Richard Booth's Bookshop Café

A not-so-well-kept secret in Hay-on-Wye, this friendly café is squirreled away at the back of Richard Booth’s famous bookshop. It makes a pleasingly unpretentious & good-value spot for a quick bite in a town more known for second-hand books than for food. The setting feels bright & breezy, the cooking is straightforward, & the short, regularly changing menu is heavy on comfort food: Welsh rarebit, cauliflower, bacon & blue cheese soup, & braised lamb shoulder with cannellini beans, chorizo, tomato & smoked paprika are some of the tasty dishes that please at lunchtime, while the likes of lemon polenta cake cheer the sweet-toothed, coffee crowd. Also open for breakfast, when French toast with spiced apple compote & whipped vanilla yoghurt or an ‘open’ BLT go down a treat.