[theme music] ♪ ♪ [plane engine rumbling] ♪ ♪ As a chef, I've been privileged to travel to all corners of the globe.

But there are one small group of islands that, in my mind, has it all.

From farmers to fishermen.

And great seafood!

These are delicious, absolutely delicious.

Joining me on my journey, I'll be meeting some of my mates, who just happen to be some of the finest chefs in the entire world.

[laughs] Butter.

[laughs] [engine roaring] Where is that special place?

Great Britain, of course.

Woo-hoo!

♪ ♪ [choral music] ♪ ♪ JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): I'm on an epic journey across the UK.

And right now, I'm in glorious Wales, making my way from Snowdonia down to Pembrokeshire, with one of the country's finest chefs and my friend, Stephen Terry, along for the ride.

♪ ♪ I don't think I've ever done three hours in a Mini.

- Have you not?

- [laughs] There used to be a joke when I was a kid.

How do you get two whales in a Mini?

You say, well, it's impossible.

No, it's just jump on the M4.

[laughter] They are some of the best driving roads around round here.

They just-- There is no motorway that links, you know, South Wales and North Wales.

You do as we do, coming down from Snowdonia through the National Park.

It's just-- it's incredible.

You look at it, you could be anywhere.

You could be in Canada.

You could be-- no, we're in Wales, and for me, God's country.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Pembrokeshire is the most southwesterly county in Wales.

It boasts a world-famous 299-kilometer coastal path.

That's 186 miles!

But before we reach the southwest, I'm taking Stephen to Ynyshir.

[jaunty tune] I don't know who's looking forward to this more, me or you, this first bit.

Well, for me, I'm-- I'm very excited, you know, to be going to Ynyshir.

I was wondering how you pronounce it because it's got a Y. It's Ynyshir, is it?

Yeah.

But more importantly, Gareth Ward, Ynyshir, probably, in my opinion, cooking the most, you know, progressive, top-end cooking in Wales, unpretentious.

And it's all about the flavor and the produce.

And he has some amazing produce.

And what a-- and what a place to get your produce from because, I mean, this-- I mean, Wales doesn't disappoint.

It just keeps getting better and better wherever you drive.

But, I mean, it's a beautiful part of the world here.

In terms of produce, it's there.

It's down to the creative person.

And I think we're just about to experience, you know, one of the most creative chefs in the country.

♪ ♪ JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): This is Michelin-starred Ynyshir, run by celebrated Head Chef Gareth Ward.

He's a maverick in the kitchen.

And one thing that draws people from all over the country is his 20-course tasting menu.

Gareth is cooking us one of his signature dishes, Welsh Wagyu salt beef rib with mushroom ketchup and locally-sourced seaweed.

Stephen and I are lucky enough to have a seat at the chef's table.

There you go.

JAMES MARTIN: Thank you.

We've been watching it all.

[laughter] This is an amazing table, isn't it?

It's incredible.

JAMES MARTIN: To witness the food being cooked.

But where do you get the ethos of the food anyway?

Because it's quite-- you use local produce, but in a-- in a totally different way.

Yeah.

I just want to give you loads of courses.

Not everyone's for tasting menus.

But for me, they're what we do here.

So I just want to feed you loads of courses.

But to do that, and you get to the end without dying, I've got-- they've got to be really small.

[laughter] Because they're 20-- Yeah, 23 courses.

Yeah, it's a lot of food.

But it's all really mini.

This is probably one of the biggest dishes on the menu.

JAMES MARTIN: Planning for a menu like this, I mean, you've got to plan so far in advance.

Yeah, we're a year ahead of ourselves-- - Yeah.

- --with everything.

You know, like, we've got an aging program with the beef.

So some of the beef is, like, we can take it to 300 days.

You know, so we're almost a year ahead.

This is what the digital GARETH WARD: Yeah, the clocks are.

Yeah, we've got a bank of-- they're a month apart for each one.

And it's the Welsh Wagyu sirloin, which comes from the same animal as this does.

JAMES MARTIN: That is amazing.

GARETH WARD: Yeah.

[chuckles] I'm glad you're enjoying it.

It's like fireworks going off on my-- on my tongue.

You know, all the taste buds are just pinging.

It's just-- It is so, so special, the food.

You can't describe it.

I don't think there's anywhere else in the UK that is serving food like this.

I've managed to eat out a lot of places, and I've been quite lucky to eat out a lot of places in the UK.

This, probably top two I've ever eaten in the UK.

And it's fighting for the number one slot because every single course that you do-- it sounds ridiculous, 20 courses.

But every course is just-- it's an explosion of taste.

It's just-- Yeah, that's-- thank you very much.

The ingredients are modern and classic and old and a mixture.

I mean, Wagyu beef?

- Yeah.

It's-- - Local?

Local.

This, for me-- and this is just my personal opinion-- is some of the best beef I've ever tried in my life.

The fat in these animals are amazing.

You know, we render it down and use it for the butter for-- That butter is insane.

- --because it's just tasty.

- And the fudge.

We put it in fudge.

And the fudge, and the fudge.

They do fudge here, with crispy Wagyu fat on top?

Yeah, yeah, and in the fudge as well.

It's in there, yeah.

It's in the treacle tart.

It's everywhere.

[laughter] We're obsessed with Wagyu.

- It's very clever.

- Very kind.

That's very good.

GARETH WARD: Thank you.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): To be honest, I could have stayed there all week.

But Pembrokeshire is where we're bound.

I'm heading for the coast.

But I've got a surprise in store for Stephen.

[traditional music] ♪ ♪ So I'm going to send you on a little mission to look at a-- a new guy who's making some fun things out of chocolate, which I think will be quite fascinating, while I go foraging in a canoe, as you do.

You're going foraging in a canoe?

I know.

I know I'm not built for a canoe.

I think, hopefully-- the team is saying that it's a boat.

I think you need a bloody big canoe for me.

So what you-- "foraging in a canoe," isn't that called fishing?

I don't know, mate.

I don't know.

I just do as I'm told.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Before I go off foraging, fishing, or whatever the crew have in store for me, I found an idyllic spot on one of Pembrokeshire's famous beaches for my first cook.

♪ ♪ Now, I couldn't think of a better location to cook this dish in.

Barbecue, beautiful sea view.

And this is a selection of wonderful, wonderful seafood.

We've got cockles, clams, bit of haddock.

And I'm gonna go create this little en papillote, this cooked in a bag dish, with some bacon.

But I'm going to flavor this with seawater.

One of our assistants will now go and get the seawater.

But really, with this, you can cook whatever you want in a bag.

It's as simple as that.

You can cook chicken.

Stay away from things like red meat.

That's probably not going to work really well.

But fish really does lend itself fantastically well together with this.

But one thing you have to make sure is that everything cooks evenly.

So if you are going to do this, have the bacon cooked because you'll never get it nice and crispy otherwise.

You can buy crispy bacon nowadays.

And then with the things like courgettes, cut them up into strips or dice so they all cook quite quickly.

Because all these ingredients, they don't take very long to cook at all.

So take a little bit of the old courgettes like that, lift that to one side.

And really, that's kind of it for preparation.

The tomatoes, we can probably cut these in half as well.

Probably speed up the cooking time just a touch.

A little bit of these.

Like that.

And I'm going to lose the board for this because it's all about the paper and the tin foil for this one.

So tin foil, first of all, get yourself a piece of tin foil.

And this is what the pebbles for.

They're not strategically placed for a little bit of film set.

Might need to slow it down a bit.

The tide's going out.

Pop the pebbles on here, and then grab yourself a piece of paper.

Now, you could do this in just paper.

But paper and barbecues, not a good combination.

So I use the tin foil first.

And also, you get a great heat from the tin foil.

So you just get a nice little parcel like that.

And then you can add whatever you want.

I've got some beautiful haddock here.

You can just put a few pieces of this together with a little bit of that seaweed.

We can mix and match the seaweed if you want.

Kelp is always sort of the greener one.

The purpley one is sort of dulse, which comes from the shoreline all the way along here as well.

And then a mixture of whatever you want.

Some gorgeous, gorgeous clams, stick those in.

Some lovely cockles, they go on as well.

Touch of dill.

Bit of that.

A little bit of that crispy bacon.

And this combination of cockles and bacon is not new.

Cooks have been doing it for a long time.

But it's a great combination if you mix the two together.

So then we've got a few bits of veg, courgette.

You can put onions, you can put garlic, whatever you want in.

A few bits of tomatoes.

You got it?

ASSISTANT: Coming, Chef!

You got enough?

ASSISTANT: I hope so.

I hope so as well.

In your own time!

[sighs] Be having sushi in a minute.

A bit of black pepper possibly, while we're filling in time.

Here we go.

The thud of footsteps I hear cometh.

[applause] A bit of seawater.

Like that.

I'm going to put a little bit of butter in there because butter and water, when it cooks together, creates a lovely little sauce.

You could put oil in it, stuff like that, rapeseed oil if you wanted to.

But butter and water creates a wonderful little sauce.

We're just going to fold this together into a little parcel.

Now, I was never very good at wrapping presents at home.

So just bear with me.

But just wrap this up.

Basically, what you're doing is locking in all that moisture.

And when you cook it straight on the coals, as it cooks, you get this wonderful steam from the seawater.

And it just sits there.

It's going to take about five minutes.

Easy as that.

See, no applause for me, nothing.

[gentle music] ♪ ♪ See, it's a wonderful way to cook fish, in a bag like that.

Just to test when it's cooked, you can just pop your knife in.

If it's hot inside, it should be cooked.

And then carefully-- and carefully we do this-- lift it off.

You can see the steam from it, from that saltwater.

And just lift it up and-- ♪ ♪ And there you have it.

How good does that look?

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): A perfect parcel of Pembrokeshire loveliness.

♪ ♪ Now, earlier, I dropped Stephen off in the middle of the Welsh countryside.

He's got an amazing nose for good food.

So I'm sure he'll find something fantastic.

Well, I'm here in rural west Wales, and I'm looking for a chocolate factory.

Well, I can't see anything that looks anything like that.

I'm looking for a chap called Liam, who apparently is making the best chocolate in Wales, if not the UK.

But these gates look a bit Willy Wonka to me.

So that could only be a good thing.

[upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Liam.

- Hey, Stephen.

- How are you?

- Very good.

Welcome to the Abandoned Chocolate Factory.

Fantastic.

Great to be here.

We're here in the invention room.

Everybody kind of throws their ideas on the wall, and the best one gets made into a real chocolate bar.

OK.

Well, I've got a good idea.

I've got to make a chocolate bar for-- for James.

Well, you're in the right place.

So can I show you?

Of course, yeah.

Let's go and sketch it out.

Key ingredients.

We've got strawberry.

OK?

And then we've got-- LIAM: Super in season.

We've got some nice fresh strawberries in.

STEPHEN TERRY: --peanut butter.

LIAM: All right.

STEPHEN TERRY: Peanut butter.

Peanut butter and jelly kind of thing.

A childhood thing, you know, sandwiches.

Everyone thought I was a weirdo at school because I had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

But, you know-- but I absolutely love it, absolutely love it.

So I was thinking if we can get that into a-- in with chocolate.

And you know the feuilletine, that sort of crispy little layers?

Yeah.

STEPHEN TERRY: So mix maybe some ganache and layer this with peanut butter, and maybe some crunchy sort of peanuts as well.

LIAM: Yeah, beautiful.

STEPHEN TERRY: You know, so you've got the crunch there.

And then we've got the jelly-- i.e.

strawberry jam.

And then repeat the process.

Bit of some salt.

I know that you've got a slight amount of salt with the peanut butter.

But we've got some of that amazing Welsh, you know, sort of seaweed salt.

Yeah, we've got some mermaid confetti.

That will be spot on.

What are you going to call it, Steve?

STEPHEN TERRY: I'm going to call it PBJ Crunch.

What chocolate do you reckon you want to use on this?

Well, I like the combination of milk and dark.

So, you know, like a sort of-- yeah, milk-- LIAM: Super milk.

Super milk.

LIAM: Super milk.

So you're the expert chocolate man.

So what do you think?

I reckon if we're going to go super milk, we're going about, like, a 57%.

It's going to work really nicely with that saltiness, the sweet.

And then some of the umami flavor is going to come from that seaweed as well.

So I think 57% is going to be spot on.

- Should we get it made?

- Let's do it.

Let's go.

[funky jazz music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ LIAM: We loved your idea so much, PBJ Crunch-- STEPHEN TERRY: Yeah.

--we turned it into the first ever filled chocolate bricks.

OK.

LIAM: These ones are solid.

STEPHEN TERRY: Oh!

LIAM: And this one is the first one to be filled in.

So we can take that for James?

We can take it.

I've got the tin here.

If you just-- Oh, yeah.

--put for-- a handmade by-- STEPHEN TERRY: Handmade by.

So I go over here.

For James M. There we are.

That's for you.

- Thank you.

Mate, I can't wait to show this to James.

Thanks very much.

It's been a pleasure.

- Thank you.

- Thanks, Liam.

Cheers, Steve.

Ciao!

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): I didn't need much encouragement to make something with chocolate, but loosen those belts.

This one's for you, Liam.

Now, this is a fantastic dessert for a celebration, a big bowl of blackberry mousse with a wonderful topping of chocolate and caramel popcorn.

Now, it starts off with a mousse, first of all.

So the first thing I'm going to do is soak our gelatine for about 2 or 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, the custard element of this is done.

And it saves a load of time nowadays if you buy ready-made custard for this.

Fresh custard, though.

It's got to be the fresh stuff.

So I'm going to heat that up gently.

Meanwhile, over here, I'm going to blitz these wonderful blackberries.

Now, you can get these from hedgerows when they're in season all around the UK.

They're fabulous.

So plenty of them in there.

You really want to blitz this to a fine puree.

[uptempo guitar music] ♪ ♪ Now once you've got to that stage, you can take some of this mixture, pop it into the custard.

Now, the first thing you need to do is heat this up hot enough to dissolve this gelatine.

Now, you can see when the gelatine's ready.

It literally goes all nice and soft.

And that's exactly what you want.

Now, as soon as this has come to the boil, we take our gelatine, pop it in.

Keep this mixture going.

And then once the mixture is dissolved, transfer the entire lot into a bowl.

Now, normally, what you would do if you added all the blackberry, you'd just have to wait for this mixture to cool down before you add the rest of the stuff, the cream and the egg whites.

But if you keep this bit behind, it will cool the mixture down.

Just a quick mix.

Now, you can make this with any sort of fruit you want, raspberries, strawberries.

But I just love the color of fresh blackberries.

Now, the other things you need to add to this is basically a meringue and whipped cream.

And for that, I've got some egg white.

And we just whisk this up.

[mixer whirring] Now, what the egg white is going to do is lighten the mixture.

I'm just going to sweeten it up a little bit with some sugar.

Only about 3 tablespoons of sugar will be enough.

We'll leave that to one side while I get another bowl and whip up the cream.

The key to this is don't overwhip it.

[mixer whirring] You almost want everything the same texture.

The cream should be very similar to what this mixture is so it all combines together.

The cream's too thick, it'll split and separate the mousse.

That is probably all we need.

And then, really, all we do is incorporate all this lot together.

♪ ♪ And then get yourself a proper big bowl and pour this mixture in the bowl.

And now what you need to do is pop this in the fridge, ideally overnight, or at least four hours to set.

And I've got one in a different glass, for sure.

But I very rarely have the same glass or-- well, it is a glass, isn't it, really?

It's a proper wine glass, that one.

But to top this, you could top it with just some cream if you wanted to.

But this is all about luxury.

And I love this, popcorn with chocolate and caramel.

So the first thing we're going to do is melt the chocolate.

And I'm going to use this dark chocolate for this one.

Even white chocolate would work really well for this if you wanted to.

So while our chocolate is melting, we can get on and cook our popcorn.

And for that, you just need some plain oil and corn.

♪ ♪ I know it's the child in me, but every now and then, you've got to do that, haven't you?

What is it about this?

45 years cooking, ish, popcorn still makes you smile.

Right, into our chocolate, while your popcorn's nearly ready, I'm going to add some of this condensed milk caramel.

This on its own, without the mousse, is good enough.

Now, this should have finished.

[kernels popping] Stop it.

[kernels popping] Stop it!

[kernels popping] And then once you've got the chocolate and the caramel-- [kernels popping] --I'm going to throw that in here.

So now you've got chocolate and caramel-coated popcorn.

What it needs is salt, sea salt.

And then all you do is just pile it on top of the mousse.

♪ ♪ A little drizzle of salt.

♪ ♪ Bon appetit.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): So here's my poptastic Willy Wonka-style dessert, using some of Liam's incredible Welsh chocolate.

[whimsical music] ♪ ♪ I'm in Pembrokeshire, exploring the southwest coast of Wales.

And I'm about to do something against my better judgment-- in a wetsuit.

I know what you're thinking.

You don't need to comment.

I get enough grief as it is.

But we're looking for something, aren't we, Yun?

We certainly are.

We're here in the Pembrokeshire National Park.

And we're hunting rock samphire.

Grows up there on the cliffs.

Rock samphire, that's what we're after.

Right, let's go!

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): My guide is wild food man, Yun Hider.

JAMES MARTIN: Is it close?

YUN HIDER: Not far.

JAMES MARTIN: All right.

YUN HIDER: Not far at all.

♪ ♪ JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): He assures me the perfect vantage point for spotting rock samphire on the shore is from a canoe out at sea.

Yeah, right.

YUN HIDER: Well, it grows above the tideline and-- unlike all the other sea vegetables I collect a lot of, your sea beet and sea asters, which are all on the tideline.

So the rock samphire is normally at least a few feet above, and then anything up to 50 or 100 feet up the cliffs.

I mean, we've all heard of marsh samphire.

Yeah.

YUN HIDER: Now, marsh samphire, often people confuse rock samphire for marsh samphire.

And the marsh samphire actually grows on the sandy flats of-- inside the estuaries.

Yun, are you-- are you paddling?

Because I'm getting knackered here.

YUN HIDER: I'm-- I think I'm talking too much.

[laughter] When they're in flower, they become particularly easy to spot.

I'll leave you paddle there while I just have a quick look up here.

♪ ♪ JAMES MARTIN: I can think of easier ways to get it, though, to be honest with you.

Buying it from you probably would be the easiest way.

YUN HIDER: Certainly, yeah.

And that's been my task, to find these plants.

So, Yun, you know where it is?

- OK, so-- - Happy with that?

You've marked it?

Yeah, I've got it.

We just head in, and let's go get it.

Absolutely.

It's easier said than done on this thing, though, isn't it?

I'll try and keep up with your paddles.

Come on, then.

♪ ♪ JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Dry land at last.

More importantly, we've ditched the wetsuits.

See, Yun, the feel of terra firma.

- It's lovely, isn't it?

- Exactly.

It's-- - It was nice out there.

It is nice.

But we spotted it.

This is the stuff.

This is it, rock samphire.

OK.

Crithmum maritimum.

And-- It grows quite a way up, doesn't it, really, this-- this stuff?

- It certainly does.

I mean, we're lucky.

Here we've got a piece that's reasonably easy to access.

JAMES MARTIN: Seeing as I've done all the rowing, up you get.

OK.

Well, look, I'll leave you a bag to hold.

I'll put some gear down.

I'll leave this here.

Well, I'll catch if you fall.

Well, thank you.

I'm waiting.

I'm not going to fall.

That's not in the plan.

So this is it.

Now, not anybody can go and-- come and cut this, can they?

You've got to be licensed to do it?

Absolutely.

And this is an area of-- this is triple SI-- Special Scientific Interest.

It's a conservation area.

And these plants are all protected.

So, yeah, you need permission from the landowners.

And you certainly don't want to touch anything that you don't know what it is.

You make a mistake, and it could kill you.

Something I say to people is come and check the plants through the season.

Because one of the clear things to identify this particular plant, rock samphire, is when it goes in flower.

So you've got signs that help you identify it.

And I've had plants where I've seen them over a period of literally two or three years, and I-- thank you-- and I wait until I've seen it in flower and I'm absolutely certain.

If you're not 100% certain about a plant, don't bother.

Just enjoy looking at it.

Just pass you another little handful there.

And-- but as you can see, we've now pretty much picked this little spot here.

I'm going to leave a couple of pieces still growing.

JAMES MARTIN: Yeah.

But the point is that, as you see, now we've picked this.

Where we go to next starts to get pretty tricky.

Back in the 17th century, they were hanging children off the edge of the cliffs by their feet and letting them go and grab the bits beneath them.

So people went to great lengths.

It was an extremely popular herb.

I like how they hang the kids from the cliff edge, not themselves, though.

It's the ultimate free food, isn't it, really?

- It's absolutely lovely.

- Well, thanks for that.

I'm going to leave you to it.

My pleasure, buddy.

Enjoy.

- Brilliant.

You learn something every day.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): I'll be using some of that for my next dish, as it's the perfect garnish for a fantastic piece of fish.

This beautiful plaice.

You can tell it's a plaice because it's got the spots on it.

But what I'm going to do is just simply roast this bit of fish using some brown crab to make a sauce, also some fritters to go with it, for a texture to go with this wonderful little rock samphire.

So the first thing we're going to do is prepare our fish.

[uptempo guitar music] ♪ ♪ So get yourself a knife and just put it straight in the back there.

Follow that line all the way down and cut it right through the middle of it.

And what we end up with is two nice chunks of meat.

Look at that.

When you get fish like this and you've got this bone running through the center, try, wherever possible, keep it on there because it keeps it lovely and moist when it roasts in the oven.

And then grab some butter over the top.

Just a little bit.

Now, some of the best dishes I've ever had in my life have been roast fish on the bone, turbot, halibut.

Simply cooked with just a little bit of lemon at the end of it.

This is just the same.

It takes about 15, 20 minutes to roast this through in a hot oven.

And while that's roasting, I'm going to turn my attention to these little fritters.

So we've got butter, we've got flour, we've got eggs, and we've got water.

So first thing you want to do is add the water to the pan and some butter.

And it's a good idea to melt the butter before the water comes to the boil.

And by dicing the butter beforehand, it actually helps you with this.

So as soon as this comes to the boil, we add the flour.

And then keep it on the heat, and keep mixing this now.

Now, what you want to do is fry this till it starts to sizzle.

And by doing that, all this mixture sort of lumps together.

So once you've got to that stage, we can take it off the heat.

And then before I add the eggs to this, I'm also going to add the crab.

And I'm going to use brown crab for this.

There's so much more flavor and intensity in brown crab meat.

So you just give that a mix.

We can season this up.

Salt and pepper.

And then start to add the eggs.

Just as the mixture starts to cool slightly, add the eggs one by one.

Don't worry about it mixing up too much.

I want the texture of this.

I don't want it too fine, too mixed in too much, which is the complete opposite of what we're going to do with this sauce because this is a very, very quick and simple sauce in here.

You start off with a touch of white wine.

Fresh crab.

That gives you an almost instant stock, really.

Double cream.

And you just bring this to the boil and gently cook this for a couple of minutes.

Now we can cook our little fritters.

Now, you can do this in a piping bag if you want.

But because the crab is quite chunky, it's easier to use a spoon.

So dip it into the hot oil first, grab some of this crab mix, and just pop it in.

Now, each time you do it, it's a good idea just to dip the spoon into hot oil as well.

It just keeps it nice and clean.

But there's no need to be fancy with this.

It's all about the flavor.

So fry these for about 2 or 3 minutes.

♪ ♪ So when they're golden brown, we can just lift these out.

Now, these are fantastic if you want to do a little snack with a little bit of aioli, something like that, just a dish on its own.

Leave those to one side.

Turn our attention to the sauce now, which has been just gently simmering away nicely, because what I'm going to do now is just finish this off.

We add some butter, just a squeeze of lemon juice.

And then to combine it all together, take your sauce and give it a blitz.

[blender whirring] ♪ ♪ It's almost too good to serve as a sauce, really.

This is like a soup.

Now, to cook our rock samphire, you can either do this in butter just as it is, but I like to use a combination of butter and water and cook it for no more than about a minute to keep the color.

Now, while that's cooking away nicely, we can take our fish out.

♪ ♪ Trust me, roast fish on a bone like this is the best way to cook it.

Befriend your local fisherman.

Stay mates with your fishmonger.

It really is worth it.

We've got our fish.

And then we can simply plate this.

I've got some of this wonderful little sauce.

Look at that.

You've got the texture, the color of the brown crab as well.

And then you can lift off this fish as a whole piece right in the center.

Now, really, with this, you could serve it just like that.

But for added flavor, I've got some of these beautiful little beignets.

You see you've got the lovely color of that beautiful little bit of samphire.

The only thing it needs is right at the last minute, is just a squeeze of fresh lemon juice over the top.

That is a cracking meal.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): I can think of no better way to enjoy foraged samphire.

Delicious.

I'm exploring Pembrokeshire with my co-pilot, Stephen Terry.

We're just driving through St.

David's, which, by population, is the smallest city in the UK.

And I've got a surprise in store for Stephen.

Right, so we're heading somewhere now.

But it's a little treat for you, really.

I don't think you'll have even heard of this place before, let alone been there.

You certainly won't have eaten there.

But it's the only restaurant of its kind in the whole of the UK.

And it's in-- And it's about five minutes away from here.

OK.

So it's a restaurant?

Yep.

OK.

Unique?

Very unique.

OK.

I'm intrigued, I'm intrigued.

[cheerful tune] ♪ ♪ Hang on.

This here?

JAMES MARTIN: This is it.

STEPHEN TERRY: The Bug Farm?

JAMES MARTIN: The Bug Farm.

STEPHEN TERRY: "Welcome to the Bug Farm.

Grub."

JAMES MARTIN: Bon appetit.

We're going to eat some bugs?

Apparently so.

[laughter] JAMES MARTIN: I thought, bug farm, oh, man.

Not that I don't like your cooking, but this is a first for me.

I don't think I've ever eaten-- I've swallowed a fly once.

But I don't think I've ever eaten a bug.

♪ ♪ [engine rumbling] JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): This 100-acre working farm and research center is run by entomologist Dr.

Sarah Beynon and Chef Andy Holcroft.

Before we meet them, we're checking out the Bug Museum.

And I'm not convinced Stephen is entirely comfortable.

You know, you could say something's bugging him.

In fact, I think he's a bit jumpy.

[quirky music] Just wait till he finds out what's coming up.

Time to meet Sarah.

That's Dr.

Beynon to you and me.

♪ ♪ Welcome to the Bug Farm.

Wow.

Come on in.

And we're going to get you straight into it.

Right, OK.

So when people come to the Bug Farm, they get to meet some of the big bugs.

And these are some of our friends that come out in our up-close sessions.

This is Jessica.

So she's actually a green bean stick insect.

JAMES MARTIN: Well, what was it doing there?

So if you pop your hand in front of her, she's looking for somewhere to climb.

There we go.

Higher up.

And you just wait for every leg to be on you before-- before you move her off.

And she'll just-- she thinks you're a tree.

So she'll just climb up and then use your ear and sit on your head, if you would so desire.

What is this?

SARAH BEYNON: This is a Macleay's spectre stick insect.

So this is another type of stick insect-- there we go-- that camouflages wonderfully well with prickly vegetation.

But these guys just hang off vegetation.

He pretends to be a pod of beans.

Look at that thing!

Yeah, and this is only a baby.

So they grow like this kind of size.

And they curl their rear end over to pretend to be a scorpion.

So they just mimic a scorpion to pretend to be dangerous.

Just mimic, doesn't actually-- No, they can give a heck of a sting as well.

It can be really quite-- no, just mimic.

We wouldn't be here without them.

You know, a third of the food that we eat is pollinated by insects.

We did some research a few years ago that showed that British dung beetles, which most people don't think we even have in the UK, they can save our UK cattle industry about 367 million pounds a year by breaking down dung.

That's free fertilizer.

JAMES MARTIN: I mean, it is amazing.

Thank you so much for that.

[laughter] That's a pleasure.

This is just the beginning of the treat.

Is it?

I've got you one more.

Follow me.

Oh, my goodness.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Right, we're going to have some grub.

Um, grub consisting of some grubs.

Hey, guys.

How are you doing?

How are you doing?

You all right?

Good.

ANDY HOLCROFT: Got a little tasting board for you here.

- A tasting board.

- Yes.

That looks-- So have you ever tried edible insects before?

I can't say I have, not on purpose.

So what have we got here?

ANDY HOLCROFT: So on the plate here, we've got some vexo burgers.

So you don't necessarily see the insects.

And then we've got a black ant, goat's cheese, and jalapeno croquette.

STEPHEN TERRY: Mm.

ANDY HOLCROFT: So a few of the black ants, which go really well with creamy cheese.

[laughter] These are bug pakoras.

So these have some curried crickets-- JAMES MARTIN: Bug pakoras?

ANDY HOLCROFT: Yeah.

And then on the top here, you've got some honey and miso-glazed locusts.

- So what's in here?

- So this is the Bolognese.

JAMES MARTIN: So what bugs are in there?

Among the ones we use, there are buffalo worm.

- What would you like then?

- I don't know.

I quite fancy-- fancy a bit of that croquette, to be honest with you.

- The black ant?

Yeah.

So it's black-- black ant and goat's cheese.

ANDY HOLCROFT: Black ant, goat's cheese, and jalapeno.

And that's your curried cricket pakora.

Curried cricket.

Do you dip it in there?

Yeah, you dip it in some mango chutney.

That's the thing.

It's nice to have flavors that you can associate with as well when you're eating something a bit different to start with.

So you go back to the sort of grounding flavors, as well as, say, like, the mango chutney.

There's quite a bit of spice in that.

Yeah, that's the jalapenos.

So, yeah, it's nice to-- sometimes we do it cooling with mint.

What's that?

That's a-- It's a bit crunchy.

Crunchy?

Is that the-- the bugs are crunchy?

JAMES MARTIN: The bugs are crunchy, aren't they?

Yeah, yeah, they are.

Around the world, over 2 billion people eat insects every day.

And that's not just because they have to.

It's because they understand the environmental and the health benefits.

It's predicted that by 2050, there's going to be 9 or 10 billion of us on the planet.

So we're going to have to look at new, novel, innovative ways to feed a growing population.

And this-- this could be the future right here?

This could be the future, yeah, one of the future foods which are going to help to get enough protein into our diets.

It's a bit different to peanuts, isn't it?

[laughter] Black ant.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Now, quickly, before you turn over, it's time for me to make my final dish.

I don't think I'm quite ready to cook with bugs.

So I'm going to stick to something I know.

Right, I thought I'd show you how to make simple Welsh cakes, really.

These are cooked on a nice little hot griddle, which I've got heating up.

So first of all, we've got self-raising flour in here.

And then we need about 2 teaspoons of baking powder.

That's your rising agent in there.

And then we need some mixed spice.

Now, it's got to be mixed spice.

So a little bit of mixed spice in here.

Pop that in.

And then we can incorporate our sugar.

Bit of caster sugar.

And then throw in our butter.

So for this, it's a good idea to dice the butter, first of all, because what you need to do now is rub this in between your fingers and thumbs.

Now, these were often called Welsh miners' cakes because of the size.

It's thought that they fitted in the pockets, really, of the miners when they either went off to work or came back from work.

And people at home would make these for kids, really.

It's kind of for an afternoon tea snack.

But you just rub the butter together with the spices and everything else.

Now, it's a good idea to do this by hand.

A lot of the time, you make stuff like this, and scones in particular, by machine.

But if you rub it together with your fingers, they're much softer when you eat them.

Think of it like granny's biscuits and granny's cakes.

They always seemed to taste better back then because she didn't have the luxury of a fancy machine.

But we just mix this together.

Now, it almost comes together at this point.

We could just squeeze it together, and it would come together.

But now what I'm going to do is add our sort of currants, really.

Now, you can use currants or mixed peel, or a bit of both if you wanted to.

This is where recipes sort of vary.

But I'm going to keep it probably traditional, although you may get letters because some people say it's mixed peel as well.

But I'm going to throw in just the currants in here.

1 egg is all we need.

Like that.

And before we mix this together, I'm going to take our milk.

Now, for any youths watching this, this is a milk bottle.

This is how it used to arrive.

This was the excitement of a day when you were growing up as a kid.

But, look, milk.

I have a milk bottle.

2 tablespoons-ish, like that.

Then we mix this together.

But it'll just start to come together to this dough.

And you get this lovely mix, which it kind of gets the idea from this sort of scone mix.

It's very similar, really.

It's much better to do this by hand, anyway, really, particularly this type of mix.

So as it starts to come together, we don't want to overwork it, which is good.

I can then just put it onto our board.

Now, move the bowl to one side, and we'll just bring all this lot together.

Now, unlike a scone, which is baked in the oven, of course, these are cooked on an old skillet or a griddle, generally over an open fire, which we have over here.

But just a little bit of flour, and then we can roll this out.

Every time you do it, it's a good idea just to turn it a little bit, stop it from sticking.

Now, what you're after is something about I'd say 1/2 a centimeter.

But look.

Just turn it ever so slightly.

And that's what we're looking for.

Not too thick because, obviously, it's got to cook on this griddle as well, but not too thin.

We're not creating a little biscuit.

And then using your cutter, which a general rule is about 7 centimeters, we just cut this out.

[gentle guitar music] ♪ ♪ And then we can just basically lift these off and carefully griddle them.

They take about 3 minutes on each side.

But no oil, nothing.

Just straight onto your hot skillet.

♪ ♪ So now we just carefully flip them over.

Look at the color of that.

No oils needed.

This is what I love about these.

They're so quick to make and quick to cook.

Kind of one of these things that we don't do anymore.

Seems ridiculous when you see how quick and easy it is to make.

♪ ♪ So just to finish these off, I've got some beautiful-- I mean, just look at these.

Gorgeous, fresh, local strawberries and raspberries.

I mean, these are just beautiful.

Now, look at those.

There's no better fruit, is there, when they're in season?

Fresh strawberries.

Oh!

Delicious.

A few bits of that.

Then I've got some wonderful local honey.

I'm just going to drizzle that over the top.

Now, these are not far off.

Now, traditionally, what you would do is just sprinkle them with a bit of sugar over the top.

And these would be served either on their own or with some butter.

And then you've got to serve these warm.

You cannot serve them out of the fridge.

As easy as that.

So there you have Welsh cakes with fresh in-season strawberries and local honey.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): The perfect end to a perfect day in southwest Wales.

Well, this is where I kind of leave you, really.

But thank you for showing me a little bit of your neck of the woods, really.

It's been-- it's been amazing, a place where I've never been before.

Beautiful coastline, amazing scenery, amazing food.

Well, it's been fabulous to have joined you on this-- this part of your adventure.

And we've had a blast.

- You holiday here.

Yes.

And places that you didn't even know exist, I mean, Bugs, for instance.

- No, not a chance.

You're definitely going to come back, I think.

Absolutely, yeah.

And bring the kids down here, without a doubt.

Absolutely.

- And great chocolate.

And for me, amazing foraging as well.

Yep.

Been out and see that coastline is just spectacular.

That's amazing.

Going back to the chocolate, there's a little gift for you here, James.

All right.

This is a chocolate brick that was designed-- the flavors have been designed by me for you.

Liam has made it.

Oh, we've got a friend there.

Hello.

And so it's Peanut Butter Jelly Crunch.

It's signed and numbered for you.

And that's a little gift for you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, mate.

I'll have that for my next journey.

But, I mean, the highlights for me of the-- the entire trip so far, I think, has definitely been Gareth's cooking.

Got to be honest here, absolutely.

Yeah, yeah It was incredible.

He's just elevating cooking in Wales, I mean, just to the next level.

I mean, really, really seriously cooking, but so unpretentious and very enjoyable.

James.

- Cheers, mate.

- Thank you.

- Cheers, mate.

Cheers.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪