Wales on the Menu

Recently, I interviewed Simon Wright for a profile that was published in the Buzz Food & Drink Guide 2012 (link below).

In a wide-ranging career, Simon has been a food critic, author, restaurateur, consultant and broadcaster.  In May this year, Simon opened Wright’s Independent Food Emporium, with his wife Maryann. This shop in Nantgaredig sells a range of Welsh products, including meat, cheeses, and fresh fruit and vegetables, and has a café at the heart of the operation. Last year, Simon was involved in the planning stages of Sospan, a new restaurant in Llanelli.

Simon is currently presenting the fourth series of Wales on the Menu, which started on BBC Radio Wales last Saturday lunchtime (1pm). In the programme, he challenges home cooks to put their speciality dish on the menu of a top restaurant.

In the first show, amateur chef and food blogger Bill King tried to get his salmon quiche up to standard for the menu of Y Polyn, a restaurant near Carmarthen that the Wrights at one time co-owned. Among the judges was food blogger Ed Gilbert (a.k.a. Gourmet Gorro). The quiche sounded good, but was judged not quite good enough to meet Y Polyn’s high standards.

The Wales on the Menu team are looking for keen cooks from across Wales who would like to participate in future challenges. If you are interested you can email them on walesonthemenu@presentable.co.uk

There is also a Wales on the Menu Facebook page, where you can find recipes, behind the scenes photographs, and further details of how to apply to take part in the series either as a novice cook or a judge: https://www.facebook.com/WalesOnTheMenuBBCRadioWales?ref=hl

If you miss the programmes themselves, you can find them on the BBC iplayer.

Buzz Food & Drink Guide 2012. The Wright Taste (pp. 28-29):

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1y455/FoodandDringGuide201/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffree.yudu.com%2Fitem%2Fdetails%2F577403%2FFood-and-Dring-Guide-2012

 

Y Polyn:

http://www.ypolynrestaurant.co.uk/

 

Fellow Bloggers on Twitter:

Bill King @billking

Ed Gilbert @gourmetgorro