My sister’s 50th birthday party was the reason
for this visit to Ynys Mon and as we’d made good time on the journey to
Beaumaris, there was an opportunity for something to eat before we headed for the
main event.
There was a difficult decision to be made. The Bistro had
fish and chips which sounded good but it was only a few metres away from the
Café Neptune chippy. The Neptune was a big modern proper chippy whilst the Pier
House was a posh looking place, but as the name suggests there was a great view
of Beaumaris’s charming pier and it wasn’t rammed with tourists. We decided to
go to the quieter venue.
I went for the “Pier House Haddock -
Fresh fillet of haddock coated in our very own gin & tonic batter, served
with chunky chips and crushed garden peas” for £8.95.
The haddock was
moist with a clean, fresh taste and had been cooked perfectly. This was supported
by the batter which was only let down slightly by the fact that it has cooked a
little inconsistently, but from the perspective of taste it was very good.
Couldn’t tell that the G+T had made a difference but it worked.
The chips
looked like they’d come from a bag in the freezer and tasted of absolutely
nothing. A real shame that this fairly crucial part of the classic combination
had gone so wrong.
The crushed
peas looked really good but the mint flavour was so overpowering I couldn’t really
taste the peas. As the mint tasted so vinegary I have to assume it came from a
jar.
The tartare had
all the right things in the right proportions but they sadly didn’t work as a
whole. The capers and the gherkins were too acidic and the cheap tasting mayo was
a perfect match for the overwhelming taste of vinegar.
The samphire on the top was a really nice touch and an
enjoyable salty surprise, the lemon was a good big piece and salt and vinegar were
readily available on the table.
A meal that got quite close to average, but a lack of
attention to detail in not sourcing better ingredients, cooking proper chipped
potatoes and checking to see what the food tasted like before it went out could
have improved the meal significantly.
The whole thing was washed down with tap water.
