Any port in a storm, as the saying goes. It’s not quite a storm – more persistent malingering drizzle – but on a dismally damp day in Tenby when every pub or café seems to be either full or closed, we’re grateful for anywhere that might offer shelter and sustenance. Enter The Stowaway.

The Stowaway isn’t quite a port, either, but it’s about as close as you can get – located in a Grade 2 listed archway on the sloping street down to the town’s harbour. Having ordered at the counter, we take a seat at one of the three tables, noting how the plank-lined walls and ceiling make you feel as though you’re in the hull of an upturned boat.

The options are limited (no doubt due to the considerable limitations on space), but who needs choice when their primary offering is so good? A warm rustic baguette oozing with mustard-heavy rarebit, sliced tomato and spinach for a hint of healthiness, and the special ingredient: some bonus chorizo. Truly, it’s the finest fusion of Welsh and Spanish since Gareth Bale was integrated into the Real Madrid team.

And then there are the sausage rolls, the size of a fist and packed with perfectly herbed pork. The puff pastry disintegrates to leave a carpet of gold flakes on your plate. Cue frantic finger-licking and dabbing to ensure they don’t go to waste.

There are deli crisps and bagged snacks galore, the sort to treat the taste buds but give your bank manager a mild panic attack; a wide array of flavoured hot chocolates; and – most importantly for the bedraggled, fatigued parents among us – coffees sufficiently stout in strength to be described as genuinely eye-opening.

Empty when we arrived, what seemed like a secret hideaway is bustling by the time we venture back out into the rain. We may have come in desperation, but next time we’ll be making a very deliberate beeline for this little gem.

The Stowaway, Penniless Cove Hill, Tenby. Info: 07971 783319 / Facebook

words and photos BEN WOOLHEAD