Three North East Wales Restaurants to Compete in Year of Sea Food Challenge Final!
Over the last four weeks, twelve restaurants and cafes in the region have served up their interpretations of the classic fish & chips (but with a twist!) or their surf & turf dishes – all taking inspiration from the ‘Year of the Sea’ theme and working with local producers where possible.
After receiving the reports from mystery diners, the Fat Boar Wrexham, the Royal Oak Bangor on Dee and Gales in Llangollen will cook their dish for a panel of judges this Friday at Hafod Restaurant, Coleg Cambria.
The Fat Boar’s 18oz bone in Celtic pride ribeye, giant crab claws and Perl las sauce proved very popular with diners whilst the Royal Oak’s ‘surf & slurp’ dish featuring braised pork & mussels was a hit too. Gales in Llangollen also edged into the top three with a fantastic surf and turf dish featuring Pen y Lan pork belly, saffron mash, American sauce, langoustine and a quail’s egg.
After the dishes have been served on Friday – an invited panel of judges will choose a winning dish and the head chef will receive a trophy, along with the chance to serve up their dish at food festivals later in the year and feature in national press about Wales’ food scene.
The challenge has been backed by the Welsh Governments Regional Tourism Engagement Fund (RTEF) following the success of food challenges in previous years.
Speaking about the finalists, Destination Manager at Wrexham Council Joe Bickerton, part of the NE Wales Marketing team added;
“We have three fantastic dishes competing in the cook-off on Friday. Ultimately though, the team wants to acknowledge the collective efforts that all of the twelve eateries have put in over the last month to work with local producers, celebrate the Year of the Sea and deliver an outstanding welcome to their diners – many of whom visited to try the dishes and will hopefully keep supporting these independent businesses.”
The Royal Oak, Bangor on Dee
Gales of Llangollen
The Fat Boar, Wrexham
Image above is of all 3 finalists dishes (images by The Ginger Pixie Photography)