A Good Catch

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It's always nice when you can find a wallet-friendly eating-house with good food within an easy drive from home. One such was discovered by our son James and his husband Leo about ten minutes from their place in the north of Anglesey. It's a small family-run brasserie in the town of Valley, near Holyhead: Catch 22. The dining is over two floors; the upstairs being our boys' now favourite haunt, and which is where we ate this lunchtime: the four of us and Irene, our friend of forty-some-odd years; her husband, Alan, sadly, no longer with us [blog posts passim].

The stand-out for me was my starter of deep-fried breaded calamari with Szechuan salt, spring onion, chilli, red pepper, sweet soy reduction and lime. Squid is always a good test of a kitchen, because it is so easy to screw up. This, however, was cooked just right and the spicing and accompaniments were balanced nicely. Jane's crispy chicken wings in garlic and Parmesan butter were pretty scrummy too. I literally outfaced myself with a main of slow-roast belly-pork with celeriac purée, fondant potatoes, cider & mustard sauce, with tender-stem broccoli - one of my select few favourite green things - but sadly, I just can't hack quantity these days, although to be fair, the portion was modest enough by most people's standards.

I'd like to return and give their grilled black sea-bream a go, as a main: I never fail to finish a nicely-cooked small fish. I'll let you know when I've given it a bash. In fact, there are a number of good-looking seafood dishes in their repertoire I will definitely be giving a go. As to price, considering the quality of the food - all locally sourced where possible - and the cooking, it's very reasonable. The starters are all around nine quid and the mains extend only as far north as just shy of twenty-eight quid for a ten-ounce Welsh rump steak. The atmosphere and service are excellent: we enjoyed a good two hours together, which could well have been longer, should we have wanted, such is the nature of the place. Oh, and lastly: no hovering staff constantly asking if everything's OK: they're confident enough in what they're doing to know it just is. As you would imagine, even out of season, you need to book. Catch 22 Brasserie, Valley, Ynys Môn.

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