Cwtch, St Davids

Attentive foodies may already know St Davids' best restaurant. Its door is plastered with Michelin stickers. Good Food Guide readers voted it their 2012 Welsh restaurant of the year. Less well known is that this unusually sharp (for Pembrokeshire), modish bistro is also open during the day for (so-so) coffee, serviceable cake and, at lunch, simple dishes which are a testament to chef Andy Holcroft's rigorous, locally-sourced cooking. With its excellent piccalilli, coleslaw and interesting extras, supporting a great, mildly seasoned hand-raised pork pie and some fine cheeses (including regional doozy, Perl Las), Cwtch's filling ploughman's platter illustrates how truly professional kitchens take real pride in even the most menial tasks. The lunch menu might also include the Welsh stew, cawl, sausage and mash and a regular selection of "gourmet" pizza. These include an intriguing smoked salmon creation which uses that opinion-splitting Welsh seaweed delicacy, laverbread.
• Lunch dishes £5.50-8.50. 22 High Street, 01437 720491, cwtchrestaurant.co.uk

The Sound Cafe, St Davids

That the first chalkboard you see lists not that day's specials, but the local surfing conditions gives you an idea of the crowd that this friendly cafe attracts. Not that the Sound is prey to bouts of sun-bleached, surf-dude laxness. Far from it. A greaseless fried breakfast – Britain's most abused meal – revealed a kitchen cooking with unusual attentiveness and vigour, using good quality ingredients, including superb thick-cut smoked bacon from St Davids' butcher, Gwyn Davies. The prices are fair, too. Later, the menu expands to sandwiches, salads, burgers and specials, such as goulash, linguine with a roasted vegetable sauce, and Thai-style fish cakes.
• Breakfast dishes £1.50-£7, sandwiches and meals £5 - £9.95. 18 High Street, 01437 721717, the-sound-cafe.co.uk

St Davids Food & Wine, St Davids

This specialist Welsh deli and food store is a useful address, whether you want to stock up on presents (Penderyn whisky; St Davids-specific ales from the Conwy and Gwaun Valley breweries), or simply grab a superior sandwich. My purchase was ham and coleslaw, the boiled ham generously layered on a fresh granary baguette and lubricated with a thick layer of oniony coleslaw. A sandwich is a simple thing. And such basic attention to detail shouldn't be that unusual, but it is. Of course, the deli also carries the usual olives, cheeses, meats, Patchwork pates and such that you would expect, alongside savoury bakes and (rather tired-looking) sausage rolls. The service is warm and engaging and the staff know their products inside-out.

If, after that, you are looking for dessert, the neighbouring Bench (11 High Street, 01437 721778, bench-bar.co.uk) is just the ticket. There, Gianni di Lorenzo uses organic milk from St Davids' Caerfai Farm and traditional Italian methods to produce a variety of ice-creams, daily (£2.10-£5). Some of those (lambrusco, cherry brandy, strawberries and cream) might raise an eyebrow in Rome or Naples, and Bench's ices don't quite have the lustrous creaminess or the refined clarity of flavour of the very best gelato, but they are thick, gorgeously fresh and a distinct cut-above the usual scoop.
• Sandwiches £2.35-£3.95. High Street, 01437 721948, stdavidsfoodandwine.co.uk

The Shed, Porthgain

This tiny seaside village looks sleepy, but in the Shed – a restaurant, fish and chip takeaway, and ice-cream shop – the activity is frenetic. Grab your supper and plop yourself down on the quayside where, on a clear night, you can enjoy spectacular sunsets. The Shed's fish and chips may not linger quite so long in your memory. They are good rather than exceptional – decent chips, ace caper-rich tartare sauce, fresh, juicy haddock but skin-on and the gossamer-thin batter too refined for my tastes. At £6 a portion, they are not exactly cheap either. However, sat there, gazing at the small fishing boats atmospherically beached in the harbour, the smell of seaweed in your nostrils, the only sounds the lapping of waves and the yapping of scrapping seagulls, the setting is priceless.

Unsurprisingly, the Shed isn't the only place you can get creditable fish and chips around here. If you're exploring, you may also want to make note of Something's Cooking (fish and chips £5.95, the Square, Letterston, 01348 840621, somethingscooking.net) which, despite being inland, has achieved a five-star Seafish Fish Fryers Quality Award – a good indicator of quality, in my experience – for its treatment of Porthgain crab, Milford Haven hake and Abergwaun scallops wrapped in Gwaun Valley bacon. Owned by the chi-chi St Bride's Hotel, Marina Fish 'n' Chips in Saundersfoot (from £6.30; The Harbour, 01834 813598, marinafishandchips.com) is a similarly modern, sure-footed take on the fish and chip experience, with its oak tables, beer batter and mackerel salads. Just down the road, in Tenby, D Fecci & Sons (£4.25£5.10; Oxford House, Lower Frog Street, 01834 842484) have been frying to much acclaim for decades.
• Takeaway dishes £6-£11.50. 01348 831518, theshedporthgain.co.uk

The Cambrian Inn, Solva

With its colourfully painted houses and pretty estuary location, Solva has long attracted tourists. The new-look Cambrian Inn can only add to its appeal. With Matt Cox (ex-Cwtch, St Davids) installed as chef, the pub is establishing a reputation for serving well-executed food at keen prices. At night, many of the main dishes are priced just below £10. The pub itself has been given a fairly generic, but not unpleasant, gussied-up gastropub facelift. Likewise the food is crowd-pleasing stuff (burgers, ham and eggs, roast chicken and chips), but given a subtle refinement. Local ingredients are prominent. You are given a choice of hake, cod, lemon sole or haddock when you order fish and chips. If anything, the kitchen could dial down its tendency to gild these simple pub dishes. My sample steak and Guinness pie, laced with local cheese, was in many ways a great plate of food – the pie rich, silky and deeply meaty, the chips exemplary. The addition of rosemary to the suet crust, however, was a bit too much. Incidentally, at a time when many restaurateurs are seeking to exploit picky real ale drinkers, well done the Cambrian for charging a relatively reasonable £3.30 for a bottle of Welsh Tomos Watkin's ale.
• Lunch, sandwiches from £4.95, otherwise mains from £7.95. 6 Main Street, 01437 721210, thecambrianinn.co.uk

Bristol Trader, Haverfordwest

How to describe the Bristol Trader? Without damning it with faint praise? Well, let's say this. It is a pub. It serves pub grub. Does the whole menu deliver? I can't say, I haven't eaten my way through it. But, intuitively, I'd guess that, as with any venue that offers everything from gammon steaks to Thai curry, quality will vary. In short, don't expect gastronomic fireworks. Yet, with that caveat digested, this place is still a worthy addition to this list. The Trader makes efforts with its sourcing and takes a pride in cooking dishes fresh, on-site, that few pubs of its ilk do. Choose wisely and you can eat your fill of tasty food, here, while still pocketing significant change from a tenner.

My sample plate of faggots (a big favourite in Pembrokeshire) is a case in point. The faggots themselves come from quality Narberth butcher, Andrew Rees, and boast a proper livery tang. The gravy is blandly forgettable, the mash of a competent home-cooking standard. But for £7.25, who's complaining? And you can eat much cheaper than that, too. The Trader's "no frills" menu includes a plate of award-winning Preseli Gold sausages and chips, for £3.95. All this is served until 8.30pm. While the pub building itself is unremarkable, its riverside location must make it a big draw on hot summer days. Real ale fans, though, may be disappointed if they drop in and – as on this visit – the boring choice is still Worthington's, Abbot Ale and Speckled Hen (from £2.80 a pint).
• Main menu, salads and main meals £7.25-£9.50. Quay Street, 01437 762122, bristoltrader.net

Plum Vanilla, Narberth

Vegetarians should make a beeline for this bright and breezy, quietly boho cafe. It is not entirely meat-free, but most of its jazzy salads (for instance, goat's cheese, pear and chilli) and daily specials (spicy vegetable fajitas; spinach and feta pie) are. A salad of halloumi and shaved beetroot dressed with lime and chilli was laid-out rather regimentally – and I've had better, wilder salads for £8.95 – but it delivered an interesting knot of flavours to unpick. The salty cheese was a good counterpoint to that not overly aggressive dressing, which, oddly, really drew out the sweet fruitiness of the beetroot. Quiches, frittata, filled baguettes and such are also available.
• Takeaway baguettes, salad boxes and meals £2.50-£7; eat-in £5-£9.50. 2A St. James' Street, 01834 862762, plumvanilla.com

Ultracomida, Narberth

This place is one of those anomalies, a serious homage to the tapas bars of Spain, in the last place you would expect it – rural south Wales. There is a smart, uncluttered deli at the front of the unit (where you can take away exotic Iberian sandwiches and other items, £2.80-£3.95), and behind that a small busy and buzzy tapas space that, with its large communal tables and stools at the bar, feels reasonably authentic. Alongside the excellent complimentary bread, oils and spikily-preserved olives, a couple of Ultracomida's generously portioned tapas will make a substantive lunch. The menu is littered with items which will prick the interest of even the most seasoned foodies – cecina (oak-smoked beef), sobrasada (soft, spreadable chorizo) and Picos de Europa (blue cheese) – while also offering plenty of familiar choices. A thick slice of tortilla was exemplary: rugged, creamy, cooked accurately so that the potato and onion retain their integrity, and served with a terrific roasted garlic aioli. An empanada, in this case a kind of plate pie of tuna, onions and tomatoes, in a piquillo pepper pastry, was a little burned on top, but full of good flavour. There is also a menu of starters and larger lunchtime raciones – two courses for £11.

If you are in Haverfordwest, incidentally, and fancy something similar, hunt out Casa Maria (2 Castle Square, 01437 779194, casamariadeli.co.uk), a bright spot on a drab square. It serves great rich, winey espressos, in dinky, coloured earthenware cups, and a splendid almond cake, tarta de Santiago. Over the two floors, the menu (dishes £2.50-£9.95) ranges from sandwiches, pan con tomate and artisan deli platters, to tapas dishes such as local lamb meatballs with cinnamon and lemon, and morcilla (blood sausage) with sherry-cooked onions. It is an attractive space, certainly downstairs, and the staff are winningly friendly.
• Tapas £4.20-£5.95, raciones £6.95-£9.95. 7 High Street, 01834 861491, ultracomida.co.uk

The Georges, Haverfordwest

Unfortunately, I was in Haverfordwest the week this much-loved cafe (open late Fri/ Sat) was closed for refurbishment (it has since reopened). But even though I can't personally vouch for it, it would be remiss not to mention it, given its popularity among local foodies. Located within what sounds like a new-age lifestyle store – think aromatherapy, clogs and crystals, it delivers a global menu with an emphasis on ethical and local ingredients (including organic fruit and vegetables from its own gardens on the nearby Penty Parc Estate). Its dishes, which range from snacks such as homemade country pate or hot filled ciabatta rolls to mains such as cottage pie or a Greek take on macaroni cheese, rarely break £10.
• Light bites £2.50-£6.50, main meals £7.50-£13.50. 24 Market Street, 01437 766683, thegeorges.uk.com. Open late Fri/Sat

In a double-whammy, I was also in town too early to road test Carbone Grill & Bar (5 Riverside Quay, Riverside Shopping Centre), which opens this month. Owned by the people who had the Good Food Guide-listed Black Sheep, it comes with a good pedigree and, utilising a whiz-bang INKA charcoal oven, aims to turn south Wales onto proper pulled pork, A1 burgers and such meaty morsels made newly trendy by London's street food scene. These will be served alongside steaks, pizza and pastas, with many items under £10 and takeaway available, too. One to watch.

Sampler Tea Room, St Davids

The name refers to this quaint tearoom's collection of needlepoint samplers, but it is also renowned for its home-baked cakes, jams and teas. Local produce, such as Solva crab, is key. Organic cheeses from the Caerfai Farm dairy can be sampled (pardon the pun) on a ploughman's-style platter. The Sampler's scones are served with clotted cream from Drim Farm in Narberth. The menu also includes a wide variety of sandwiches and filled jacket potatoes, with many items also available to takeaway.
• Cakes 90p-£2, sandwiches and meals £4.95-£7.65. 17 Nun Street, 01437 720757, sampler-tearoom.co.uk

Rail from Manchester to Haverfordwest was provided by Arriva Trains Wales (0870 900 0773, arrivatrainswales.co.uk). Accommodation was provided by Crug Glass Country House hotel in Abereiddy (01348 831302, crug-glas.co.uk), which has splendid rooms from £100-£180 per night B&B