where father-and-son duo Mathew and Cory Williams are making waves with their Instagrammable seafood platters.
Bring your appetite(Image: Portia Jones )
The Rock and Scallop started as a lockdown pivot. “We saw a gap in the market for beautifully presented seafood using quality British produce,” Mathew explains. What began as home deliveries of seafood platters around south Wales soon snowballed into a thriving business that utilises British produce where possible.
“Our commitment to quality and freshness has always been at the heart of what we do, explains the owner of Rock and Scallop, Mathew. “By sourcing from day boats off the Cornish and Welsh coasts, we ensured our customers received the freshest and highest quality seafood as quickly as possible.”
But this isn’t your average Welsh pop-up. Matthew brings serious credentials to the table. “I’ve worked in Wales’s top restaurants, even Michelin-starred ones,” he says. “Cooking great fish is an art and I love what I do.”
If this ethereal-looking beach looks familiar, it’s because you may have spotted it on the beloved BBC series Doctor Who(Image: South Wales Echo)
That artistry shows on every plate. The Seafood Mixed Grill is a massive feast of lobster prawns and half-shell scallops drenched in their signature “secret” garlic butter and served with crispy Parmesan-dusted chips.
There’s the Full Grilled Lobster Tail, sweet and smoky from the grill, paired with king prawns and more of that golden, garlicky butter. If you’ve got a ravenous appetite, go for the Sharing Platter, a blowout mix of lobster, giant prawns, scallops, steak, and chips.
Their popular seafood Boils are one of the standout menu options and are available to preorder. The Classic Seafood Boil includes king prawns, mussels, scallops, and spicy sausage, while the VIP version features lobster tails, crab, and huge prawns.
It’s served with corn on the cob, potatoes, and your choice of Louisiana Cajun or garlic butter sauce. It’s messy, delicious, and made for rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck right in.
This isn’t your average Welsh pop-up(Image: Rock & Scallop)
Even their surf and turf options have flair. From the VIP Surf and Turf, a juicy mix of grilled rump steak, white crab meat, lobster, and prawns with their ‘RandS secret sauce’ to the Classic Surf and Turf, a tried and tested combo of steak and juicy king prawns.
Even the sides aren’t an afterthought. Salt and chilli squid, halloumi with chilli jam, and truffle parmesan chips round things out.
After some initial option paralysis, we adopted a partly wine-filled attitude of ‘go big or go home’ and ordered the Sharing Platter, £65 worth of seafood excess and a side of salt and chilli squid.
Now, I appreciate that in a cost-of-living crisis, this seems a bit spicy, but you have to remember that this platter is for two, making it cost roughly the same as a restaurant main each. When you also consider that the bougie cafes in hipster stronghold Pontcanna want £15 for avocado on toast, it doesn’t seem half bad.
It’s also very filling. Served takeaway style in a giant foil tray, the platter certainly looks achievable until you realise there’s a layer of sauce-drenched chips under the coastal haul. I was grateful to be wearing stretchy pants for this one.
Our lobster tails were sweet and succulent with a subtle ocean flavour, not the rubbery afterthought you sometimes get at lesser seafood spots. Scallops were soft, clean, and perfect, like they had been lovingly poached in silk.
Whole prawns were obscene in size and required extensive shelling to get to that sweet, briny meat. Thanks again to my ever-patient husband, who took on the heroic task of squeezing and twisting those tasty crustaceans out with his bare hands. If you’ve got a hotter look than a man drenched in prawn juice and still smiling, I don’t want to see it.
The Seafood Mixed Grill is a massive feast of lobster prawns and half-shell scallops drenched in their signature “secret” garlic butter and served with crispy Parmesan-dusted chips.(Image: Portia Jones )
But the chips. Oh god, the chips. They sat at the bottom of the platter, soaking up the garlic butter, the seafood juices, and the secret sauce, and somehow, somehow, remaining crispy. Crisp and moist at the same time. It shouldn’t be possible. It’s a structural integrity miracle. Someone should alert NASA.
They were some of the best chips I’ve ever eaten, and I say that as someone who spent most of her early twenties at Dorothy’s Fish Bar at 3am, clutching a tray of post-club chips while trying to negotiate with uncoperative cabbies.
Honestly, these superior chips would wipe the floor with Dorothy’s. They were soaked in buttery shellfish runoff and still held it together like little fried stoics. If you think I’m being dramatic, you haven’t eaten them
Then there’s the sauce, or should I say, the sauce. The secret Rock and Scallop butter gets slathered on the fresh seafood and elevates it to a god tier.
“Our Rock and Scallop secret sauce, you need to try it,” Mathew told me. “Just years of experience and understanding what works well with shellfish.”
It turns out its creation was an accidental accident. “It was made in error,” Mathew says. Upon tasting it, son Corey’s famous words were, at the age of 12- ‘Dad, you have to try this, it’s class. Best thing I’ve tasted.’ We added prawns, crab, lobster meat, lemon and the rest is history.’
If you’re wondering how the sauce is made, it’s a family secret. You’ll just have to come and try for yourself and attempt to reverse engineer.
My only real gripe with our meal was that the chilli prawns weren’t spicy enough. I’m a proper spice girlie (Emma B, thanks for asking), so I want food with heat that will leave half my face numb. Taste-wise, they were sweet and tangy, but I would have loved some fire.
Along with exceptional eats, the setting is perfect for a coastal feast. You can sit in the sun-soaked beer garden at the Three Golden Cups or take your seafood to eat on the shoreline of one of Wales’ best beaches – Dunraven (also known as Southerndown beach).
You can eat in the beer garden(Image: Portia Jones )
This secluded, fossil-rich beach in Southerndown is packed with rock pools and geological wonders. It was designated part of the Heritage Coast in 1972.
The Times’ annual Best UK Beaches guide for 2025 ranked it among the best in the UK and rated it for its “millefeuille of carboniferous limestone and blue lias – layers of limestone and shale – overhanging a beach paved flatter than your patio.”
There’s something about eating fresh seafood by the sea that just makes sense. No shiny white tablecloths, no hushed lighting, just the rhythmic sound of the ocean, sauce on your fingers, and the low-key thrill of defending your chips from greedy seagulls.
It’s casual, unfussy, and completely rooted in place. And that’s exactly the point. Rock and Scallop isn’t trying to be fancy. It’s trying to be good. A pop-up like this works because it’s delivering great eats in a chilled-out coastal setting.
Nowadays, Mathew also prefers the relaxed rhythm of pop-up life. “I think lockdown gave people the push to follow their dreams. These smaller, more agile setups just make sense, less overhead, less hassle. It’s the way forward.”
That’s not to say he doesn’t have concerns. “It’s heartbreaking to see so many great restaurants closing,” he adds. “The industry is struggling, and I think this model, more personal, more direct, is part of the solution.”
Rather than trying to negotiate a table on a Friday night, it’s a more casual turn-up-and-order operation that makes you wonder why more people aren’t doing it.
Pop-ups like Rock and Scallop make a lot of sense here, low overheads, loyal customers, and an astounding beach just a short stroll away.
This is the dream for foodie entrepreneurs chasing a simpler life or chefs fed up with eye-watering rents and stressful dining rooms, and I would love to see more of it in Wales.