Huw's Reviews

Attending Llandrindod Wells with some colleagues last year we came across the Drawing Room (about 10 minutes drive away) and gave it a try. We loved it so much we went back the second night and returned again this year. Once again we ducked out of the conference dinner on the second night and returned to the hospitality of the Drawing Room! The only mistake we made was not making use of the rooms – one which we'll be rectifying next year!

The Drawing Room is a delightful restaurant, basically taking up a large portion of the downstairs of the proprietors' house. Enter and you find yourself with a choice of 2 separate seating areas, exquisitely furnished with candles in the open fireplaces and lots of interesting books on food and travel. Having been served your apperitif, maybe with some olives, you are taken through to the dining room at the rear. Seating about 20, again the furnishing is smart and tasteful and it has a cozy atmosphere. There's another large private dining table adjascent to the kitchen, which looks lovely for a large private party.

The menu is short but changes on a regular basis and is based around locally sourced top quality produce. A selection of the food we sampled (3 of us) over 2 days included local lamb (absolutely delicious), Herefordshire peppered sirloin steak (not quite as good but very pleasant), a lovely pate, one of the best sticky toffee puddings I've ever had and some great local cheeses. The wine list changes by the day (it had changed the second day as they had found a great value Bordeaux bin end to add) and is very good value. We paid £175 the first day (2 bottles of wine) and £145 the second (1 bottle) for 3 people, including apperitifs and coffee. At around £50 a head I think this place is great value as it really is top notch food in lovely surroundings, prepared and served by people who care. This really is the sort of place which you should support – so go there…soon!

One final note – they don't accept cards – it's cash and… More

Had a business dinner at Bleeding Heart restaurant end April 09. I've been there several times in the past and always been very impressed with virtually every aspect of the place. As usual the place was nearly full, it seemed with similar groups of business types.

The atmosphere was good, if a little loud, as we were seated next to a table of 12. The downstairs setting is superb and really sets the scene for a great meal. It was a strange night for service, however. We arrived early at around 6.40 before the place filled up and no-one seemed to know who was serving us. We were asked by two different waitresses if we wanted an aperitif and then by a different 2 waitresses if we wanted water! At several times during the meal the waitresses misunderstood what we were asking for and we had to repeat ourselves several times. Despite this they seemed to speak decent English (they were all French) and maybe it was the loud atmosphere which was the problem. It's certainly better to be over-serviced than not to be able to catch a waiter's eye. So I'd give them the benefit of the doubt as they were friendly.

The menu looked impressive as always but the food, when it came was disappointing. Service was suprisingly quick (not necessarily a complaint and as I said we were ahead of the rush). My rabbit and fois gras boudin with green peas was bland and not particularly appetising to look at. Disappointing. My colleagues both had Goat’s Cheese Beignets on Confit Baby Fennel and Roast Cherry Tomato and seemed satisfied.

For mains, I had Assiette of Suckling Pig: Roast Loin, Confit Shoulder en Kromeski and Faggot with Potato Blinis. At £18.95 it was again disappointing. The confit was OK but very dry, the faggot was probably the best bit, although very small and the roast loin a bit tasteless. The potato blinis were very oniony and didn't go with the pork. I left most of it. My colleagues had the steak and were happy with their choices so maybe I just chose badly. However, the pig is… More