Google maps. Google bloody maps. The app that allowed Uber to exist, giving anyone with a licence and four wheels the ability to taxi people to just about anywhere, via the means of a phone screen located just to the left of the drivers wheel. In many ways Google Maps has been the death of the Hackney Taxi (that’s a black cab, thicko), and was almost the death of us in a car to Tyddyn Llan. One hour from Shrewsbury, first under the shadow of the green rolling hills, then up into the mountains, then up again and through the mountain pass that at times is one car wide with nothing to stop you going over. Sophie with her eyes closed, me pretending not to be scared. Then, when we thought the worst was over, a sharp bank left to the kind of gradient that wouldn’t look out of place in the Vuelta Espana, one car wide and bracken either side, brakes enjoying it even less than Sophie. We would roll into the lush grounds of the hotel some five minutes later to be told that there was a flat route that would have taken ten minutes longer, and that someone went over the edge of that cliff not that long ago. Like I said, Google bloody maps.
But we are here now, a gorgeous room that overlooks the edge of Snowdonia, and gardens that demand sitting while drinking in multiple locations. First the veranda, then as the sun drops the benches a little further out by the ornamental pool. Great cocktails, like really great cocktails and into the dining hall that is as serene as it is pretty. Snacks of hash brown with whipped cods roe and a Jammy Dodger of wholemeal pastry, chicken liver parfait, and green apple jelly are excellent, as are the shards of chicken skin to dredge the guacamole that is high in basil. I don’t think we see enough chicken skin and guacamole. It deserves to be ‘a thing’.
It’s clear that Gareth Stevenson and the team want accolades and if this meal is anything to go by, they’ll come, and come relatively quickly at that. I’ve eaten in far worse starred restaurants for sure. We have bread that’s just great bread to eat, nothing fancy, just a delicate crust and wonderful flavour. Two types of butter, both made inhouse, the mushroom one that tastes of marmite is a bit nicer than the more traditional one that is struggling on this freakishly hot evening for mid Wales. Then the most beautiful tomato dish of sweet and sour tomatoes in a tomato dashi, with basil pesto, creme fraiche and slivers of green olive. The dish of the night for the both of us, the gentle but persistent acidity is expertly in equilibrium with the sweet tomatoes. I believe the Welsh would call this ‘lush’. Prawns with courgette, bisque, and lemongrass puree feels atypical of the style here; light and refined, with a nod towards the exotic. The quality of the prawns are impeccable.
Then the two courses from which we get to choose. We both take lamb over beef because everyone knows that lamb is better than beef. The saddle is cooked to a soft medium, exactly how it should be, on a kind of smokey baba ghanoush. A skewer of the barbecued breast glazed in pomegranate molasses, pomegranate, and a quenelle of something herby and garlicky that riffs gently on chermoula. It doesn’t need the pot of labneh that sits in a bowl in the background. We have cheese with date loaf and pickled walnut puree, then one of each dessert; strawberries in various ways that I actually think would be improved without the slightly distracting coconut foam, and an excellent take on After Eights that keeps the chocolate in check with some bold herbaceous notes from the mint. Petit fours back on the terrace with a Welsh Coffee, back to room to fall to sleep with the sound of nocturnal nature coming through our open windows. Pure bliss.
The one night deal of £320 for two including room, dinner, feels outrageous value at breakfast the following morning, and to our bill you can add the cocktails and an excellent bottle of US pinot noir that at £59 isn’t even double the retail value. We loved it and would have stayed longer given the chance; playing croquet on the terrace, or just meandering around the grounds, watching the lambs and the cows in the neighbouring fields. It’s two hours away from Birmingham, or two and a bit if you take the flat route, yet it feels a million miles away from the noise and the pollution. Tydyyn Llan is a superb restaurant in the most idyllic of places. We can’t wait to go back.
9/10
Sign up to the newsletter here
https://blog.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=08c98db0e9d6eb9e5b54695a1&id=eda85ee6f4
