Welsh restaurants—how to read the menu

Bara brith (speckled bread): a fruit bread, sometimes made by Welsh restaurants using tea as an ingredient. Spread with butter, it's delightful at tea time.

Bara lawr (laver bread): as traditional as it comes, and compulsory in any Welsh restaurant. This shiny black delicacy is made from laver, a uniquely healthy, single-cell deep seaweed, which it has been claimed can eliminate radiation.

Cawl (Welsh broth): at the heart of any St David's Day celebration, cawl is often considered to be the national dish of Wales and a Welsh restaurant must. Originally made in a cauldron, this soupy stew features Welsh lamb, various root vegetables and leeks, all of course sourced locally by good Welsh restaurants.

Cawl cennin (leek broth): another national treasure and Welsh restaurant fixture. This version majors on the Welsh emblem, the leek, with the assistance of bacon.

Caws-wedi-pobi (Welsh rarebit): one of the best-loved savouries of all time, a concoction of melted cheese, mustard and milk or ale on a chunk of toast. Might not actually be a Welsh restaurant creation, but has been thoroughly adopted as a national dish.

Crempog (Welsh pancakes): plump, stackable pancakes, made with buttermilk. A hearty Welsh restaurant dessert, suspected to have given crumpets their name.

Ffagodau (faggots): yes, it looks like Welsh restaurants may have had a hand in giving the world faggots, or ffagodau, meaning "a mixture". These meatballs combine off cuts of pork, often liver or heart, with onions and breadcrumbs. Traditionally, a handy miner's lunch, and easy to come by as there would usually be a pig around to butcher.

Oen Cymreig melog (honeyed Welsh lamb): lamb basted in honey and roasted in cider, this is the Welsh restaurant answer to the perfect Sunday lunch and the classic vehicle for fresh mint sauce!

Pastai gocos (cockle pie): the world-famous cockles of the Gower go into this double-crusted, seafood pie with a handful of spring onions. Served hot in Welsh restaurants with new potatoes.

Something to drink?
To wash it all down, how about a nice glass of Gwin eirin duon (damson port) from your Welsh restaurant wine list?

Before you get stuck in...
You might want to say grace. As you'll be in a Welsh restaurant, you'll be saying it in Welsh, of course! All together now: "O Dad, yn deulu dedwydd Y deuwn, a diolch o 'r newydd, Can's o 'th law y daw bob dydd Ein lluniaeth a'n llawenydd. Amen."