Tyddyn Llan – Llandrillo, Wales

INTRODUCTION:

A couple of weeks ago I visited Tyddyn Llan, a quaint fine dining establishment nestled in a smal village in North Wales, with my partner. I can say for certain that this was one of the finest meals I've had in the UK, and I have to apologise in advance for the poor photos, I'm not a great shoot and I was itching to eat during most of the shots.

FOOD:

Notably Tyddyn Llan is also a hotel, though they call themselves a "restaurant with rooms", which isn't unheard of in the UK countryside. We had arrived the night before, but after dinner service, so our first encounter with the cooking was breakfast. It was technically a 6 course set breakfast menu (though you can take things off if you aren't up for it). I asked the waitress why it's so hearty, and she said it's because a lot of their clients like to go on a hike in nearby Snowdonia, so a big breakfast is in order. I wish I had taken pictures because it was a gorgeous meal – from in-house toast with handmade whipped butter; handmade muffins and oats, locally sourced sausages, eggs (from the chickens of a member of staffs sister) and bacon. I don't normally care for black pudding but I loved the one given to us. Even the coffee was sourced from a local roaster, which isn't common in these sorts of establishments, in my experience.

Now for what this subreddit is for, the dinner experience. To begin with, we were taken in to the lounges and given the menus for the evening and our canapes. The lounge was beautifully decorated and felt incredibly cozy and welcoming. We were told it was recently completely renovated by the new owners, the Head Chef and his partner and Front of House Manager.

The canapes were gorgeous and I wish I hadn't forgotten to take a picture because they had this one play on the jammie dodger, made with chicken liver & foie gras parfait, blood orange & campari jelly, and a buckwheat & fennel biscuit that was to die for. There was also a nori and uni bite that was delicious and all ingredients sourced in North Wales. To pair, we had some some of the house cocktails, though they offer a wine flight and by the bottle, we aren't heavy drinkers so held off on that. CANAPES: 9/10

Next we had the bread which was a gorgeous sourdough made with a local stout beer, served with two types of homemade butter. To say that this was my favourite restaurant bread in a while would be an understatement – it was hearty, rustic, and delicious and the mushroom butter was great. BREAD COURSE: 9/10

Following that was a dish of local scallops that was well seasoned, though I don't normally care for scallops, my partner loved it. SCALLOPS: 7.5/10

Afterwards was a dish of braised pork cheeks, orange, and walnuts. I loved the pairing of pork and citrus as I normally find pork dished to be quite bland and the acidity worked great to soften the earthiness of the walnuts. PORK: 8/10

The next dish was quite possibly one of my favourites, it was crab, melon, and beetroot. It was so refreshing I was genuinely shocked. I didn't think thise flavours would work together, but lo and behold, I fell in love with it. To me this dish was almost like eating a summers day on the beach here in the north of England. CRAB: 9.5/10

After that we had a stuffed pasta with potatoes, a cheese sauce, and coffee. This dish was quite hearty and the texture from the coffee dusting worked wonders with the relative softness of the pasta and potatoes. The additional bitterness also helped cut back the richness of the dish as well, which was nice because I normally don't care for very rich meals. PASTA: 8.5/10

Next seafood was a sole with smoke ratte potatos and a cockle dashi sauce. The fish was cooked beautifully and the sauce was divine. My only critique is that I wish the potatos had been softer as I normally prefer them that way (never cared for a roastie). SOLE: 8/10

Next up was the main, where I got the lamb and my partner got the beef and I stole some from her! I've had my fair share of lamb growing up where I did and north Wales is famous for it's lamb, so I knew it would be great. It exceeded my expectations – best lamb I ever ate. LAMB: 10/10

As for the beef, it matched up as a very equal contender with the lamb. The night before we had eaten at Ynshir, about an hour away on the other end of Eryri, and had the wagyu there, and the British Black Beef we had at Tyddyn Llan was every bit as delicious, if not matching in just how buttery soft the wagyu was. BEEF: 9/10

Following this was a taste of local cheese and a citrus tart. This was the only dish I felt was "okay". Both components were fine, but I felt it was uninspired visually and gastronomically I can "see" the idea, I just felt that it could be rethought because how it was done left a lot to be desired. CHEESE: 5/10

The pre-dessert on the other hand was awesome. A perfect blood orange sorbet and ice with perfect cinammon and sugar doughnuts that cleansed the palate and increased my desire for more sweetness to come. This was better than most FULL desserts I've had at starred restaurants elsewhere. PRE-DESSERT: 10/10

As for dessert, it was also excellent. It was a citrus and vanilla tart. Beautifully executed and oh-so pretty, and my partner was full at this point and skipped hers so I couldn't try the other option which was a chocolate one. Not much else to say: DESSERT: 9/10

There was also petit fours and coffee/tea either at the table or in the lounge if you fancied a post dinner treat, but we opted out as we were quite full at this point. Just on an overall food experience I would say that this was in my top 5-10 experiences in the last year, only being beaten out by Mýse, Hélène Darroze, and L'enclume, and Core by Clare Smyth, afterwards it's a bit cloudy but on a dining level it was comparable to Moor Hall, Lympstone Manor, Ynshir, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, the Hand & Flowers, and Mana. Overall: 93.5/100.

SERVICE:
The service was friendly and non-pretentious, and quite professional. It felt like they loved their jobs and wanted to truly get to know you, the only downside being that my waitress was a bit older and had a hand cast on (apparently she had injured her wrist at home), which made me a bit uncomfortable watching – I would have preferred she rest at home, but she said she wanted to be in. Maria and Emily were very nice and welcoming throughout and knew everything on the menu and drinks front and back. Nothing seemed like rote memorisation, and Emily selected some great drinks for our food, including some interesting wines from more exotic locations including local Welsh and Moroccan. Overall: 7/10

LOCATION:
North Wales/ Snowdonia is a genuine contender for the most beautiful place on Earth (albeit rainy). The drive there from Manchester was gorgeous and full of beautiful twisty and turny country and mountain rodes. The property as well is a wonderful listed property that was apparently a hunting lodge in the Duke of Westminsters estate long ago. I'm a republican (British version, not American) so I didn't really care for that tidbit. The lounge and dining spaces have been gorgeously redone and were very inviting to be in, and using them for pre- and post-dinner was a welcome addition to the service. However, our room for the night, whilst comfortable was very dated. Apparently there is a reno atex room that's quite popular, and more renovations are on the way, so that's good news as I would have opted for that instead of the room we had which looked to be inherited from the 80s. Overall: 10/10 for Snowdonia, 8/10 for the building, 7/10 for our room

FINAL THOUGHTS:
On a purely gastronomic level, there are very few restaurants in the UK that are performing at a higher level at this moment, and I've been to quite a few in the UK. Relative to Europe as well, this was one of the best meals I've had in a fine dining context. After 10+ courses, a few bottles of wine, and a perfect breakfast – I felt that the price was more than reasonable and I look forward to going back in the spring or summer, and I am shocked they don't yet have a star. I wouldn't be surprised if this became a destination restaurant sooner rather than later (North Wales as a whole is a very underrated culinary hotspot), it's very, very comparable to Ynshir.

TOTAL PRICE PER PERSON: £185 for dinner, bed, and breakfast. Alcohol was another £120.