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Glaslyn Ices and Glandwr Cafe (Beddgelert)
by julwhite
This review is of Glaslyn Ices, an ice cream shop in the lovely Welsh town of Beddgelert. There is a shop which just sells ice creams, and also a larger cafe which is next door.
My first impressions of the establishment were good, there was a fast moving queue for the ice cream shop and everything looked tidy and clean. We ... went to Glaslyn because we heard it had a good reputation, and it was easy to find, as the town is quite small, but there is a good amount of parking nearby.
The menu of the various ice creams is on the outside of the shop, and there is a wide range of ice creams to choose from. I can only remember a few of the different flavours, but they included blackberry, cherry, vanilla, raspberry pavlova, ferrero rocher, amaretto, and many others besides. The selection that they have changes regularly, so you might well find some new choices available.
You can choose whether you have your ice cream in a cornet, a double cornet or a chocolate covered cornet, and the pricing is all very clear. Prices are around 2 pounds, and you can choose to have two different flavours if you wish.
The staff were helpful and polite in the ice cream cafe section, and they must sell thousands of ice creams in the summer as all the time that I was there, there was a long queue out of the door. However the queue was fast moving and no-one when I was there seemed to be waiting for very long.
The experience was so good that we also stopped on a later occasion in the cafe next door, and was very impressed again at the quality. They seem to try to make most things in-house, and that is reflected in the quality of the product, in my case, trying their pizzas, which are home made and of a good quality.
I noticed on the menu that they also served fish and chips, steak, baguettes, chicken and similar meals. If you go in the morning, you are able to order breakfast, which I didn't try, but from my experiences of the rest of their products, I'm sure was of a good quality.
Price-wise, they're not necessarily the cheapest, but it wasn't really that expensive either given that they had a good location in a tourist village, and given the quality of the product that they were selling. A main meal or pizza was around ten pounds, although cheaper options were available.
There was also a children's menu, and the restaurant is family friendly, with children seemingly very welcome. The restaurant was also suitable for the disabled and there is also a baby changing area in the toilets as well. The toilets, as with the rest of the restaurant, were clean and well looked after.
Overall, I'd definitely recommend Glaslyn Ices. A friendly service, at a very reasonable price, with a good quality product. If you are nearby to Beddgelert, definitely at least try one of their ice creams, a fantastic range of flavours and delicious! We stopped here after climbing Snowdon, which is just three miles away (and very visible from the town) and it was a well deserved treat after all our efforts!
Recommended!
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Joe's Ice Cream Parlour (Swansea)
by Dryad
Joe's was founded in 1922 by Joe Cascarrini a second generation Italian gentleman. Over the years Joe's ice cream has won several awards including 'Champion of Champions' (whatever that is!). Many of the better cafés, restaurants and fast food outlets in South Wales are owned and run by Italian families. I was surprised to read some ... years ago A.A. Gills comment about Wales being so uncultured and culinarily challenged as to not have even experienced cappuccino, (despite knowing that Mr. Gill is not a lover of the Cymru, - or the English now apparently) I was surprised because on this point he is totally wrong. Our wonderful Italian settlers of which there were many, brought us these delicious treats along with espresso and gorgeous ice cream long before most people in England, even London, had heard of them. Anyway I digress (again, sorry). If you want to know more about the history of Joe's and check out opening times, menus, phone numbers etc, there is a very nice site at joes-icecream.com.
Joe's is sold pre-packed and beats the socks of most other similar brands. However it is not a patch on the ice cream served fresh from the churners at their parlours. So that is what I'll be reviewing, with a nod below to the pre-packed yumminess.
The pre packed tubs come in several flavours and sizes, from individual 120ml size, (with the ubiquitous too small plastic shovel in the top) to family sized tubs of 500mls, 1ltr and 2ltr (prices are £1.05, £2.50/75, £4.25 and £7.95 respectively). The flavour choice is widest in the individual pots and consists of: vanilla, strawberry, cappuccino, caramel swirl, strawberry swirl, chocolate swirl and mint choc swirl. The litre size includes such treats as Welsh cake!? That sounds like something Heston Blumenthal might cook up. These can be bought at retailers bearing the Joe's sign, but they probably won't carry all the flavours.
Joe's Ice cream parlours (as per dooyoo heading) are fairly insignificant pieces of architecture, what is important and wonderful about Joe's is its own ice cream, and that is what the review will primarily cover.
At the parlours they only serve vanilla flavoured ice cream, which is made on the premises and produced all day. The ice cream itself is so heavenly that I'm sure no one would mind the vanilla base being the only option on site. There are a huge range of excellent toppings and sauces on offer. Unlike most toppings I have sampled elsewhere, which have been a bit like those tasteless sugar candy things you sprinkle on top of cakes, with any fruit being fairly bland, doused in syrup and pretty unrecognisable, Joe's are magnificent, fresh and delicious.
You won't find any little flecks of vanilla seed or pod in this ice cream, the vanilla flavour is apparent but subtle and doesn't overpower the creaminess of the product. It is sweet but again subtly so and you aren't left with a sugary after taste, to say this is creamy is an understatement. To me this is something that tastes quite unlike any other ice cream I have ever tried. It isn't heavy and rich like some, nor light and insubstantial like others, it is soft but more dense than a 'Mr. Wippy' style ice cream. Hell it is just perfect. There may be a suspicion amongst you that this is a simple bland vanilla, it is anything but. It seems to have a component that sets the taste buds alight, and shoots straight to the pleasure centres of the brain. Never before have I eaten something and done the eyes closed orgasmic 'mmmm' thing, I've always seen that as visual poetic licence used by soft porn cooks like Nigella, try Joe's and you might see what I mean.
We live about ten miles from Swansea so going to Joe's is an occasional eagerly anticipated treat. Being extremely skint at the moment we couldn't afford to do anything much for our recent anniversary (23 cold stony steps towards the grave - or years if you prefer), so what we decided on was a visit to Joe's and a DVD at home later, and to be honest I couldn't have enjoyed it more if we had gone to a good restaurant.
My favourite delight from Joe's is the Cherry Temptation, which is vanilla ice cream, generously layered with plump, sweet and mouth wateringly gorgeous black cherries, and topped with chocolate or nuts (which I ask them not to add), oh and they usually add a couple of wafers too. This costs £2.50, £3.30 or £4.95. I usually have the middle size which is quite generous, with about 3 scoops of ice cream, and to be honest I would happily eat the larger size and not feel guilty about the calories for one second. Joe's serves many different concoctions and they vary in price starting at £1.05 for a one scoop cone. This may seem a little pricey, but for the quality of product you are getting, and the pleasure which is honestly better than sex it is worth every penny. I don't have a tub of Joe's at the moment to check if it shows the calorie content, as it is a luxury ice cream I'm sure the numbers would be frightening, but I don't care Joe's is just that good.
Joe's has only two parlours and a stall, they are all in Swansea. One at 85 St. Helens Road, it is not a particularly salubrious area but is only a short stroll from the seafront and just on the cusp of being in the 'posh' seafront village of Mumbles.. The other is in Mumbles itself, and the stall is at 'The Piazza' in Parc Tawe in central Swansea.
I can only describe the St. Helens parlour as it's the one I use. On entering there is a long counter, where you are greeted by banks of happy(ish) staff ready to serve your take away, and the queue when there is one moves quickly. To the left is the parlour which seats approximately 30 people, they also serve a few bits and bobs of other milk based produce such as milk shakes and coffee. I think that they serve other snack foods too at the Mumbles parlour. The area is clean and spacious with a slight retro ice cream parlour feel, I think it has waitress service, but as we usually take out I may not have remembered that correctly. Just across the road is Swansea's Guild Hall where a lot of local government types while away their days, a few decent pubs and little down at heel shops litter the area too. The Guild Hall has lots of parking areas around it -which is why I mention it - as there is no dedicated parking for Joe's, (there is a small stretch of road literally around the corner where about 5 cars can be parked for a limited period). You are also quite near the Patti Pavilion and St Helen's Stadium, so if you are visiting them it may be worth popping into Joe's while you are in the area.
The other parlour in the centre of Mumbles itself is very near the sea front but doesn't have a sea view. I never use this one as it's further away and always bursting at the seams, often with queues out of the door. Again there is no dedicated parking, but there are many car parks along Mumbles front and the cliff top. However trying to find a space there in holiday season often leads to bloodshed and swearing gaskets being blown. The small takeaway at Parc Tawe is centrally located near a cinema complex, bowling alley, shops etc.
If I were ever in the position of having to choose a last meal Joe's would most certainly form a major part of it. Their advertising says 'everything else is just ice cream' and they are right, every time I taste another quality ice cream I comment (to the husbands irritation at my repetitiveness) it's lovely but it's not Joe's.
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Taybarns Eatery (Morriston)
by llwyd
I had never been anywhere like this for food before we were invited to join friends there. If they would have described the place,I don't think I would have been to keen! How else can you describe the place appart from cafeteria?!
Well, I did have a pleasant surprise, and have been back three times now. An important thing ... to start, make sure you are hungry when you go there, to make sure that you get your money's worth!
The building is nice and there is a quite nice set up there. You go in through the door and pay straight away. You pay one price, and then you can eat as much as you like, and I mean AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE! The cost is £5.95pp on weekdays before 5pm and £8.95 per head every other time. I assume it is open quite late, but I.don't know the exact times. After you have paid for your food and ordered (& paid) for you drinks you go and choose a table. (If you order soft drinks e.g. pepsi or Lemonade you have free re-fills, and you help yourself to them). If you need a highchair, one of the workers go and get it for you. The next step is to go up and get your food.
Well, where do I begin?! There is a huge selection of foods, here is just a taster:they have a fresh salad bar (and to be honest it always looks freash and crispy), a counter with chips and wedges, burgers, sausages , breaded fish, pork, chicken breasts, prawns on skewers, rattatoue (don't know how to spell that!), corn on the cob, pizzas,sweet and sour chicken,chicken in black bean sauce, rice and a warm dinner with a choice of meats. I know that I havn't mentioned the whole selection there. But best of all are the desserts! proffitteroles (you can add you own chocolate sauce), cakes, apple pie, jam rolly poly, custard and many more. Ops, I forgoT the fruit salad! Yes, and you can eat as much as you want. I am still full after being there for lunch!
On the whole I will say that most of the food that I have tasted there are really nice, except one of thepizzas today was quite dry. I didn't think the food would be that nice with such a selection, but it really is worth a try. I'm not saying that I would like to visit every week (appart from putting stones of weight on if I did!), but when we go now and again it is a nice change.
If you are with a gang of mates and are hungry I would seriously consider a visit, but not the place to take yor girlfriend or wife for a romantic meal! Well, unless she really does love her food!
They are liscensed. The only thing I do remember is that a pint of Carling is £2.55 there, bit they did have a selection of drinks.
On the way out I saw a sign saying 'free breakfast for under 16's'.
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