Our time in Wales was short, but it included a dive cafe, a fun pub and the best meal of the entire trip! 

The first stop in our gluttony tour of Wales, was in Kidderminster, on our way to Hay-on-Wye. We needed a little snack and a cup of tea before a big lunch and found ourselves at Smithy's Cafe.

Smithy's Cafe is such a small-town local dive, that I felt like we were the first tourist to ever set foot in the place. Although they were friendly, it was like that typical scene in a western where the hero enters a saloon in a new town and everyone is instantly quiet and staring. Yep.  

Smithy's Cafe was a cheap, no-frills place, where we ate yummy tea cakes and shared a pot of tea. The people sitting next to us were speaking in Welsh, which was beautiful to listen to and added to the foreign feeling of the experience.

Behind Smithy's, we discovered a lovely stream, lush foliage and railroad tracks.  

My favorite meal of entire trip was lunch at The Three Cocks, located a few miles outside of the town center in Hay-on-Wye. 

Not only was the restaurant at The Three Cocks Inn, super cute and cozy, but the food was outstanding. Dan ordered the delicious Cottage Pie.

I ordered the "Pie of the Day", which was chicken and leek. The carrots had a sweet glaze that made them taste like a decadent dessert. I ate my veggies first and stole some of Dan's carrots! 

Obviously, we didn't enjoy our meal. 

We even saved room to share an Apple Crumble for dessert. This was the first time that I tried custard, rather than ice cream with a crumble. It was good and different, but I definitely prefer the ice cream, which is a lot less sweet. The custard overwhelmed the taste of the crumble.

Still stuffed from our fabulous lunch, we opted for a light dinner at the Blue Boar in Hay-On-Wye. 

The Blue Boar was fairly typical of my pub experiences in the UK.    It was super busy on a Friday night, but we managed to grab a table by the bar.  As with most pubs, we ordered our food directly from the bar and it was a leisurely meal. Dan had a salad and I ordered a bowl of tomato soup with crusty bread. I enjoyed my meal. but in the grand scheme of our vacation dining, it was fairly forgettable.

Hungry yet? Check back as we continue to eat our way through the UK!