Beaumaris Restaurant Guide

This “busy restaurant with a lovely view of the Menai Straits” from its “airy” conservatory – is “a good place for an everyday meal” – “mussels and seafood are not-surprisingly a good place to start your choices” – on a menu that combines Welsh produce in popular dishes from around the world. The Menai Bridge originally opened in 2012 and has been followed by four branches across north Wales, the most recent of which opened last year in Barmouth.

Under chef Stephen Stevens, this moodily converted butcher’s shop just over the Menai Bridge has become one of the most accoladed dining destinations in Wales, providing “a unique culinary journey” based on “a series of dishes using the best locally sourced produce available… on the day” for £175 per person. Feedback remains more limited than we’d like, though, and remains a tad up and down. The least favourable view? “Very good but overpriced”.

2024 Review: “The only recognised fish restaurant in the area” – this Grade II listed building has housed Don & Gill Hadwin’s split-level venture for two decades, with an informal bistro downstairs and a Victorian-style dining room on the upper level.

2023 Review: In the “stylish National Trust-owned surroundings” of this Grade I-listed seventeenth-century manor house on the outskirts of town – run these days as a spa hotel – this dining room is notable for its reliable standards, although it is “not adventurous in any way”, and the formality can make for a “slightly stuffy atmosphere” for some tastes. Unless you have a major appetite, you do “need to decide between afternoon tea and dinner” – both would be a stretch!

Comfortable “well-situated” pub with “lovely views”, a “pleasant ambience” and a “decent menu that has something for everyone” – part of the well-run Brunning and Price stable, its old furniture and book-lined dining rooms add an air of relaxation.

A heavenly presence in Menai Bridge for near a decade (it relocated to its current premises a few years back), this bright and airy dining room has won a firm local following for chef Mike Jones’s “super flavours” and “inventive small plates”, with the “regularly changing menu” cherry-picking inspiration from around the globe, albeit with an Asian bias showcased by dishes like Korean-fried chicken (the in-house signature, meanwhile, is the twice-baked soufflé with balsamic grapes).

“Be prepared for a treat”, with “impeccably sourced ingredients, wonderful cooking and great presentation” combining for “Welsh cuisine at its best” at this four-year-old venture from locally born ex-Fat Duck chef Nick Rudge, whose nine-course tasting menus reflect his interest in Welsh history (a ‘Jackdaw’ is a traditional nickname for people born within Conwy’s castle walls). There’s a “long and interesting wine list organised by distance”, which introduces “the interesting concept of wine mileage”, with “help at hand from the friendly and well-informed front of house staff”.

Amidst the cute Victoriana of this genteel Welsh tourist town, you can briefly imagine yourself in a hipper locale with the modern wood interior and aroma of fresh brews at this superior coffee shop (they do also serve tea). The scoff is good, while recognising that the summit of its culinary ambitions is Welsh Rarebit followed by a nice slice of Bara Brith.

2023 Review: “Best Chinese in Llandudno” is arguably a double-edged compliment to this well-established fixture, which occupies an old ice cream factory in this characterful Victorian seaside resort. But local reporters say its cooking is “consistently good” – “vegetables and fish dishes always seem particularly fresh and tasty”.