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Plas Bodegroes


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I couldn't find a mention of Plas Bodegroes on this site other than a comment that it lost its Michelin star this year, I think.

I have only eaten at a couple of one starred restaurants before, so can't comment specifically on how it compares to the general 1* standard, but overall I was very happy with the package.

It is a restaurant with rooms that has been under the same ownership since 1986 in a rural location a mile or so outside Pwhelli. We booked very late so had no choice of rooms, but in the end that turned out well as we put our nippers in a single room together. They supplied an intercom-thing so we could listen to them grunting as we were eating our meal, but in practice we handed that over to the staff and happily they didn't need to tell us to rush up and sort them out.

Hopefully that was because they didn't wake up rather than they weren't listening. Still, ignorance is bliss.

The hotel is very tastefully decorated, with a lot of interesting original artwork. Service was very friendly and despite the fact we were the only guests there with children, we were made to feel very welcome and nothing was too much trouble.

The restaurant was full for the three nights that we were there (weds to fri), with a mixture of residents and non-residents.

The food was some of the best I have eaten. In particular a starter of pork rillettes and black pudding with scotch egg and lentils came as a super-sized liquorice allsort with layers of rillettes and black pudding with a smear of pumpkin puree on which sat half a beautiful scotch egg and a sweet preparation of lentils.

Also mains of welsh rib-eye with a very cute steak and kidney pudding, and loin of pork with a creamy bacon and leak crumble.

Meat main courses were generally a main component with one or two small preparations of the same animal with a few very cute vegetables.

I will say that the menu was let down somewhat by the desserts. It was £42.50 for 3 courses, but there was little to tempt me from the dessert menu. That said, the lemon verbena crème brulee was delicious.

Overall I would definitely recommend Plas Bodegroes, and I would be interested to hear the opinions of any other people here who may have visited.

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i think bodegroes is in safe hands, Chris chown who was a great cook has wisely handed the cooking reins over to a talented young chef named aled williams who has a very strong track record with the likes of midsummer house not forgetting he was a previous ramsay scholar winner, along with serious investment in equipment by chris in the kitchen, its going to be very exciting food next year and one worth serious looking at when dining in north wales and i`m sure you will start to hear about Aled soon

:wink:

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  • 6 months later...

We were at Plas Bodegroes a couple of weeks ago for two night - funnily enough the same week that Aled Williams was on GBM and deservedly (IMO) won the Welsh heat. I have to say we were pretty impressed with both the hotel and the restaurant - we had a fbulous couple of days. Their house-blend tea is great and the breakfasts are lovely.

Stand out dishes from our two meals were a starter very much like offcentre's one below, except the black pudding scotch egg and lentils had a good wodge of exquisitely cooked crispy topped belly pork. I also had a delicious starter of sweet, sweet scallops with mini cauliflower pannacottas.

I don't normally choose chicken but a main of crispy skinned breast with legmeat 'sausage' (mmm, buttery and so tasty) with butternut squash tortellini and a sage sauce made me glad I did.

The canapes and desserts were good but nothing exceptional, expect for a bara brith and butter pudding with Welsh whisky ice cream and little blobs of mango sauce (sounds odd but worked quite well)

The staff were so unfailingly helpful, relaxed (in a good way!) and friendly that it was a joy to stay and eat there. I couldn't do any damage to the wine list and we had to forgo a special Chateau Musar night there as I'm not drinking due to upduffedness (although I did unintentionally eat the chocolate mousse on one of the desserts - oops!). Mr Woman loved it all so much he was making plans to come back at some point this year!

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I couldn't do any damage to the wine list and we had to forgo a special Chateau Musar night there as I'm not drinking due to upduffedness

Fantastic news! Well done!

Thanks 'Joe' :) Need to get some quality eating done before we become poorer and exhausted!

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We went over Easter and had the set Sunday lunch. My smoked haddock soup was beautiful, and the roast lamb out of this world - so tender and tasty and perfectly cooked, nad oit came with good trimmings. Unusually, the pusddings were not as good - a bit old fashioned, and meh. But pretty good for £19 a head, especially that lamb...

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  • 1 month later...

The restaurant has much going for it, as far as we’re concerned. We like the feel of country house hotels and the air of decadence they often have. Here there is a mix of a traditional house and its furnishings and a very eclectic collection of artwork.

The main menu offers three courses for £42.50 and it looked very good. Equally impressive for my partner was an extensive offering of wines by the half bottle. We were spoilt for choice as to food and, just as we were about to order, we were presented with a second menu offering the chef’s dishes from the recent Great British Menu – four courses for £47.50. That meant more decision making but we finally did decide to go for the GBM – and remain unsure whether it was the right choice.

The starter had three elements – leek soup which was really good; a cone of ham wrapped around a smoked cheese mousse which was even better and a ham hock terrine which was pleasant enough. All three elements were good in their own right but this didn’t really work as single integrated dish.

The fish course proved to be the best dish of the night. Menai sea bass served with a crab bonbon, fennel puree and a tomato & herb dressing. Fish was excellent; bonbon was OK, provided a texture contrast more than anything but the dish wouldn’t suffer if it was left off; puree was underwhelming but everything was brought together by the excellent tomato flavour of the dressing.

The main brought roasted loin of hogget, a small rib and some braised shoulder. All three elements shone in their own way and were a pleasure to eat. Broad beans and asparagus, with a hint of mint, were also on the plate. The only criticism was in the lack of carb – which was only a a few very thin slices of spud, holding the braised shoulder in shape.

Dessert was a lemon verbena set custard. This was not at all a memorable effort and had what we could only describe as a whiff of cough medicine about it.

Good coffee and petit fours were served in the lounge. Service had been reasonable efficient but it felt that it lacked an air of professionalism that one might reasonably expect at this level.

John Hartley

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I'm not a Welsh speaker and it's almost impossible to write anything like an accurate description of how the double L is pronounced. But Google finds me a website that says "positioning the tongue at the top front of the mouth and blowing".

A reasonable phonetic description would be "poohh-helly". By the by, Welsh is the main language in the area and Anglophone children may have to travel some distance to be schools which teach in that language

John Hartley

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