GRAIN - St Davids — Restaurant in Wales

The good people of Grain have much to contend with. Blissed out holiday makers who would be happy if you served them a turd burger so grateful are they to be away from it all in this stunning corner of the world. Dogs and kids everywhere. Campers. Yup. Fully crocced or sandaled up. Backpacks doing their destructive worst. Pink, green, yellow clothing that rustles like a crisp packet when they raise their arm to order. No wifi. It's enough to make ordinary restauranteurs take the money and run, grin and bear it, serve up average in the full knowledge the customer won't be back for a year. Grain love pizza and vibes too much for that though. So they've created a courtyard right in the middle of it all (it all being a 'city' with 2 pubs one public loo and no Mcdonald's, Starbucks, doctor's surgery, bookie or barber) which plays like a heart, pumping happy customers back out into their tents, cottages, campervans, fully sated and ready for zeds. Sea air and top class pizza is better than melatonin and nytol it turns out. Grain's mission? "To pair outstanding handmade pizzas with brilliant craft beer, all served in a warm, welcoming space in the heart of St Davids." Stand down Tom Cruise. Mission accomplished. The courtyard is makeshift, functional. The inside bit just rigid enough to feel like these people are here for the long run. The key here isn't comfort as the wooden benches will politely remind your bum and lower back after your second slice. The key is quality living cheek by jowel with informality. You get more than you would reasonably expect from the set up. Pizza that bursts with flavour. Crusts you could lay your head on for a 20 min snooze. Olives, almonds and other assorted nibbles as generous as they are high quality. Served by young people with nose rings who are more confident and charming than they should be at that age. Summer jobs these may be for all concerned but the key is that a team has been curated who care first for the food, second for the envelope at the end of the week. Booking is essential. City it may be but finding somewhere good to eat after 4pm is not easy here. A constant stream of couples, families and a smattering of locals tip up throughout the evening. Crack open a locally brewed beer and people watch for as long as the back can take it. It's mesmerising. Everyone is happy. Not even yelping jack russels can ruin this. My 'strumble head' pizza was salty verging on the dangerous. Mackerel AND anchovy? Each bite drew moisture from my body. I watched as my skin became translucent and paper-like and shrink-wrapped around my veins. Had I the requisite muscle I could have shown out at Mr Universe by the time I was devouring my sixth slice. Totally worth it btw. The missus went puttenesca. Never boring when done with love as this was. Outside in another tent, a team of three beaver away furiously in front of a big wood fired pizza oven. Order after order. One after the other. Bosh bosh bosh. Is this a holiday to them too? They seem to be enjoying it. Grain is the official heartbeat of Britain's smallest city. A wonderful reminder of what's possible with a patch of concrete, a couple of tents and a grasp of what good pizza can do for the soul. The day they call it a day I will be driving up with the difibrillator, screaming, wailing, pumping volts like a demented Dr Nick. Places like this should...

None of the (seemingly several) young staff seemed to know what they were doing. Friendly enough, though. Only had a beer here because dinner was fully booked (local Bluestone Brewery - decent selection). Menu was Spanish-style starters and pizzas so a bit restricted, but if it's very good then I can live with that.

I dislike going somewhere where you have to do all the thinking and organising for the staff - it's hardly relaxing. Had to find someone to tell them we wanted a beer. Confusion over whether that was possible. One minute it was "oh just sit anywhere and someone will be over", the next it was "oh, let me just check where you can sit". Then we had to get someone's attention to order and it was the same when we wanted to pay. Had to get up and find someone in the end. Then, the staff member had to check where we had sat and what we had had. I'm sure we could have just got up and walked off unnoticed if we were dishonest people.

Also, the loos were not in a good state. This whole operation had a 'pop-up' feel to it. I'm all for pop-up, but when the staff and loos have a pop-up feel also, it's less good. Although drinking tables were available, this place was geared more to the eaters than...

Go here!

Just go here!

It's excellent, the set up is great individual booths or in the marquee. Dog friendly (big plus!) Good range of drinks on offer.

The starters are great, we had olives, iberico pork scratchings and dough balls. All are great, but the winners were the dough balls and the garlic butter, they were so good, really more'ish.

The pizzas on offer are great, theres a build your own option which is fine, but there are some great pizzas on offer. I got the Stumble Head (named after a local lighthouse) it was delightful, loved it. We also ordered the "Nd-uja like it hot?" again another really good pizza, warm spicy Nduja sausage and mozzarella, heavenly!

What sets these pizzas apart from any others are the bases. The toppings are all of the finest quality, really good in their own right and they also blend together beautifully, but the base is excellent too. It's not just a delivery for the toppings, it's a great part of the experience. Flavourful, crisp yet chewy and you will eat your crusts, even if you're the kind of person that doesn't normally.

We got desert, we had some lovely warm gooey brownies and espresso. The coffee here is good. Worth dropping in...