A small Welsh dining room in a corner of Penarth, kept by James Sommerin and his family — a Michelin star, four AA Rosettes, and an eight-course surprise menu cooked from the…
The verdict
A corner of Royal Buildings on the Penarth seafront — slatted timber, brushed-steel pendants, an open kitchen at the back. James Sommerin cooks with his daughter Georgia at the pass, his wife Louise and her sister Catherine on the floor; the menu is a surprise, written each season from the Glamorgan coast and the Monmouthshire woods. Quiet, deeply Welsh, and built on a name the family carry between them — *Home*.
From the editors · Vedere House
The particulars
Setting
1 Royal Buildings, Stanwell Road, Penarth CF64 3EB — a corner room in a small Edwardian terrace a short walk from the Penarth pier and the Cardiff Bay barrage
House
A single dining room in slatted oak and brushed steel — heat-lamp pendants over a long pass, a wall of vertical light strips, the kitchen open to the room
Kitchen
James Sommerin (chef-patron) with his daughter Georgia Sommerin — a kitchen of two, cooking shoulder to shoulder
Floor
Louise Sommerin (operations) and her sister Catherine — daughter Angharad on the dining-room floor
Awards
One Michelin star · 4 AA Rosettes · AA Notable Wine List
Format
An eight-course surprise tasting £145 — a four-course Friday/Saturday lunch £70, a three-course Sunday lunch £55, two wine pairings £70 / £110
Cellar
An AA-Notable list with a long Champagne and Sauternes shelf — six- and ten-glass pairings drawn for the menu
Country
Welsh suppliers — fish from the Glamorgan and West Wales coasts, game and herbs from the Monmouthshire forests, vegetables from the Vale around Cardiff
Service
Friday and Saturday — lunch and dinner; Sunday lunch only — closed Monday to Thursday
Best for
A long Welsh evening from Cardiff (six miles north) or a short walk back along the Penarth seafront
Penarth sits on the heel of the Glamorgan coast, six miles south of Cardiff and a short walk along the esplanade from the pier. Royal Buildings is a small Edwardian terrace a block back from the front; Home is the corner unit. James Sommerin grew up in Welsh kitchens — Newport at twelve, Usk after school, The Crown at Whitebrook as head chef from 2003. He won his first Michelin star at the Crown in 2007 and his second on the Penarth seafront in the years that followed; the second was lost through the pandemic. He opened Home with his wife Louise and his daughters Georgia and Angharad, around the corner from the room he had to close, and the star came back to the door soon after.
“
The only thing that comes to mind when you think of love and family is 'Home'.
”
James Sommerin
The format is a single surprise menu, eight courses at dinner and on Friday and Saturday lunch, four at midweek lunch, three on a Sunday. The dining room is small — slatted oak walls, brushed-steel pendants, vertical strips of warm light, an open kitchen at the back. James cooks the savoury sections; Georgia, who first cooked Great British Menu at twenty as the show's youngest-ever competitor, cooks pastry and works the rest of the line beside him. The pass is low; the dining room is three steps away; you watch the plates leave. Louise runs the floor with her sister Catherine, and the wine list — AA Notable — runs longer than the room.
The cooking is unfussy in feel and tightly drawn. Glamorgan and West Wales fish, game and herbs out of Monmouthshire, vegetables and dairy from the Vale; the seasoning is sharp, the plating quiet, the menu written that morning. The room is open Friday and Saturday for lunch and dinner and Sunday for lunch — closed Monday to Thursday, the two cooks restored. Cardiff is six miles back up the bay road; the long way home is along the seafront, past the pier, the lights on the barrage.
Signature moments
01
A Welsh chef, twice
James Sommerin came up through Welsh kitchens — Chez Giovanni in Newport at twelve, Cwrt Bleddyn near Usk after school, then north to Scotland under Richard Lythe and back to Wales as sous chef of *The Crown at Whitebrook* in 2000. He took the head-chef role in 2003 and won his first Michelin star there in 2007. The Crown closed in 2013; in 2014 he opened *Restaurant James Sommerin* on the Penarth Esplanade, won a star there, and lost it through the pandemic when the restaurant became unviable. *Home* is the third act — a small room around the corner from the seafront, a kitchen of two, and the star back on the door soon after the lights came on.
02
A father, a daughter
Georgia Sommerin started in her father's kitchen at thirteen and went full time at seventeen. In 2020 she became the youngest competitor ever to cook on *Great British Menu*; she has cooked the show twice. The two work the line together — James on the savoury sections, Georgia on pastry and across the rest — a single bench, a low pass, the dining room three steps away. The cooking moves quietly between them. *The only thing that comes to mind when you think of love and family is 'Home'*, the chef has said of the name.
03
An eight-course surprise
The menu is written in the morning. There is no card on the table, no choice except dietaries set at booking — *most can be catered for as long as they are stated at the time of booking*, the front of house writes. Eight courses arrive in sequence at dinner; four at lunch, eight again on Friday and Saturday lunch, three on a Sunday. Wine flows in two pairings, six glasses or ten — an AA Notable list weighted toward Champagne and Sauternes, the cellar deeper than the room would suggest. The cooking is tightly seasonal and unmistakably Welsh; the seasoning is sharp; the plating is calm.
