Tucked away behind a Tenby courtyard, chef Matt Flowers is taking a quivering ball of raw dough and shaping it into a flatbread before slapping it straight onto a grill above red-hot coals. He looks rather suave in his leather apron but it's more for practicalities than a fashion statement - because nearly everything Matt cooks is over fire.
Matt, 32, is the man behind Feast - a live fire cookery team based in Pembrokeshire. Alongside his wife Jade, they've been offering private catering, pop ups and group cookery experiences but now they've finally got a permanent base in holiday hotspot Tenby.
Feast is one half of a new and exciting collaborative venue; the other half is Tenby Brewing Co. Together, they've created Tap & Tân - relaxed dining and easy drinking under the same roof. Walk through the courtyard in the Food Quarter on Tenby's Upper Frog Street into the informal restaurant - the bar is on the left, the kitchen to the right.
With a background in fine dining and having honed his skills in some of Pembrokeshire's best restaurants, Matt is finally getting to showcase his passion for local, quality ingredients cooked over fire. While James Beaven, 36, from Tenby Brewing Co, provides the drinks with the best independent craft beer on tap and brewed just a few hundred metres down the road. You can read about the two friends behind Tenby Brewing Co here. And you can read all our food and drink stories here.
Everything on the menu is based on the theatrical and exciting style of open fire cookery. From scallops to broccoli, to beetroot hummus to the signature 'Beer Dog', the deep flavours are teased out by fire while the novelty of watching your food licked by flames never dulls. For Matt, it's the best way to cook: "Fire is more fun, without a doubt," he said. "I absolutely love it, it's a fantastic way to cook."
Firstly, we have to talk about that Beer Dog - Feast's house sausage is made with Tenby Brewing Co. beer and smoked and grilled over the coals, before being served up with caramelised and pickled onions, a garlic mayo and Tap & Tân's very own BBQ sauce (which you can buy on your way out). It's juicy and plump and lightly charred - a hot dog elevated to something far superior yet still immensely satisfying.
Over lockdown, fire cookery and BBQ food was a "massive trend" said Matt, meaning what he does has to be "on point". He added: "It's on trend. What we do is quite unique still in Pembrokeshire so it excites people a lot more. It's easy to get excited about fire food and beer."
There's no limit to what Matt and his small team of chefs cook on the coals - he turns out broccoli with a sprinkling of crispy onions and freshly sliced red chillies, juicy scallops placed directly on the coals in their shells until just-cooked and finished off with a charred lemon, and those freshly prepared flatbreads with grilled Teifi halloumi marinated with smoked paprika and lemon and served with a lemon, mint and tahini yogurt.
The bigger joints of lamb shoulder, beef rib and pork shoulder - all sourced as locally as possible - are cooked long and slow in the smoker next to the grill. It makes for intensely-flavoured super-juicy pulled meats that simply fall off the bone and straight into soft brioche buns from Rock and Dough, an artisan bakery in Maenclochog.
The beetroot hummus is made from fire-roasted beets and served alongside Welsh feta and spiced seeds while the vegan tacos combine smoked sweet potato with BBQ field mushrooms and a wild garlic salsa. BBQ-style cooking doesn't have to be solely meat and the vegan options certainly aren't dull.
And there's even dessert for the pudding fans - s'mores chocolate mousse or jelly and ice cream. The toasted marshmallows crowning a homemade salted caramel chocolate mousse are a playful twist on the fire concept, while who doesn't like rhubarb jelly and honey ice cream?
Tap & Tân was borne out of life after Covid. "We had to have a rethink," said James. Feast had already done a few pop up events at the Yard - the outdoor venue next to the Tenby Brewing Co. brewery - and James already had the current venue where he was running the Sandbar.
"The food goes really well with the beer," he continued. "It all fell into place really well for both of us. We didn't have a lot of confidence after Covid. We focus on the beer which means we can do what we do best. It's a nice natural way we can have a partnership."
The food - "vibrant, colourful, eye-catching" - coupled with ales with names like Son of a Beach and Yeah Mango is quickly gaining cult status are proving to be a wild success.
It's a slick operation and the place is building a following, in part thanks to social media and the visual impact their food has. Matt is already fully booked until October for his pop up events and demand for weddings has been "crazy busy".
While he was operating as a pop up he didn't have a permanent base but now he's in Tap & Tân, it's a focus for his food business. The focus on quality and provenance is also resonating with punters at the moment, perhaps as people prioritise their spending, added James.
Tap & Tân is greater than the sum of its parts: the relaxed informal street food style of cooking, coupled with quality beer, is proving popular and the restaurant has been buzzing since they opened in early April. There's no need to book either. James said: "People like the fact they can rock up, grab a table, order beers at the bar and grab food when they're ready." While Matt added: "Quality runs through the heart of it." He lists off his suppliers by name - all are Pembrokeshire-based and favour small independent producers.
Tenby is undoubtedly the place to be in Pembrokeshire and the tourist season is getting noticeably longer, James said. So far, the response to their business has been as good as they could have hoped for and they're gearing up to a busy summer season.
For an operation that really only fired up - literally - just before Easter, they seem to have got things bang on - good food, great atmosphere and a sense of fun. Everything they're doing is bang on trend. You can sign up to our food and drink newsletter here.
