Sandy Mount House on Anglesey to open fine dining spin-off Y Parlwr this summer

The beach house restaurant and bar Sandy Mount House on Anglesey (pictured) is to open a second fine-dining restaurant a few doors down from its original site in the beach town of Rhosneigr.

Y Parlwr is due to open this summer to capitalise on the tourist trade, with a £500,000 refurbishment underway.

The Sandy Mount House purchased the premises – a former bistro called Sullivans, prior to that a greengrocers – last summer for £350,000.

The 1,760 sq ft building will be split into a street-facing bakehouse called Cowrie Store, selling fresh sourdough, wine, desserts, as well as cuts of Welsh meat, locally-sourced fresh fish and cheese, and grab-and-go food, while Y Parlwr will be a 20-cover restaurant towards the back of the building, offering a seven to 10 course tasting menu over one sitting.

Speaking to The Caterer, executive chef Hefin Roberts said the build is starting to come together, and he is hopeful to be open by June.

“I didn’t want guests to walk through the shop to get to the restaurant. Instead, there is an alleyway to the left-hand side and a tiny door that you will only spot if you know about it,” said Roberts, who has been given free reign by Sandy Mount House owners Phil and Louise Goodwin to design his own fine-dining restaurant.

Roberts joined Sandy Mount House as head chef in 2018 after the owners spent £3m refurbishing the property. Prior to Sandy Mount House he was development chef at Castell Howell Foods and head chef at Ye Olde Bulls Head in Beaumaris which earned three AA rosettes under his leadership, and has since rebranded to the Bull.

“I’ve always wanted to go full ahead with fine dining – that’s why Sandy Mount House employed me – but with 150-200 covers, there was no way we could do fine dining. But during Covid, Phil, the owner, knew a lot more places were going to close than reopen, so he said if you can find a venue, then we could do it.

“The next day we saw people carrying boxes out of the restaurant up the road and the owner said the current residents were calling it a day, but they were only interested in selling the building. We bought it, and it was in a hell of a state, but that’s coming along nice and hopefully this year we will have a tidy little restaurant.”

Y Parlwr will be inspired by the nearby beach, with shells and driftwood, as well as crockery made by local potters and some pieces made by Roberts himself.

Roberts intends to start with a seven-course tasting menu costing around £85, hopefully increasing this to a 10-course option, as well as wine pairing, when he is settled in his new kitchen.

Dishes will be made from local and seasonal produce, taking inspiration from the surrounding coastal area including scallops, lobster, whelks and winkles, as well as sea herbs. Roberts will also use Anglesey farms for his lamb and beef, with some cuts dry-aged in the restaurant.

He said the 20-cover restaurant will be the only fine-dining restaurant on the west side of the island. Anglesey’s only Michelin-star restaurant, Sosban, is situated in Menai Bridge. The Marram Grass in Newborough closed during the pandemic, with owners Liam and Barrie Ellis shifting focus to their Lerpwl restaurant in Liverpool.