Dinner at Nanteos Mansion

I know we went out to Libanus the other day for Sunday lunch to celebrate our wedding anniversary, but that was a bit of a last minute thing. We had already booked onto the ‘Estate Dinner’ at Nanteos as well. So, that’s where we were on Wednesday evening!

We hadn’t been to Nanteos Mansion for quite a while so it would be nice to see how it was. It’s had a refurbishment since I was last there and things did look a look fairly grand. Set in 30 acres of woodland just outside of Aberystwyth it’s easy for us to get to. Once through Aberystwyth we were soon on the long drive to the mansion past the lake and an apiary of beehives.

We were of course a little early but were greeted in the hallway and led to the morning room where we had a glass of prosecco and a chance to see the evening menu.

We were the only ones there but half an hour later we were taken into the large dining room with it’s high ceilings and somber oil painting portraits keeping a watchful eye on us. There were at least some other diners here. Another 3 couples to be precise. Presumably they were all staying in one of the hotels grand rooms. It’s a 4* hotel but as it was close to home we had decided not to stay the night so didn’t get to see any of the rooms on offer.

Dinner

After some homemade ciabatta to start we were into the Amuse Bouche of beetroot with per las cheese. This was super tasty and got the juices flowing for more to come. The service was good and the staff friendly without being too much so.

The dinner is a set menu so we didn’t know exactly what to expect. We have to admit that we weren’t that excited by the evenings menu once we’d seen it. The main course was cod with peanuts and sesame and the pudding was watermelon with strawberries and mint. We don’t mind fish but aren’t really into it and the pudding sounded a little underwhelming. However, the menu didn’t give too much away so we would have to wait and see.

The starter was an onion soup with tofu and a miso paste. This too was certainly very tasty. Not quite up to the standards of the ‘not french onion soup’ from Ynyshir Hall but still very nice and there was of course more of it than at Ynyshir!

The main course was cod with peanuts and sesame on a bed of sticky rice with tenderstem brocolli. I don’t think I’ve ever had peanuts with cod before but it went together well. It was quite nice in fact but as I said above not really our thing as we’re not big fans of fish.

Next was a pre-dessert of sorbet with white chocolate crumble. By now I was embarrassing myself with just a little too much coughing from the lingering chest infection I’ve had. What I really needed was a big sign saying “don’t worry, it’s not Covid!”. Fortunately the other diners were all well spaced in the large dining room so I don’t think it impacted on anyone else too much.

The dessert of watermelon, strawberries and mint was just that. A large slice of watermelon, some strawberries, a watermelon puree and a strawberry puree with some mint. It was actually quite nice, definitely better than it sounds but not overly exciting. We then all moved back to the comfort of the sofas in the morning room. Here we had for coffees and a slice of brownie.

Another enjoyable evening out, some more fine dining and another year married to the lovely Anna! What more could I want.

Tags: dining out