Anglesey: food highlights from a summer holiday

Anglesey, off the north coast of Wales, is rightly becoming ever more popular. We love it, not just for its stunning beaches and clifftop scenery, but also for its impressive local food scene. In this post I share with you some of my foodie highlights from this Summer’s holiday on Anglesey.

We’ve been going to Anglesey for many years now and have experienced some fantastic food. From mussels, lobster and octopus, to traditional fish and chips and excellent farm produce, there’s a great range on offer.

On our Summer 2019 trip, we revisited some old favourites and discovered a few new ones too.

Read my Anglesey 2018 highlights here

Rhosneigr

These days, we always stay in Rhosneigr when we visit Anglesey. I guess it feels like a home from home now. While I do like discovering new places, I think there’s a lot to be said for turning up and already knowing your bearings. That way, you can relax and start enjoying the holiday straight away.

Fish & Chips

One constant of our Rhosneigr holidays is fish and chips from Scarlett’s Fish & Chip Shop. You can tell when Scarlett’s is open because there’ll probably be a queue coming out the door and down the street.

We had battered cod, chips and mushy peas on the first night of our holiday and again on the last night. The chips were top class and the fish fresh with nicely crunchy batter, not too thick. Scarlett’s has some seating to eat in, be we always have fish and chips to take away.

Lunch in the dunes: The Oyster Catcher

Like many people, one of the reasons we base ourselves in Rhosneigr is because of its wonderful beaches. Especially important for us is that the ones here are dog friendly all year round. A holiday wouldn’t be a holiday without our cocker spaniel Larkin and he just loves running on the beach. Can you tell?

After a walk on Broad Beach (Traeth Llydan), just a short stroll through the dunes will take you to The Oyster Catcher. This is another of our regular haunts and comes with lovely views from the terrace, including the mountains of mainland Wales.

It’s a great spot for just a drink or maybe some nibbles like this salt and pepper calamari I ate, beautifully tender.

But it’s a lovely place to linger, so we’ll often have a two or three course lunch there. They’ve a varied menu, including daily specials like my starter of scallops, black pudding and bacon.

At our first lunchtime visit this holiday, other half and I shared a seafood platter. Being rather greedy we also ordered sides of excellent, crunchy onion rings and some skin-on chips.

The seafood platter included buttery potted salmon with dill, crab crostini with chillies, plus crispy whitebait and calamari in a cute twist of brown paper.

We can’t always find room for pud at The Oyster Catcher, but neither of us could resist the Knickerbocker Glory. With strawberry ice cream, fruit, whipped double cream, raspberry sauce and pistachios, this was glorious indeed.

While smooching couples might ask for one dessert and two spoons, we pair made sure we each got one of these beauties and polished off the lot.

Sandy Mount House

One place we’d never been to, during all our stays in Rhosneigr, was the old Sandymount pub. To be honest, it didn’t look that desirable from the outside. Added to that was the fact that they wouldn’t allow you to bring your dog in, even just to walk through to the garden.

However, since last year’s holiday, the old place has been transformed into the rather nice Sandy Mount House. Describing itself as a ‘contemporary beach house restaurant and bar’ there are also seven guest rooms which, judging from the website, look beautiful.

On the first day of our holiday we had a drink on the front terrace. But on what was just about the only rainy day, we went back for lunch in the now dog-friendly bar. Having a nose around, I saw they also have a large, bright restaurant and conservatory plus garden complete with ‘The Gin Tin’ bar.

Small plates

For lunch we decided to share two small plates as a starter. The first was a tasty skewer with three tender cubes of pork belly. It came with that classic accompaniment to pork, apple. There was a caramelised apple sauce, with a good balance of sweet and savoury, plus little cubes of nicely tart apple with a little bite.

Our second sharing dish was sauteed squid with tomato, black olives and feta. Squid and feta may not seem obvious partners, but they went surprisingly well in this refreshing little plate.

Stone baked pizzas

For our main courses, we both chose one of Sandy Mount House’s hand stretched, stone baked pizzas. Other half went for chorizo and serrano ham, while I opted for feta again, this time with minced Anglesey lamb and hot jalepeno chillies.

We don’t really do thick and stodgy pizzas, so were pleased to see these were nice and thin. Considering that the pizzas had presumably been cooked in a conventional oven (wood fired pizza is definitely the best) I thought these were pretty good. I also liked the way they were served ready sliced on a board – ready to be picked up and eaten with the hands instead of faffing with knife and fork.

We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and found the service friendly but efficient. I think Sandy Mount House is a great addition to the Rhosneigr food scene. Offering something a bit different to the other cafes, bars and restaurants I think it complements them well.

More recommendations in Rhosneigr:

Chaplin’s for ice cream (and always a biscuit for the dog), Rhosneigr market usually the second and fourth Saturday of the month, in the village hall, for fruit and veg, bread, cakes, bara brith and preserves, Sandy’s Bar for great seafood specials and cocktails, Sullivan’s restaurant for breakfasts, coffee, pizza, pasta, local meats, seasonal seafood, the Surf Cafe for big breakfasts, cakes and more.

The Boat House, Red Wharf Bay

I don’t think we’d been back to Red Wharf Bay (Traeth Coch) since our very first trip to Anglesey. But this holiday we decided to revisit a few places.

Red Wharf Bay is a great place for walking. At low tide the expanse of sand is enormous. And what do you need to do after a good walk? Eat and drink, of course!

The weather was initially quite changeable the morning we were there. So we were pleased to see that The Boat House had some sheltered, dog-friendly tables. When the sun did come out, plenty of people took advantage of the ice cream hut just outside.

Chowder

I’m not usually one for soup type dishes when I eat out, especially in Summer. But something drew me, irresistibly, to the chowder. Perhaps it was the memory of last year’s fine chowder at Sullivan’s in Rhosneigr, when I’d also surprised myself by ordering it.

Incredibly, the charm worked a second time. The chowder at The Boat House was one of the best I’ve eaten. Creamy, thick and packed with smoked haddock, king prawns, mussels and spicy chorizo as well as sweet and regular potatoes, it was a gorgeous bowlful.

In the sort of generous gesture I really like, alongside came big hunks of two types of bread. But even I couldn’t cope with all of that. Other half gladly helped out though, after he’d eaten a large and excellent fish pie.

The Lobster Pot, Church Bay

Beautiful Church Bay (Porth Swtan) is another place we hadn’t visited since our first time on Anglesey back in 2012.

In those days we didn’t have our dog and I think I’d assumed that this lovely little cove wasn’t dog friendly in Summer. But I was wrong. It was lovely to explore the rock pools with Larkin and have a paddle (despite being a spaniel, he refuses to swim).

However, if I’m honest, a big reason for returning to Church Bay was The Lobster Pot.

We’d previously noticed this unassuming restaurant, but hadn’t managed to catch them open when on an exploratory drive around that bit of the island. This time, we were determined to eat there.

Knowing that we’d need a table outside due to the dog (no hardship as it’s a lovely garden with splendid views), we picked a day when the weather was going to be reliably good. Knowing also that The Lobster Pot is extremely popular, we rang ahead to see if there was any chance of booking an outside table. No problem, they said.

So, after a lovely morning on the beach, we found ourselves in a garden (complete with dinky little stream running through it) looking over the menu with a beer, the dog happily munching a dried rabbit ear under the table.

Oysters & Mussels

Other half is mad on oysters, so had six to start his lunch. Actually he had five. That’s because I usually sneak one of them, just to make sure I’m not missing out. My own starter was fabulous local mussels with garlic, cream and white wine, strewn with crunchy samphire.

Lobster

Even before we’d stepped through the gate, it was pretty certain that we were both going to go for grilled lobster as our main course. In the event, I had mine with plain butter, his was with garlic butter.

I think this was possibly the best lobster I’ve eaten. It was so sweet and so juicy with none of that disappointing rubberiness of overcooked lobster.

The accompanying skin-on chips were marvellously good too. I assume there’s some fancy gadget that cuts them into this particular shape with the middle scooped out. Of course this gives them more surface area to get lovely and crispy. Please can more places serve these?

After our luxurious lunch, we strolled down the lane to the Wavecrest Cafe to get a takeaway iced lolly before having a last look at Church Bay. We haven’t eaten at the Wavecrest yet, but the cafe is extremely popular. The day we were there, its tea garden overlooking the bay looked so pretty, surrounded by wildflowers.

Hooton’s Homegrown

It’s not all eating out when we’re on holiday. We usually make breakfast in our holiday rental as well as simple meals like steak and salad. That means we need to keep in supplies of eggs, milk, cheese, vegetables, meat and whatnot.

Just like when we’re back at home, we try to support local, independent producers and suppliers as much as we can. One of those we tend to use on Anglesey is Hooton’s Homegrown.

We go to their shop in Brynsiencyn which also has a cafe that’s dog friendly outside. Going early, that means we can start the day off with a full Welsh breakfast featuring meats from the farm.

While other half walked the dog, I went into the farm shop for steaks of Welsh Black Beef, sausages with home-reared pork, eggs, butter, a homemade free range chicken and asparagus pie, deliciously creamy Perl Las blue cheese plus blackcurrant crumble and cream.

Other suppliers we use on Anglesey include:

Celtic Kitchen for bread, cakes, preserves; Tatwys Bryn for fruit, veg and eggs (both at Rhosneigr market in the village hall the second and fourth Saturdays of the month); Tredici Butchers & Deli in Beaumaris for Welsh lamb, free range pork, fish, cheese, homemade pies and quiches, fruit, veg, eggs, bread; Valley Butchers & Deli for excellent Welsh Black Beef steaks and free range pork.

Menai Bridge

If you’ve never been to Anglesey and know next to nothing about it, I’ll bet you will have heard of is Menai Bridge and Thomas Telford.

Except that Menai Bridge is actually a small town which is home to the Menai Suspension Bridge. On last year’s holiday we, like many other visitors, enjoyed a walk around beautiful Church Island with its early fifteenth century church of St Tysilio. From here you get wonderful views of the Menai Strait, the suspension bridge and Britannia Bridge. From here you can walk along Belgium Promenade (built by refugees from the First World War) to the foot of the impressive suspension bridge.

We retraced our steps on this year’s holiday, but resolved to have a proper look at the town of Menai Bridge, including stopping somewhere for lunch.

In many ways, Menai Bridge reminded me of my fabulous local town of Leek in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Like Leek, it felt quietly quirky and seemed to have plenty of independent shops and places to eat.

Dylan’s Menai Bridge

For lunch we decided on Dylan’s, who state their goal as celebrating ‘the local produce, character and natural beauty of North Wales’. They also have branches in Criccieth and Llandudno offering the same menus, plus brunch at Menai Bridge.

As you can’t help but have noticed by now, when we’re at the coast we do tend to opt for seafood. And at Dylan’s there was plenty to choose from: whitebait, calamari, sushi, mussels, scallops plus hot or cold seafood platters to share.

Oysters (again), crab cakes & mackerel

Other half started with his beloved oysters again, this time limiting himself to three. But that was only because he was having a second starter of Thai crab cakes.

I had a very good smoked mackerel pâté with a dice of compressed cucumber and tasty pickled cucumber. As well as toast, there were crunchy fennel seed biscuits. Fennel is one of my favourite spices so I appreciated that nice extra touch.

For his main course, other half continued the Southeast Asia theme with perfectly cooked sea bass fillets and mussels in a very well flavoured broth with noodles and vegetables.

There were some of those sweet Menai mussels for me too, in a main course of seafood linguine. It was also packed with prawns and crab meat, dressed with lemon, chilli, olive oil and a good scattering of fresh chives over the top.

Puds

For pudding, I thought we could share the trio of desserts. But, unusually, other half was in a greedier mood than I (remember his two starters?) and he wanted cinnamon churros with dark chocolate sauce and ice-cream all to himself.

I decided to go for the three tastings of desserts anyway: coffee opera cake, Messy Môn with berries (think Eton mess: Ynys Môn is the Welsh name for Anglesey) and banana cheesecake. Uncharacteristically, I was defeated and other half helped with the last few spoonfuls of rich cream, meringue and fruit in the Messy Môn.

As it was a warm day, we’d sat outside at the front of the restaurant. This area is dog friendly, as well as the bar. But there’s also a restaurant plus terraces with fantastic views of the Straits.

The Black Seal, Trearddur Bay

Another place to get tremendous views is The Black Seal Kitchen & Bar at Trearddur Bay. We’d driven along the coast here in the ‘pre-dog years’ but, knowing there were Summer dog restrictions on the beach, we hadn’t gone back recently.

Nonetheless, on our way back from stunning South Stack Cliffs nature reserve, we decided to park up, get an ice-cream and have a proper look about. It turned out that there’s a whole section of beach that’s dog friendly all year round.

There was also a spacious terrace overlooking Trearddur Bay, full of people eating some rather tempting food at The Black Seal. A few days later, we went back for a walk and had a late lunch there.

Tapas lunch

We decided to share some small plates for a tapas style meal. We went for lamb kofta with tzatziki, salt & pepper squid, whitebait and, my favourite, a tasty frittata with  vegetables and Welsh Cheddar. There was also an unexpected freebie of hummus & harissa bread.

If you buy 3 tapas for £15.95 they’ll include fries or salad too; we went for skin-on fries. Popular with other eaters were their wood fired pizzas. These looked really good and I’d be tempted to try one next time.

Catch 22, Valley

A day or so before the end of our Anglesey holiday, we had what we both agreed was our favourite meal of the whole trip.

We’d driven past Catch 22 Brasserie, a very modern looking restaurant, loads of times. Opened in 2017, we’d checked out the menu last year and loved the sound of it. But, with no dogs allowed inside, we found ourselves with the usual problem of dog owners on holiday: you can’t leave the pooch unattended in rented accommodation.

Set back from the main road in Valley, Catch 22 didn’t look like there was any outside seating either. But I thought I’d heard a couple of people say they’d eaten outside with their dog, so we gave the restaurant a ring to check. Yes! There were two picnic style benches out the front, craftily shielded from the road.

Catch 22 is a family run restaurant where everything is made from scratch using lots of local and seasonal ingredients. Open every day from 10.30, there’s a great choice of breakfasts, sandwiches, nibbles as well as full-on restaurant dishes.

You’ve probably cottoned on to the fact that, when it comes to food, my companion and I don’t do things by half. In this case, a starter each wasn’t enough. We went for three plates to share.

Hake croquettes

From the daily specials, we chose salt hake croquettes. Hake is still very underused in Britain, but we love it. The croquettes were exceptionally tasty and beautifully soft inside, nice & crispy on the outside. The yogurt served alongside cut through the saltiness and the salad was very fresh with nice astringency from lightly pickled red onion slices.

Lamb tostada

The spiced, pulled lamb tostada was another excellent dish to share. Generously filled with soft lamb, crunchy salad, pomegranate and mint plus cumin yogurt, this was delicious rolled up so all the flavours mingled. Tender, crunchy, moist and spicy all at once.

Octopus, Chorizo & Avocado

If Catch 22 was my favourite meal during this stay on Anglesey, that makes their octopus, chorizo and avocado bruschetta the holiday’s finest plate of food.

While other half is a massive fan of octopus (thanks to holidays in Galicia, north west Spain), I sometimes find it too fatty and chewy. But this octopus has to be the best I’ve eaten. Wonderfully soft and tender, the flavour was enhanced with the smokiness it had taken up from the chorizo. A really excellent dish.

In the pause between our starters and main courses (we’d almost forgotten, after three generous platefuls, that we’d ordered more!) I should just mention the Pant Du cider I drank with my meal. I thought this was one of the nicest, well balanced ciders I’ve tried. Made from apples grown in the foothills of Snowdonia, the lightly sparkling dry cider was full of fresh apple flavour.

Back to the food, and while other half next tucked into a big plate of mac ‘n’ cheese with Anglesey crab meat, herbs, lemon and chilli, I opted for a Singapore style curry.

Cod Cheek & Tiger Prawn Curry

I went for the cod cheek and tiger prawn version of the Singapore style curry, but there’s also a grilled sweet potato and spinach one. Mine was loaded with tender cod cheeks and large prawns, the sauce mildly hot but full of spicy flavour.

Alongside came perfectly cooked fragrant rice and two thick slices of grilled onion seed loaf. I ate all the rice but couldn’t manage the bread. Tasty as the bread was, I think I’d have preferred a little crunchy salad instead.

But that’s just nitpicking really. This meal will be one I’ll remember for a long time and was the perfect end to our Anglesey holiday where, once again, we’d enjoyed some wonderful food.

Which are your favourite places to eat & drink on Anglesey?

I hope you enjoyed reading my foodie highlights from my recent trip to Anglesey. I would love to have visited even more places, but even I couldn’t eat my way through the whole island in two weeks!

This post reflect my tastes (and the need for dog friendly places when I’m on holiday), but I’d love to hear about YOUR favourites and recommendations.

All photos © Moorlands Eater & not to be reproduced without permission

More dog friendly places to eat & drink in Wales here