Portmeirion

Portmeirion Hotel
Penryndaedreuth, Gwynedd

Dinner at the Hotel Portmeirion is a treat worth booking in advance (01766 772440). The view across the Estuary while you dine in stylish yet relaxed surroundings is wonderful in any weather and if the weather is fine you can conclude the meal with coffee on the terrace. The a la carte menu showcases seasonal Welsh produce in a range of contemporary dishes with healthy portions and includes a vegetarian option. Service is proper yet friendly, just how you want a good country hotel to be (evening meal is a more formal affair and pre-booking is always advised). For example you are not too embarrassed when the waiter spots you furtively waving a lobster claw to amuse your dining partner… The price of the Lunch includes admission to the village for the rest of the day (closing time in summer months is 7.30pm) so you can stroll the gardens, coastal paths and the architectural treats at your leisure. Recently they have introduced a 'Pub Lunch' style menu and this is often available without prior booking.

The Portmeirion Website

Some meals we have enjoyed at Portmeirion:

Roast beef – a cylinder of perfectly cooked beef sat on a disc of Yorkshire pudding with a matching disc of frois gras on top capped with a shaving of black truffle. The best piece of beef I’ve eaten. This was before BSE, and our impressive introduction to the cuisine at Hotel Portmeirion.

Roast venison – tender, medium rare, sliced, marinated and served in a ginger wine sauce. Wild venison delivers what you’d expect from best steak with a more reliable texture and depth of flavour – the perfect alternative in the days after BSE…

Lobster – a large perfectly cooked, succulent lobster dressed with basil oil and garnished with salmon caviar. Delicious.

Tranche of salmon – again a generous cut, perfectly cooked with a range of pink from delicate to deep, crispy singed skin to hold it together and add to the flavour and texture, served on a bed of vegetable ‘noodles’ (long thin juliennes of steamed courgette, carrot and herbs)

Wood pigeon – smoked and served on a bed of crisp green salad, tender and rich in both texture and flavour.

An outstanding and memorable desert was fresh steamed figs set in a circle around a sphere of deliciate (that’s both delicious and delicate) elderflower sorbet on a base of a vanilla ‘custard’. The best dessert I can remember, although their bara brith bread and butter pudding is also impressive…

It seems most appropriate that the first entry on the Plate Up blog is the Hotel Portmeirion for a number of reasons: Firstly, it is good and sets a high benchmark for all Welsh cuisine venues (it has been high up in various polls and charts over the years and has rated top 50 in the UK); it delivers top quality ‘London standard’ menu at about half the price it would cost in a big city; it is versatile and maintains a balance between relaxed and ‘posh’ so that it always seems special but not intimidating; we have been dining there for more than a decade and it has never disappointed; it is in Portmeirion Village as seen in:
The Prisoner, Doctor Who: The Masque Of Mandragora, Under Suspicion, Captain Adorable, and music videos for Supergrass and Jane Oliver...