The Welsh Rarebit Pilgrimage

Welsh rarebit (not "rabbit" - there's no meat in it) is the most famous Welsh dish and one of the oldest recipes in the British Isles: a thick sauce of strong Cheddar (or Caerphilly, if you're keeping it properly Welsh), flour, butter, English mustard, a splash of beer or ale and a dash of Worcestershire sauce, spread generously on thick toast and grilled until it blisters and bubbles. It sounds like cheese on toast. It is not cheese on toast. The sauce is richer, sharper, more complex - a cooked roux enriched with ale and mustard that clings and pulls and tastes nothing like a slice of slapped-on Cheddar.

Cardiff is the right place to eat it: Wales' small, lively, rugby-mad capital, with a castle in the city centre, a brilliant covered market and a food scene that's grown up fast. Welsh rarebit appears on pub menus, cafe boards and restaurant starters across the city, sometimes with a poached egg on top (that's "buck rarebit"), sometimes with Glamorgan sausages (cheese-and-leek, meat-free) alongside. A rarebit and a pint in a Cardiff pub, the accent thick and the rugby on the screen, is a simple, perfect lunch - and the cheapest pilgrimage on the map.