Restaurant James Sommerin now open in Wales

Restaurant James Sommerin is now open at the seafront Esplanade in Penarth, Wales.

The 70-seat venue opened on 14 May, and also has a 12-seat private dining room, plus a four-person chef's table serving a f14-course tasting menu at £150 per person.

A range of set menus, priced from £55 to £150, focus on Welsh-inspired dishes including duck, lavender and beetroot with soy sauce and cumin; plus the local Pantysgawn cheese with celery, artichoke and ginger; and monkfish with seaweed and grilled leek. There is also langoustine with turnip, Tonka bean and white chocolate, as well as Welsh lamb.

Each set menu is named in Welsh, after various seaside elements, such as traeth (beach) and clogwyn (cliff), and all dishes have the option to be paired with wine.

Head chef Sommerin and his wife Louise have installed an open kitchen that allows diners to see the chefs at work, while the restaurant colours are purple mixed with lighter, creamier shades, alongside a wall of Welsh slate.

The property also features nine en-suite bedrooms, including five with sea views over the Bristol Channel. The rooms will be available from June.

The chef described the new place as his "dream location", and said that keeping the integrity of the building intact had been very important to the new opening. He added: "To make it any different would be sacrilege."

Former Young Scottish Chef of the Year, Sommerin went on to win a Michelin star in 2007 as the head chef at the Crown at Whitebrook, Monmouthshire.

The Crown at Whitebrook closed last year after the former owner Crowns Restaurants went into liquidation. The site was taken over by Bonnes Saveurs Limited in October 2013 and is now run by chef patron Chris Harrod.

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