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Our foodie scene has come a long way in the last 20 years. But in another sense it hasn’t. Let us explain. Snowdonia Mountains and Coast is bursting with quality local produce – Welsh lamb and Black beef, farmhouse cheeses and Dyfi salmon, and sensational seafood from the rich waters of Cardigan Bay.The produce has always been there, freshly sourced and home-grown. There’s no worry about food miles or issues of provenance because it’s all there on our doorstep. The difference nowadays is that this fabulous local produce has helped transform bistros and fine dining restaurants, cafés and country inns throughout the region. |
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Castle Cottage
We’re thinking of chefs like Glyn Roberts of Castle Cottage, Harlech, who built up a five-star restaurant with rooms from small beginnings. Glyn’s sublime cooking, praised in good food guides everywhere, has won him the top ‘True Taste Eating out in Wales’ award. But he’s the first to acknowledge his debt to local suppliers when he says ‘the quality of the produce has transformed our business’.
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Plas Bodegroes
Other chefs cooking up a storm in Snowdonia include Chris Chown from Plas Bodegroes on the Llŷn Peninsula and Peter Jackson at Hotel Maes-y-Neuadd, Talsarnau. Chris was a true pioneer. Plas Bodegroes is not the easiest place to get to. Yet Chris made it into one of the first ‘destination’ restaurants in Wales, attracting foodies from far and wide on the strength of his contemporary cooking and local flavours on seasonal menus featuring lobster, sea bass, lamb and beef.
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Cadwaladers
We even have our own home-grown ice-cream. Cadwaladers, now a well-known brand, began life in a small shop in Criccieth in 1927. It’s still made to the same secret recipe – and has grown into a chain of Cadwaladers cafés.
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There’s more fine dining in places like Portmeirion’s stunning hotel and Castell Deudraeth, Rhiwafallen and Tŷ’n Rhos (both near Caernarfon), Palé Hall near Bala and The Castle Hotel in the heart of Conwy. Trendy bistros and country inns are also thick on the ground – for a tasting take a look at Dylanwad Da, Dolgellau, Venetia at Abersoch (where Wales meets Italy), The Groes Inn near Conwy and Amser Da at Llanrwst. Not to mention stylish new cafés (Caban, the veggie heaven near Llanberis, for example) and traditional tearooms (try the home-baked rosemary drizzle cake at the National Trust’s Penrhyn Castle, Bangor, or the home-made cakes, scones and jams at Dolfrwynog Tea Garden near Dolgellau).
You can shop for local flavours too. Blas ar Fwyd delicatessen in Llanrwst operates in tandem with Amser Da restaurant. Edwards of Conwy is possibly the most famous butchers’ shop in Wales, with an exciting – and beautifully presented – range of produce that might make a vegetarian think twice. And if you think that all Spar shops are the same, go to Conrad Davies’s award-winning store in Pwllheli which ‘carries one of the most fantastic ranges of Welsh food I have ever seen’, according to one happy customer.