{"id":586044,"date":"2025-11-22T04:19:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T04:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/586044\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T04:19:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T04:19:22","slug":"one-of-wales-best-pubs-has-a-sunday-lunch-unlike-any-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/586044\/","title":{"rendered":"One of Wales’ best pubs has a Sunday lunch unlike any other"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don’t go here expecting your average boiled veg\"VichyVichy carrots (Image: Kathryn Williams)<\/p>\n

I’ll never ever get sick of a Sunday dinner. I don’t know whether it’s partly to do with nostalgia, the communal experience, or simply just the fact I love succulent roast meats with tonnes of gravy and a Yorkshire pudding bursting at the seams.<\/p>\n

Spending time with your family around a big table filled with food isn’t an unusual occurrence but I reckon it happens way less that it should these days. I was fortunate enough to do that this past weekend on a birthday trip down to Pembrokeshire.<\/p>\n

En route home I booked us into one of Wales’ most impressively and swiftly popular places to eat. Inn at the Sticks is a long-established pub and i’ve visited many times over the years. But since new(ish) owners Teej Down and Tracy Jenkins<\/a> took over the 18th-century inn I’ve not had the opportunity to try out their award-winning fare.<\/p>\n

This was about to change. The kick up my backside came when the Sticks was named as one of the UK’s best pubs in the Good Food Guide’s top 100<\/a>. The same guide has also given them the accolade of best local restaurant too<\/a>. Let’s just say they’re renowned for being bloody excellent at what they do and I needed a piece of it.<\/p>\n

Our booking landed on a Sunday, much to my brother’s chagrin, as he, unlike me, does not go apopleptic over a roast dinner. But I knew the menu at Inn at the Sticks would be a turn up for the books, even on a Sunday, as they don’t subscribe to menu norms and I am glad of it.<\/p>\n

I know where to go for an excellent ‘traditional’ Sunday dinner (you can read about that here as it goes).<\/a> But with the recent reputation of the Sticks and choosiness in the party I knew we’d get a Sunday lunch with a difference. From superstar gigs to cosy pubs,find out What\u2019s On in Wales by signing up to our newsletter here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wasn’t wrong. The standard menu features dishes like ham hock and chicken thigh Wellington as well as pork belly with egg noodles and Aligot \u2013 a potato dish that was fancy cheesy mash but so much more.<\/p>\n

Then we were confronted with the giant specials board and that’s when our eyes really lit up. Braised venison, hispi cabbage, enchanted woodland mushrooms, and the Sticks’ Sunday platter of braised pulled brisket with baby Yorkshires.<\/p>\n

\"AThe massive specials menu(Image: Kathryn Williams)<\/p>\n

Inn at the Sticks’ menu is created to encourage a communal way of eating, sharing the small plates, and we were advised to pick two dishes each \u2013 but of course we went a bit wild as we were sucked in by the intriguing and delicious-sounding combos. In our party there were four adults and one child who will eat just about anything, including what I am about to list.<\/p>\n

We ended up settling on:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leek terrine with potato, chicken stock, and black caviar veloute (\u00a315); boquerones with garlic parsley pesto, pickled veg, and pickled mussels (\u00a315); hispi cabbage with a chipotle emulsion on tahini butter (\u00a312.95); mussels in a gochujang, black garlic, miso, and cider sauce (\u00a315); the Sunday platter(\u00a320).<\/p>\n

From the regular menu we picked Vichy carrots on a bed of whipped feta, topped with almond and chilli crumb and drizzled in honey, and the Aligot \u2013 a cheesy mash potato nest filled with roasted squash, pumpkin seeds and parmesan. Both were \u00a312.95.<\/p>\n

\"AThe brisket was out of this world<\/p>\n

It sounds a lot and it was. But it was enough for the five of us with some to spare \u2013 but of course that got finished off because we don’t waste food in our house and especially not food of this calibre. If the price of small plates is a problem for you then maybe you shouldn’t go eat at restaurants that serve small plates. But I would, in all honesty, put your faith in both the quality of ingredients, which punches above its weight on every dish, and the skill and creativeness of this kitchen team.<\/p>\n

Let me address next the flavours. Yes, there’s a mix of different spices, sauces, and flavour palates mixed in there but it did not really matter. Each dish stood its own and you could eat each one how you wanted whether that was pile them all on the plate together or pair obvious stablemates like the brisket, carrots, and potatoes.<\/p>\n

Aligot potatoes<\/p>\n

Anyway, you’re not here to read about plate logistics. What did the food taste like? Well, it was immense. Cleverly created and assembled withingredients paired fantastically.<\/p>\n

The Sunday platter was exemplary. The shredded meat sat juicily in its gravy bath, its flavour and execution perfect. The diddy Yorkshires went down a treat \u2013 especially when double dunked in the meat and horseradish sauce.<\/p>\n

While that \u2013 with the crunchy carrots plus absolutely stunning Aligot potato nest (dreamy and creamy with a perfect crunch of squash and seeds on top) \u2013 covered a somewhat more tradtional end of Sunday lunch our other choices elevated the meal into something else.<\/p>\n

The leek dish felt warm and comforting and despite the thick veloute the fresh taste and texture of the veg was not compromised. Meanwhile the hispi cabbage was nice but while I hoped it would arrive a little crispier the freshness of said cabbage shone through and was given a lovely spice thanks to the chipotle emulsion.<\/p>\n

\"AHispi cabbage with chipotle emulsion<\/p>\n

The standout for me, and the rest of the group was the mussels dish. The broth was divine. Trendy Korean flavour gochujung added a robust depth to the broth with the cider and miso it just all worked. Even so the subtleties of the broth’s flavour notes did not overpower the mussels.<\/p>\n

\"LemonLemon cheesecake with a biscuit base for the ages<\/p>\n

For afters we had a deconstructed lemon cheesecake which, for me, was fairly well-consctructed and absolutely lush. Crunchy, buttery biscuit matched with a gooey, lemon curd and topped with a homemade meringue. A classic dessert but a classic for a reason. Delicious.<\/p>\n

I loved the mix and match of small plates, worldly flavours, cooking styles and daring and creative dishes. I definitely thought that a sweet and spicy Korean sauce plus miso plus cider would be too bus, but it was amazing. The fact that there’s a Sunday-roast-esque option there too is pleasing and especially presented and cooked so wonderfully.<\/p>\n

Like I said I love a Sunday dinner but part of the reason why is it brings a whole table together and that’s exactly what Inn at the Sticks have done here with their vast but ever-so-well-executed menu and quality ingredients. Dishes that elicit wonder, a back and forth of plates and thoughts and, best of all, enjoyment.<\/p>\n

You can find Inn at the Sticks in High Street, Llansteffan, Carmarthen, SA33 5JG.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Don’t go here expecting your average boiled vegVichy carrots (Image: Kathryn Williams) I’ll never ever get sick of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,1146,786,4884,1889,19336,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-586044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-carmarthenshire","10":"tag-food-and-drink","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-pubs","13":"tag-restaurant-reviews","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115591431552322137","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}