Head Chef of Beach House restaurant on the Gower, Hywel Griffith last week appeared on BBC2’s Great British menu, winning the regional heats for Wales.
Hywel competed against Georgia Sommerin, from Restaurant James Sommerin in Penarth, as well as chefs from two London restaurants, Tom Phillips from Restaurant Story and John Chantarasak from Anglo Thai.
The theme for this series is children’s literature, as 2020 marks 150 years since the death of Charles Dickens, who wrote the first book to feature a child in the starring role with Oliver Twist. Throughout the week the chefs were judged by veteran chef Lisa Allen, where a competing chef was eliminated after each round, before the final two presented their full menu to judges and food critics Oliver Peyton, Andi Oliver and Matthew Fort.
Hywel’s cooking style is modern Welsh and champions all Welsh produce. For his menu, he drew on regional children’s authors and Welsh folklore for inspiration. His dishes included a pigs cheek starter inspired by the Legend of Twrch Trwyth, and a fish dish driven by Welsh author Claire Fayers and her book The Accidental Pirates. With King Arthur’s Stone situated not far from the restaurant on the Gower, it was only fitting the main course took inspiration from the legend of King Arthur with his take on a medieval banquet. His dessert ‘The Golden Egg, Willy Wonka’ was a firm favourite with the judges and a nod to Welsh Author Roald Dhal.
Head Chef of Beach House, Hywel Griffith said:
“Representing Wales in Great British Menu shortly after winning a Michelin star is like a life’s ambition realised, I think Wales is normally not celebrated enough in the GBM kitchen and for me was the most important element to get right and that’s why I took inspiration from the legends of Wales.”
Hywel will be competing against the other regional winners in the final to see if he can get a course through to the banquet.
