Gwynedd Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: “A lovely, warm dining environment and excellent tasting menu” is the main impression given by this well-known, slightly offbeat fixture: a converted shed in a caravan park, which in the evening offers three-course, five-course and seven-course menu options. There was also the odd letdown reported last year, however.

All reports acknowledge the “great building and position” – a stylish modern structure with “terrific views over the Menai Straits” – at this waterside venue (with branches now in Criccieth and Llandudno) and there’s always a decent crowd here. But some diners feel there’s “always a slight disappointment” about the “very average” nosh: “I felt the accountants are in charge, not the chefs”.

“Outstanding” or “good but overly pricey”? Both strands of thought are still evident in diner feedback on Stephen Stevens’ ambitious venue, in a converted butcher’s just over the Menai Bridge. Its renown has been boosted in recent times both by a Michelin star and four hard-to-win rosettes from the AA. It’s only open three nights per week, offering a ‘unique culinary journey’ for £175 per person.

2019 Review: The 15th-century Bull inn has been modernised in recent years, with young chef Andy Tabberner charged with producing a sophisticated modern menu. The results can be “a bit hit & miss, but more often hit than miss” – and the ratings are strong overall. (There’s also “lovely decor and outside area” in the cheaper ground floor brasserie).

2022 Review: This large, family-run modern brasserie serves a well-received mix of standard dishes including burgers and pasta, with a choice of more unusual signature ‘Singapore-style’ curries. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be a catch at all.

“An amazing location on the Isle of Anglesey” inspires nothing but good vibes at this striking looking, glass-walled destination, overlooking the dunes above Traeth Llydan beach, where “great seafood is served with panache”. “The entertainment offered by Valley RAF can add to the experience!” (the nearby airfield being home to No 4 Flying Training School, the UK’s centre for training fighter pilots).

No reports yet on this ambitious 30-seater, which opened in autumn 2021 run by ex-Fat Duck chef Nick Rudge. In May 2022, though, Marina O’Loughlin from The Sunday Times made the trip to this “small room in a curiously gothic building (that was formerly Conwy’s cinema and bingo hall”), finding a “scene of buzz and busyness, full and welcoming” and food that “elicits a great sigh of relief”. Local ingredients make up dishes full of flourishes – not everything works, but she was “mollified by a riot of Welsh cheeses”. She concludes: “there’s no doubt that Rudge can cook. If he concentrated more on showcasing the innate quality of the spectacular Welsh produce he’s using and less on the likes of Great British Menu, he’d be unstoppable”.