Wales (and food)

We left Bath this morning after another large Full English brekky. Tummies full, we wended our way through the backstreets of Bath at the command of the GPS, who I swear has homicidal tendencies (or at least a sadistic sense of humour). We may have also managed to scratch the doorhandle of the hire car. Good thing we went for the extra insurance!

After many winding roads and venturing in, then out, then back into Wales, we made our way to Tyddyn Llan, a Michelin-star restaurant with a hotel attached, in Llandrino, near Snowdonia National Park. We had decided that since we were going to only be in Wales for two days, why not make the most of it and go for some nice food!

The hotel/restaurant is in an old building whose floor creaks terribly, and has a pronounced list in the staircase. Even tiptoeing down the corridor produces a series of creaks and groans from the floorboards – but hey, the food is good!

When we were shown into the lounge to have nibbles and a drink before dinner, I was quite worried at the difference in the “gluten free” starter and the normal one. Mine’s the one on the right. Hmm. Not a good start. However, they picked up extremely quickly, letting me know which dishes were GF or able to be made GF, which only knocked out a third of the menu, and presenting me with a gluten free bread roll fresh out of the oven. Now that’s more like it!

I started with the Scottish scallops, which were divine. R’s game terrine was pretty amazing too (hmm, might have that tomorrow night). We followed those with turbot on a bed of leek risotto (hey, we’re in Wales: must eat leeks!) and monkfish with mashed potato. Nummy. Then I had the pannacotta with fresh figs (not locally sourced unlike most of the other food, I would imagine!) and R devoured the ginger steamed pud with custard. Ahh…

We tried to tiptoe upstairs, but may not have been terribly successful. The hotel cat, who had barely lifted a whisker in greeting earlier, looked up in disgruntlement as we trundled past its sleeping place after dinner.