Shropshire Magazine

The restaurant caters for only around 20 covers.

Neil Thomas revisits and old favourite and finds that standards are as high as ever . . . Pictures: Russell Davies

Smoked mackerel, strawberry salad with honey and poppy seed dressing.

Summer sees many holidaymakers take to the hills, with Mid Wales a popular destination. I know this from first-hand experience as we live next to a main route to several of the area’s caravan parks and holiday cottages, and the volume of weekend traffic trundling by increases a fair bit in August.

Lake Vyrnwy is something of a tourist trap and the route to it from Shropshire takes you through the attractive town of Llanfyllin which itself, if the sun’s out, can give you a bit of a holiday feel, or, at the very least, aid your winding down process. The pretty High Street restaurant Seeds contributes significantly to this, with its classy wrought-iron tables and chairs on the pavement creating a continental street-cafe look. Inside, there is a cosy cottage feel which is hardly surprising since the low-ceilinged, beamed dining room is essentially the front room of a cottage. It is compact enough to hold a conversation with diners on the far side of the room. Intimacy is the overriding impression and there is a wonderful ambience about the place.

Curios, maps and mementoes line the walls and fill the shelves, trophies of the exotic travels of owners, Mark and Felicity Seager.

They have run Seeds for approaching 20 years but before moving to Llanfyllin this interesting couple travelled the world and worked on the glittering London restaurant scene, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous. Mark used to count the likes of football superstar George Best and his Miss World girlfriends among his clientele and was once butler to a man so wealthy he had a heated driveway to his house.

Grilled fillet of seabass on a bed of samphire and baby plum tomatoes.

However, when they fancied a change of pace, where better to decamp to than the spirit-lifting rural idyll that so characterises much of Shropshire and Mid Wales.

They fell in love with Seeds at first sight and the romance has blossomed over nearly two decades, during which they have turned Seeds into a beacon of gastronomic excellence on the Mid Wales landscape.

Mark’s domain is the kitchen, though he’ll often appear during the evening for a laugh and a natter with regulars. Meanwhile, front of house, Felicity mingles easily with the customers, gliding between the tables with good-natured chat and a warm smile.

There are six tables of varying sizes, catering for barely more than 20 covers which means that eating there is a little akin to being at an intimate dinner party in the picturesque cottage of personable friends.

Admittedly friends would be unlikely to present you with a bill for £116 at the end of the evening, but you get the point.

Conviviality

On the evening my wife Vanessa and I visited there were seven other diners, providing a pleasant buzz of conviviality. It was towards the end of a very busy week for Seeds, Mark and Felicity having opened at 5.30 every evening to provide early dinner for Llanfyllin Music Festival concert-goers.

Having enjoyed many delightful evenings at Seeds over the past dozen years, we arrived wonderfully relaxed and looking forward to the treats ahead. We caught up with Felicity’s news while sipping on refreshing gin-and-tonics and nibbling on olives before our starters arrived.

Mark and Felicity Seager with canine companion Angus.

Vanessa’s warm black pudding salad with blackcurrant dressing was excellent. It had been a hot and humid July day and was turning into a steamy summer’s evening, so I ordered my pea and mint soup slightly chilled. It was utterly delicious, with a couple of slices of home-baked bread.

As lone chef, Mark sensibly avoids the risks associated with over-stretching himself by keeping to a fairly tight, simple menu. Nevertheless, he still manages to offer some rich diversity. The other starters on offer were homemade chicken liver paté and toast, asparagus and spring onion risotto, and grilled goats cheese salad with sweet chilli dressing.

Mark is an experienced and accomplished chef so you know that when you order fish it will come to you perfectly prepared, not watery and underdone or dried out by overcooking. My sea bass was top notch. The skin was done to a perfect crisp and the fish itself was tender and full of flavour. It came on a bed of Mediterranean vegetables which provided a perfect contrast of texture and flavour.

Vanessa also chose seafood and her scallops looked and tasted superb. Scallops are one of her favourite dishes, a regular whenever she can find them on our restaurant visits, and Seeds served up the largest, most tender and perfectly cooked she had tasted in a long while.

The new potatoes and accompanying vegetables were fresh and expertly prepared.

Other main courses included rack of Welsh lamb with Dijon and herb crust; fillet steak with brandy-and-cream sauce, sautéed chicken breast with port-and-cream sauce; lamb’s kidneys with seed grain mustard and sherry sauce and a pasta dish.

Desserts, in keeping with the rest of the menu, are relatively straightforward dishes, served with a dash of flair but ultimately with flavour as the prime concern.

An attractive establishment on Llanfyllin’s High Street.

Mark’s treacle tart is a particular favourite of mine and, with refreshing scoops of vanilla ice-cream, it didn’t disappoint. The pastry was of the delicious melt-in-the-mouth variety and the filling sinfully sweet with a blend of softness and chewiness.

Vanessa is a fan of Mark’s lemon posset with blackcurrant coulis, but this time decided to try the Eton mess, which she loved. Bread-and-butter pudding and crème brulée were among the other choices.

Gluttony then took hold as we followed up our sweets with a cheese board, featuring a trio of classic cheeses.

Seeds has a diverse and interesting wine list while the after-dinner coffee is some of the best around.

Seeds may not be able to cater for huge coachloads but if you fancy a cosy, candlelit romantic evening then you could travel further and fare worse.

The benchmark of a successful evening out is how long you linger. We were, as so often at Seeds, the last to leave.

• Seeds, High Street, Llanfyllin, Powys SY22 5AP. Telephone: 01691 648604.