The best restaurants serving Other cuisines food in St. Arvans Monmouthshire South Wales

As a regular visitor to this jewel of a cafe the service (as always) today was fabulous, hot drinks made to the strength you like and always fresh cakes and treats. But what makes this place is the staff, always super friendly and nothing is too much trouble. Special mention today to Angharad who was very attentive and kept my tea topped up. Great to catch up with all the family

As a nostalgic nod to previous hiking trips with buddies past we decided to abandon Symonds Yat for the day and travel to Tintern to take in the Wye Valley Greenway and “earn” a pub lunch to boot. Familiar tactic to tire the dogs so they were well behaved in yet another dog/vegan-friendly hostelry. We parked up mid-morning in The Anchor car park which vies with the Abbey car park nearby for passing traffic. There’s a £5 all day charge which, conveniently for us at least, is refunded against your expenditure in the pub. We chose to walk across the old rail bridge then on the WVG all the way to the, closed in Winter (October to April), rail tunnel which, when open, allows you to yomp all the way to Chepstow. Took a few snaps (excuse the pun) of the crafted crocodile, made of old sleepers and rail joints, then retraced our steps to the Anchor. The pub has the air of a large chain pub; which is not a criticism merely an observation. We plonked ourselves in the Cider Mill Bar which has, as its centrepiece, an old hand pushed apple press. Once again, due to the timing of our visit in a chilly Welsh January, the pub was far from full. The Cider Mill section was ideal for us post-amble with large wooden booths, flagstone floors and its own bar. The dogs got themselves comfortable than I took to the bar, was warmly welcomed then ordered a, now familiar, pint of Wye Valley Butty Bach and a HPA for MrsC. Good vegan choices but we both settled on the bargain that was a hefty jacket spud with a generous topping of 3 bean chilli; a snip in these straitened times and with the refund of the parking fee a spud and a pint came in at a tad over a £10/head. A warm and welcoming hug after a frosty promenade along the old railway track. Service was warm, the atmosphere convivial and the food generous. I’m sure it’s a different picture in the height of a tourist summer but it was a welcome haven after a hearty tramp and fitted the bill perfectly for dog-owning, vegan hikers (they even had Doom Bar zero on draught) Great set-up for its location and seems to have honed its offering to align with the mix of customers they want/need to attract. Tidy