Has Mwrog Street's The Farmers found itself a niche by offering food; or is the market already saturated?
Older readers will recall times when The Farmers always did serve but the restaurant had been empty for some years. The Farmers recently advertised for someone to take on food, as a separate business. This is now known as The Kitchen at The Farmers, which began to serve food on and from July 3rd. The chef recently worked at Brookehouse Mill, Dinbych—so that's promising.
It's slightly out-of-town but actually is still within easy walking distance of most of it. The fact that the Cunning Green remains closed probably doesn't help any walking customers from the Llanrhydd end. But its main market must surely be Llanfwrog Urban: Mwrog Street itself and the estates to its north. This, after all, is The Farmers' catchment as an alternative to the Park Place. The Farmers, like the Parkie, is a community pub.
Perhaps that is why The Kitchen has chosen a menu of reasonably priced pub classics over more seductive food. Here you find chicken in the basket, scampi, fish & chips, pie & mash and Britain's national staple: curry, rice & poppadom.
What's the competition? The Morning Star is close and though reasonably priced serves only Mexican food. Then there's the Corpi—sorry, the Cock (snigger snigger). That re-opened following refurbishment in March and still serves food. Neither the Boars nor the recently reopened Vaults does. On the Hill and The Myddleton on the Square are restaurants rather than pubs. And that's about it, on the Farmers' side of Rhuthun/Ruthin.
Save one. The Castle Hotel. This Wetherspoon pub sells food at competitive prices, offering some dishes as low as £8 for two. The food presentation's not good—it seems to be slapped on the plate—and, while the beer is rock bottom but just as good as anywhere else, the food isn't particularly flavoursome, rather formulaic and relying on cheap cuts with seasoning. Nevertheless, it's hard for the lower end of the market to compete against this giant.
What, then, of The Kitchen? We recently test-purchased. It was good to see this particular Friday night busy at about 7.15 p.m. (though by 9 p.m. it had gotten quieter). For drinks, we ordered a mineral water and a pint. When we queried the small amount of water, they said it was free but it turned out to be tonic water at £1.10. Not what we wanted.
There were a handful of diners dotted around the bar area and it is here that we joined them. It was bad positioning, as we were within earshot of a handful of lads, one of whom punctuated his sentences with the f-word as if it were a comma. To be fair, we might've encountered such language in any other pub.
One of us chose scampi and the other the more upmarket salmon fillet with lemon butter. The latter was well presented, tasty and the fillet about the same size as you might expect On The Hill. The former was, well, scampi, simple as. In Wetherspoon's you also get peas, though. Thereafter, we both plumbed for sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream. It was as well that this was not the expected large, stomach-filling portion. You got the feeling that the puddings had been delivered by Brake Bros.
Service was friendly and the food punctual, no-nonsense and good value for money. The downside was that there appeared nothing—at all—for people who prefer meat free. The selection was diverse but, surely, a couple of veggie options could widen The Kitchen's appeal.
The Farmers gets a five-star rating for food hygiene (note this was awarded in September 2013, before The Kitchen)
Older readers will recall times when The Farmers always did serve but the restaurant had been empty for some years. The Farmers recently advertised for someone to take on food, as a separate business. This is now known as The Kitchen at The Farmers, which began to serve food on and from July 3rd. The chef recently worked at Brookehouse Mill, Dinbych—so that's promising.
Perhaps that is why The Kitchen has chosen a menu of reasonably priced pub classics over more seductive food. Here you find chicken in the basket, scampi, fish & chips, pie & mash and Britain's national staple: curry, rice & poppadom.
What's the competition? The Morning Star is close and though reasonably priced serves only Mexican food. Then there's the Corpi—sorry, the Cock (snigger snigger). That re-opened following refurbishment in March and still serves food. Neither the Boars nor the recently reopened Vaults does. On the Hill and The Myddleton on the Square are restaurants rather than pubs. And that's about it, on the Farmers' side of Rhuthun/Ruthin.
Save one. The Castle Hotel. This Wetherspoon pub sells food at competitive prices, offering some dishes as low as £8 for two. The food presentation's not good—it seems to be slapped on the plate—and, while the beer is rock bottom but just as good as anywhere else, the food isn't particularly flavoursome, rather formulaic and relying on cheap cuts with seasoning. Nevertheless, it's hard for the lower end of the market to compete against this giant.
What, then, of The Kitchen? We recently test-purchased. It was good to see this particular Friday night busy at about 7.15 p.m. (though by 9 p.m. it had gotten quieter). For drinks, we ordered a mineral water and a pint. When we queried the small amount of water, they said it was free but it turned out to be tonic water at £1.10. Not what we wanted.
There were a handful of diners dotted around the bar area and it is here that we joined them. It was bad positioning, as we were within earshot of a handful of lads, one of whom punctuated his sentences with the f-word as if it were a comma. To be fair, we might've encountered such language in any other pub.
One of us chose scampi and the other the more upmarket salmon fillet with lemon butter. The latter was well presented, tasty and the fillet about the same size as you might expect On The Hill. The former was, well, scampi, simple as. In Wetherspoon's you also get peas, though. Thereafter, we both plumbed for sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream. It was as well that this was not the expected large, stomach-filling portion. You got the feeling that the puddings had been delivered by Brake Bros.
Service was friendly and the food punctual, no-nonsense and good value for money. The downside was that there appeared nothing—at all—for people who prefer meat free. The selection was diverse but, surely, a couple of veggie options could widen The Kitchen's appeal.
The Farmers gets a five-star rating for food hygiene (note this was awarded in September 2013, before The Kitchen)