Review of 'Bryn Williams Porth Eirias'
It has been 15 years that we have been married and as per tradition, we go out for a nice meal somewhere. This year it was famous chef Bryn Williams' outpost on Colwyn Bay (near Conway and Llandudno) in north Wales, “Porth Eirias”. Opened in 2015, the restaurant is in a modern structure right on the beach with wonderful views out the full-height windows of the beachfront. It has been awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand for it's quality and value.
There is an adjacent car park, a café serving light meals, a small tourist information area as well as an exhibition space. The restaurant itself is quite small with seating inside and, in good weather, outside with an open-plan kitchen that continued to draw my attention throughout our meal as I watched chef at the pass plating up.
When reserving our table for lunch a few months ago, I opted for the “Festive Set Menu” which, at two courses for £37 and three for £42 is a remarkable bargain, particularly with food of this quality which very much focuses on local and seasonal ingredients. It was nice to see quite a good amount of variety as well, despite only a few items to select from there were vegetarian and fish options for starters and mains.
There was a small “Christmas Drink Menu” which included several non-alcoholic options as well, which is quite unusual. As I do not drink and my companion very rarely imbibes, we opted for the “Non-Alcholic Mulled Fizz (Mulled Syrup, Cranberry, Tonic)” (£6.20) which was quite nice indeed - Not too sweet and very refreshing, served in an elegant, slender champaign flute. It was nice to also be given a bottle of tap water without having to specify it when asking for “water” (at other restaurants we would be given bottled water at ridiculous prices).
The menu began with “Porth Eirias soda bread & cultured butter & Snacks” with the “Snacks” in this case consisting of two small crispy soufflé balls. The bread rolls were amazing - Quite a deep, rich flavour with a crispy shell. The soufflé bites were lightly cheesy but not overpowering.
For my starter I had the “Mushroom soup, hazelnut, Welsh truffle, thyme focaccia” which was also quite rich - The bowl arrived with a small mound of mushroom and hazelnut onto which the server poured the deep mushroom broth. This meant there was some texture to the thick soup which was heady with mushroom flavour (my companion, not a huge fan of mushroom, would not have appreciated this). The small slice of focaccia on the side was slightly oily (as is appropriate) and quite crunchy, doing nicely to sop up some of the soup.
My companion had the “Chicken and ham hock terrine, prune puree, pickled shimeji, sourdough” was the nicest she had ever had with huge chunks of ham and full of flavour. The pickled shimeji were a nice bit of sourness to cut through the richness of the terrine. The sourdough was not too “sour-y”, quite light and worked well with the terrine.
For my main I had the “Duck breast, beef fat Hash brown, celeriac, madeira jus” which consisted of two small strips of perfectly cooked duck breast (very little fat, slightly pink), a small crunchy meat croquette, a large chip-shaped rectangle of hash brown containing shredded potatoes that was very tender bordering on under-cooked which was topped with a small quenelle of shredded celeriac. The whole dish had a splash of madeira jus which added a slight note of bitterness to the gravy flavour. Two leaves of crispy sage adorned the plate adding another layer of flavour.
My companion opted for the “Roast Halibut, crushed new potato, pancetta and mushroom dressing” was a piece of fish on top of a small pile of crushed potato with the whole thing covered with a small pile of pickled mushroom (again) along with a light mushroom jus. It looked like a small piece of fish but actually was quite a good sized, meaty portion. Very fresh, perfectly cooked though not exactly full of flavour as you would expect. There were quite a lot of potatoes and the mushroom jus added zestiness to the dish. She suggests it would have been nice to have had something else with a bit of texture as it was all quite soft and smooth.
For dessert we both opted for the “Chocolate and hazelnut delice, coffee ice cream” which had the ice cream served on top of a small pile of crumb. The coffee ice cream was exactly as billed having a very strong flavour of un-sweetened coffee whose bitterness contrasted nicely with the rich dark chocolate of the delice. A scattering of hazelnuts on the top added a nice bit of texture to the dish as well. Despite the size, this was quite filling.
The set meal also included mince pies and our selection of a hot drink to end our meal. Despite not being huge fans of mince pies, these small pies toped with a crunchy meringue thankfully were not large and did not have an overpowering flavour of mincemeat. I had a wonderful pot of FRESH mint tea while my companion opted for a rather nice cappuccino.
Our meal was very relaxed with dishes brought out at a leisurely pace but we never had to wait too long despite the restaurant getting quite busy as the afternoon went on. The service was always very friendly and happy to talk about any of the dishes or anything else really.
Everything about our experience at Porth Eirias was excellent. The staff were friendly and relaxed, the atmosphere, while often quite buzzy, was not so much that we could not hear each other, and the food, well, it was absolutely amazing particularly considering the price. Everything was prepared with such care and attention to detail, and plated beautifully. We left pleasantly full and feeling very relaxed. We will certainly be looking to return.
The “welsh cakes” on the chocolate decorated anniversary plate given to us at the end of the meal (very thoughtful!) were bordering on the texture and taste of a shortbread, absolutely delicious, so much so that we picked up two packets of them from the café on the way out…
Rating: “I have absolutely no complaints”
Review Date: 2025-12-20
Cuisine: American/British
Address: Promenade, Colwyn Bay LL29 8HH WALES
Public Transport: 
Colwyn Bay
Location: Conwy (Wales)
Map:
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Telephone: +44 (0) 1492 533700