Anglesey: a great destination for food lovers

I’ve been going to north and mid wales for almost thirty years, and to Anglesey for the last six. I fell for this fabulous island straight away and, recently returned from our latest stay in Rhosneigr, in this post I share some of the great food we enjoyed in cafes, pubs and restaurants as well as produce from local markets, farm shops and delis.

For our first holiday in Anglesey, in 2012, we stayed in one of the two wonderful lighthouse keeper’s cottages at stunning Point Lynas on the island’s north coast. Two of the abiding, happy memories of that stay were the local ponies sticking their heads through the kitchen window while we were having breakfast and also watching and porpoise just off the point. Since then, we must have explored almost the whole coast of Anglesey, but for recent holidays we’ve stayed in Rhosneigr where it’s really all about the beach – and eating, of course – so that’s at the centre of this post, with a few detours a little further afield.

RHOSNEIGR MARKET

On the first full day of our holiday this year we had a real stroke of luck: Rhosneigr Market was taking place in the village hall. Only half an hour after opening, the place was packed with people enjoying some great Welsh food and crafts and I came away with a very nice little haul of goodies.

Just inside the village hall was a long table packed with an enormous range of products which, incredibly, were all homemade by the mother and daughter team at The Celtic Kitchen with mum running the stall that day. I didn’t count the number of different cakes, teacakes, scones and flapjacks on offer but there must have been a dozen or more, as well as traditional and buttery Welsh Cakes and fruity Bara Brith.

There were at least two types of homemade quiche, as well as big bowls of crunchy salad to go with them. As a preserve maker myself, I was really impressed with their array of chutneys, jams, lemon curd and marmalade, all looking bright and tempting in their shiny jars.

From The Celtic Kitchen I bought a slice of tasty homemade cheddar and smoked bacon quiche for a snack and a jar of cinnamon marmalade. This was exactly the sort of marmalade I like, not too bitter, with plenty of fruity taste.

They weren’t stingy with the cinnamon either, giving the preserve a warmly spicy edge. It was fab on malted grain toast with lots of Calon Wen Welsh butter, but I could’ve kicked myself for not buying one of The Celtic Kitchen’s organic loaves as I bet they would have been super too.

Up on the next level of the village hall was a huge array of fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs and more from Tatws Bryn. Tatws Bryn is a family business, established in 1952, supplying homegrown vegetables via its box scheme. It can supply hotels, guest houses, pubs and restaurants with great local produce too.

I was really impressed by the range on offer and everything looked so fresh – not surprising as the veg is usually picked and delivered the same day. The greens and salad leaves looked particularly good – a world away from those puffed up supermarket bags of leaves, often several days old after being transported around the country before they eventually hit the shelves.

I bought a few ingredients to make salads over the coming days, wishing Tatws Bryn was on the doorstep for the next two weeks of our holiday so we could stock up with this wonderful produce every couple of days.

The first, very basic salad I made contained only lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes and it was really enjoyable. The cucumber in particular was a revelation: crisp and tasty and like no cucumber I’ve had since we grew our own, years ago. It didn’t come in any plastic packaging either. With apparently so much choice offered to us by supermarkets and the like, it’s easy to forget just how good these simple things can be.

Next to the fruit and veg stall was Carrie Rimes of Cosyn Cymru Creamery with her beautiful raw ewe’s milk cheeses and yogurt, made in the foothills of Snowdonia. They also make ice cream which, judging by how good their cheese is, must be sensational. I came away with both of their cheeses they had for sale, as well as a pot of their yogurt. I also bought a slab of wonderful cow’s milk cheese made by a friend of Carrie’s – I didn’t get the name of it, but will happily tell the world how good it is if anyone knows.

Cosyn Cymru’s soft cheese Brefu Bach (which apparently translates as little bleat: how lovely!) gained two stars in the 2017 Great Taste Awards and it’s not surprising. Made with thistle rennet, this unpasteurised sheep’s cheese was quite delicate – Carrie had mentioned this was quite a young one – with a subtle, sheepy tang. The hard cheese, Caws Chwaral, is slow-aged and that tells in its wonderful, full flavour.

We ate the cheeses over the following couple of days, but didn’t bother with the usual accompanying biscuits and whatnot – they were just so good on their own, eaten slowly and with concentration to savour them as long as possible.

Cosyn Cymru’s ewe’s milk set yogurt had a longish shelf life so I decided to take it home and savour that too. When someone has taken so much care to create fabulous products (Carrie went to France to study cheese making before getting started) it seems only fair to give them your full attention.

I’m so glad I waited as the yogurt, both creamy and tart, was delicious with some of my homemade medium-sweet, tart and slightly spicy Rhubarb, Apple & Ginger Jam. It made a lovely, quick and fresh-tasting breakfast.

Before leaving Rhosneigr’s market, I couldn’t resist a couple of purchases from Tina Brook’s impressive cake stall: a ‘superjack’ chewy and tasty flapjack full of seeds and dried fruit and an incredibly light gluten-free berry cake. Personally, I’ve no need of gluten-free, but this moist cake with berries and apples looked so good I just had to have piece and was pleasantly surprised at how light it was.

THE OYSTER CATCHER

For us, a holiday in Rhosneigr isn’t complete without a visit or two (or three) to The Oyster Catcher. Set in the dunes, from the raised terrace there’s fabulous views to be had, including over to the mountains of mainland Wales. If it’s a little cool or you want to get out of the sun, there are cute, painted beach huts to sit in as well as inside seating. We almost always go there after walking the dog on the beach as it’s a quick walk through the dunes to get to The Oyster Catcher. As our holiday was right in the middle of this summer’s heatwave, a glass of beer was just what we needed while checking out the menus.

As usual, we had some great food from The Oyster Catcher, which aims to feature products from local farms and suppliers. A generous portion of rich potted mackerel flavoured with horseradish came with toasted ciabatta and a few leaves of watercress.

This was fresh and delicious and just right to get the taste buds tingling and ready for a great dish from the day’s specials menu; a bowl of a pappardelle pasta with local crab in a tomato cream sauce and lots of rocket on top.

As you can probably guess from those last two choices, I love seafood. In fact, the fabulous seafood is one of the reasons we keep going back to Wales. But the next dish I enjoyed at The Oyster Catcher was a crispy duck egg served with char-grilled asparagus and hollandaise sauce. The egg was perfectly cooked; nice and runny inside and properly crispy on the outside. The hollandaise was tangy and, unusually, flavoured with mint.

Back to seafood, I next ate a wonderfully fresh mackerel which was butterflied and fried to a fabulous crispiness with fennel fronds. It was served on a bed of couscous, studded with sun-dried tomatoes, rocket and lots of pickled fennel.

MOJO’S CREPERIE

Mojo’s Creperie is another regular haunt when we’re in Rhosneigr. It’s a lovely little licensed cafe, sometimes open in the evenings by arrangement, which specializes in crepes and galettes, the latter being French buckwheat pancakes with savoury fillings. I absolutely love one of their galettes for lunch, my favourites being The Supreme (scallops flambéed in brandy with spinach, cheese and cream sauce), The Smoked Out (smoked salmon, spinach, cream sauce, cheese and potatoes sautéed in herbs) and, best of all I think,  La Tartiflette (Reblochon cheese, bacon, potatoes and cream) which is pictured here.

HOOKED

One foodie experience we’d wanted to try on previous visits to Anglesey, but hadn’t managed to, was Hooked – The Gourmet Seafood Van. Traveling around the campsites and some of the pubs during the summer, Hooked looked like it served up some delicious seafood street food from its mobile kitchen. But, despite our best efforts, something always seemed to intervene which meant we never caught up with them.

So it made my day when I heard they were planning to transform themselves into Hooked In-House, taking over the restaurant above the Y Morfa pub in Rhosneigr. Y Morfa is a great, dog-friendly pub with a good mix of locals as well as holiday-makers and, although dogs aren’t allowed in the upstairs restaurant, they’ll bring your food order down to you while you have a drink. I always have one of their beers from Purple Moose Brewery, a micro-brewery based in Porthmadog.

Hooked In-House describes its offering as ‘seaside street food’, so don’t go expecting fancily-dressed plates to come down to you; ours came in takeaway boxes with wooden forks which was perfectly apt for what we ordered. As Hooked are only just starting out in what will hopefully be their long term home, they explained that the current menu was necessarily limited but that they were looking to expand it in the coming weeks with lots of specials, including more dishes using local, fresh seafood.

To share between the two of us, we ordered a Tempura Shrimp Bun (tempura battered king prawns with home pickled samphire, bacon, salad and tartare sauce), Red Shrimp Caesar Salad (succulent red shrimp on mixed leaves with cucumber, tomato, white anchovies and bacon) and Hoisin Pork Belly Bao Buns (steamed buns filled with slow-cooked hoisin belly pork, pickled vegetables and topped with peanut dust).

We loved everything we ate which, thankfully, came with a good supply of napkins as this was street food at its messy-eating best with plenty of finger licking. If you’re in Anglesey this summer, do support this new venture as it would be great to see them make a success of this welcome new addition.

SULLIVAN’S

I don’t know why we hadn’t eaten at Sullivan’s in Rhosneigr before. It’s right in the centre, in the same street as virually all the other places to eat, so we’ve really no excuse. We booked an outside table for the evening and, when it turned out to be the hottest night so far in a very hot heatwave, we were so glad we did as it was lovely and cool there.

I’m not one for ordering soups very often, although I do make them at home, so I’ve no idea what possessed me to order a seafood chowder on a hot night but that’s what I did. I think the stars must have been in alignment because it turned out to be fabulous: packed with fish and shellfish along with vegetables like sweet potato, it was good and tasty without being heavy at all. The bread was excellent too – a crusty roll flavoured with rosemary.

I was surprised to find that my main course was even better. I didn’t note down the dish’s correct title, but it was something like ‘pan-fried sea bass fillet with sun-dried tomato mashed potato, red pesto, balsamic dressing and Parmesan’. Sun-dried tomato mashed potato? Is that even a thing? Mash sounded a little heavy for such a sultry night, and I’d eaten lots of sun-dried toms in my lunchtime couscous at The Oyster Catcher, so I was tempted to request a swap for simple boiled Jersey potatoes. However, I was going to ask for salad instead of veg and I hate to be one of those diners who’s a pain in the whatnot, so I stuck with mash.

When my plate arrived, I felt sure I’d made the wrong decision, the huge hulk reminding me of a time in Venice, almost 20 years ago when walking down one of the tiny alleyways I’d seen an enormous cruise liner passing across my view, seemingly blocking out the sun. I remember I found it unaccountably disturbing, wondering whether something so large, forbidding and out of place in a city of delicate beauty couldn’t possibly be a good thing.

Well, I don’t know about cruise liners, but my order at Sullivan’s turned out to be a very good thing indeed. The sea bass was wonderfully fresh, cooked perfectly with crispy skin and a dusting of Parmesan over the top. But it was that mash and drizzles of sauces that stood out as they were so unexpectedly delicious. The potato was richly flavoured, possibly included Parmesan, and the sun-dried tomatoes were in small pieces that didn’t intrude on the smoothness of the mash. It’s not easy to get mash creamy, rich and silken without it turning into a sloppy puree, but they’d managed that here where it was a big soft cloud of loveliness.

Despite being a greedy person, I didn’t think even I’d manage the whole lot, but I did, helped along by those lovely sauces including the dark balsamic one which reminded me of Daddies brown sauce. And I mean that in a good way: sweet, vinegary & spicy all at the same time. A really memorable dish that will have me rushing back to Sullivan’s on future Anglesey holidays.

SCARLETT’S FISH & CHIPS

While we were eating outside Sullivan’s, we couldn’t help notice the line of people just a few doors up. They were queuing down the street to get takeaway fish and chips from Scarlett’s Fish & Chip Shop. I don’t blame them.  I think a British seaside holiday isn’t complete without traditional fish and chips at least once, and we love them at Scarlett’s as they’re top quality.

There’s a small amount of inside seating but we always buy to take away and eat them off a plate with a knife and fork, in our rented holiday accommodation. This time was no exception so towards the end of the fortnight we had our usual cod, chips and mushy peas with a bottle of beer apiece from the convenience store opposite.

SANDY’S BAR & BISTRO

Another place we always return to in Rhosneigr is Sandy’s Bar & Bistro. Cafe by day, in the evening Sandy’s Bar turns into a great little bistro where we’ve had some stunning local seafood. Last year I had what I think must be the best seabass I’d so far ever had, and caught by the postman, I was told.

This time, it was scallops with quality black pudding in a delicious cream sauce, followed by seafood fettuccine with squid, langoustines, prawns and lots of sweet Menai mussels in a tomato sauce. If cocktails are your thing then there’s a good range at Sandy’s, including a pretty fine gin fizz.

FARM SHOPS, BUTCHERS & DELIS

When we’re on holiday, we don’t always eat out. Both myself and my partner love to cook, and away from home that means finding great local suppliers. On Anglesey, we usually make a couple of trips to Hooton’s Homegrown farm shop at Brynsiencyn for homegrown vegetables and fruit plus free range eggs and meat such as Welsh Black beef, Welsh lamb, free-range chicken and homemade sausages. We usually go early and have a hearty Welsh breakfast from the cafe, featuring their own sausages, bacon and black pudding.

Even if you don’t do a lot of cooking, Hooton’s is still worth a visit to pick up something made in their busy kitchen; ready meals, sweet and savoury pies, curries and casseroles plus traditional cakes, puddings, biscuits and preserves made using their own produce. We’ve had their blackcurrant crumble twice now and it’s sensational with some cream from among the staples in the shop.

Not far from our base in Rhosneigr is Valley Butchers & Deli where we picked up some sirloin steaks of Welsh Black beef. They also supply Anglesey lamb as well as, I was pleased to see, free-range pork from one of my favourite suppliers in my home county of Staffordshire – Packington Free Range.

While we were in Beaumaris for the day, and after we’d had a traditional Sunday roast in the bar at The Bull, we popped in to Tredici Butchers & Deli where I noticed they also sell Packington Free Range pork. Clearly the Welsh know a thing or two about good food, just like us Staffordshire citizens. Besides topping up on bread, veg and eggs from Tredici, we bought some traditional Welsh Perl Wen cheese. I think this creamy, brie-like cheese looks rather good on the plate I bought at Beaumaris Artisan Market from Janet Edwards Pottery. Janet makes handmade wheel thrown kitchen pottery and tableware and for this one she explained how she used fern from her garden in the design.

THE WHITE EAGLE

Back to eating out, and the White Eagle at Rhoscolyn is another one of those places on Anglesey that we’ve always returned to. Like the Oyster Catcher in Rhosneigr, the White Eagle is one of four venues run by 16 Hospitality. The food is never anything but excellent and it’s a great place to stop for lunch after walking the dog on the pretty little beaches just down the lane. Although there’s a fabulous sun terrace, we decided to eat in the cool of the back bar, which is dog-friendly (the front bar is dog-free). We love the choice of seafood that’s regularly on the menu.

There’s a reason why scallops with belly pork and pea puree has become a classic: because it’s a great combination and the version I ate at the White Eagle proved the point, with the nice addition of some broad beans too.

My main course of fabulously fresh pan fried halibut was perfectly cooked with a crispy skin to boot. This great piece of fish was served on dill crushed potatoes with cockles, samphire and spinach in a creamy and devilishly good garlic sauce.

Pudding was a key lime pie with torched rich Italian meringue and a scoop of very good strawberry ice cream, sitting on a nicely tart berry sauce. As usual, the cooking of everything was faultless and the service friendly and efficient.

THE MARRAM GRASS

The final entry in this foodie round-up of our last trip to Anglesey features what must be the best known restaurant on the island, the Marram Grass in Newborough. What started out as a simple cafe on a caravan site is now a hotspot for top-notch food, appearing on TV in programmes such as Great British Menu and Hidden Restaurants. Judging by what I ate, that attention is very well deserved, and I was pleased to see that it’s still a friendly, casual place – and still on that caravan site.

The Marram Grass had been on our list of places to eat the last two times we’d been on Anglesey, but lack of forward thinking meant we hadn’t got around to making a booking. With its huge popularity you can’t just stroll up and expect a table, and it’s only open Thursday to Sunday. However, when we ate there at the end of June, we easily got a table by ringing on the Sunday and booking for a lunch on Thursday.

At many quality restaurants, you can forget eating there if you’ve got a dog. And that makes it a little tricky when you’re away from home and usually can’t leave the dog alone in your accommodation. So it was great to be able to book a table in the Marram Grass’s dog-friendly outside eating area, complete with hanging grape vines to shade us from the midday sun.

As you’d expect from such a well-regarded restaurant, the customary bread and butter was not of the common or garden variety. The bread, with an agreeable balance of chewy and crusty, was a sweetish treacle sourdough and the butter richly flavoured with chorizo and pig fat.

For my first course I ordered miso cured Anglesey sea bass with kohlrabi, pickled ginger, rice wine and yogurt. This was a beautiful looking dish and light and fresh too. I loved the combination of delicate fish, dibs and dabs of yogurt and dressing with sweet, tart and umami flavours.

The highlight of the lunch for me was my main course of pan roasted Welsh lamb, minted lamb ragu, courgette and girolle mushrooms with watercress puree, Anglesey sheep yogurt and pickled mustard seeds.

For dessert I ordered gooseberry crumble with hay custard and elderflower ice cream. Arriving on a stunning, iredescent blue and green plate in a lidded dish, this could be seen as a little over dramatic for a traditional British pud like a crumble. But ah, if only all crumbles were this good. The hay custard, described by the server as tasting ‘like Shredded Wheat‘ (don’t ask me, I’ve never eaten Shredded Wheat) was beneath the crumbly crust along with the perfectly sweet-tart gooseberries.

This kept the filling good and moist, avoiding the familiar letdown of too little liquid which soaks into the topping, making the whole thing a sad, heavy affair. Add to this the exceptional elderflower ice cream, solving the perennial British dilemma of whether to choose custard or ice cream, and the whole dessert was utterly satisfying. As was the entire lunch.

ANGLESEY: A GREAT DESTINATION FOR FOOD LOVERS

Once again, Anglesey proved to be a great destination for lovers of good food, whether that’s the seaside favourite of fish and chips, casual neighbourhood bars and bistros or nationally acclaimed restaurants serving top-notch modern British cooking.

If you like to cook while on holiday, or perhaps take foodie treats back home with you, there’s some great producers and suppliers too – farm shops, delis, butchers and markets stuffed to the gills with artisan cheeses, quality meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, preserves, cakes, puddings and pies.

I loved revisiting my old favourites but found lots new to enjoy – places that might have been around for a while that I hadn’t yet go around to, as well as exciting new start-ups.

With so much on offer, I know I’ll be returning to Anglesey for a good few years yet to sample more of its fantastic food.