My wife and I skipped down the A55 to Llandudno for a spot of “He’s behind you!” all courtesy of the pantomime cast of Peter Pan at Venue Cymru.
We hadn’t made any plans for dinner once the curtain came down on the Sunday performance although I used the interval to make a quick call to Bistro 55 near Caerwys to book a table for around 8pm.
We had passed the restaurant on the way to Llandudno and had both recalled hearing nothing but good reports about the relatively new eaterie.
In fact, the restaurant used to be the Teapot cafe and sits adjacent to the garden centre right next to the westbound carriageway of the A55 at Caerwys.
At night the single storey premises are bathed in a rather garish blue light that certainly helps you notice it as you flash past.
We left Llandudno and, rather hungrily, tootled back along the A55 looking forward to our dinner.
As we approached the restaurant we found it rather confusing trying to fathom how to actually reach it.
It turned out we had to take the Caerwys exit and then head back towards St Asaph to reach the Tremeirchion turn-off, then a sharp left-turn got us onto the windswept garden centre car park.
Even those already heading west could possibly get confused even though it’s pretty well signposted.
In any event we pulled up and entered what was a very welcoming atmosphere.
Decorated in pastel shades with modern fittings and with a delicately well thought-out lighting scheme the whole place has a really pleasant and calming ambience.
We were greeted warmly and asked whether we wanted to go straight to our table or sit at the bar first.
We opted to head straight for our table and were shown through to the restaurant.
The restaurant was by no means full, with four people at one table and two at another, but the waiter explained they had been more or less full all day and it wasn’t unusual for things to go a little quieter on Sunday evenings.
It’s clear a great deal of effort, and no doubt money, has gone into converting Bistro 55 from a garden centre cafe into a first class restaurant.
We ordered our meals from an extensive and well thought-out menu.
Sally opted for the home made soup (tomato and basil) while I went for the paté.
The service was remarkably fast with the soup piping hot and the paté, and accompanying salad garnish well presented.
It was also clear this was truly homemade, well prepared food.
We had ordered well-done sirloin steak for Sally and a medium rare T-bone steak for myself for our mains.
Again service was very quick, almost too quick as I would have liked a few more minutes to rest between courses.
The steaks were, however, succulent and cooked to perfection.
It isn’t unusual to find well-done steak arrives at your table having been almost cremated but that certainly wasn’t the case here.
And it was nice to have food arrive at the table on really hot plates.
However, the best thing about the main course was the home-made chips.
There’s a real art to making memorable home-made chips a culinary skill that has all but disappeared as the frozen chip now reigns supreme.
Along with the steak and al dente vegetables it made for a very memorable, well presented and enjoyable meal.
But a word of warning, the pepper sauce I ordered and poured over my T-bone was really fiery even bringing tears to my eyes.
I did enjoy it, once I’d got used to it, but I do generally like hot spicy food. However, it might well have been a bit too hot for the average palate.
We asked for a rest before deciding on a sweet as both of us were feeling pretty full from the generous portions and sizeable steaks.
When we eventually decided we could manage a sweet my wife opted for the pistachio and vanilla ice-cream while I had fruit pancakes, also served with a scoop of ice-cream.
Again, once the order went in service was incredibly quick.
All in all, Bistro 55 is a superb addition to the culinary delights on offer in North Wales, even if it’s a bit hard to get to.
Both Sally and I had been tipped off about the restaurant from two different sources. It’s certainly a restaurant we will be making a return visit to in the near future.
FACTFILE
Bistro 55, Main Road, Pen-y-cefn, Caerwys. Telephone 01352 720246.
Total cost £64.10 for two including wine and soft drinks.
Best thing: Speed of service and quality of food.
Worst thing: Actually working out how to get to it, despite it sitting right next to the A55.
Would suit: Anyone looking for quality food in a pleasant atmosphere.
Wouldn’t suit: Anyone looking for a rowdy atmosphere or loud music while they eat
