Teulu Restaurant in Powys

We booked an early evening meal at the Caer Beris Manor, eating at the Teulu restaurant. We were the first table to arrive as we had asked for an early evening reservation. The dining room was in keeping with the hotel, oak panelled with a lot of heritage, except for the two big TV monitors showing what the chefs in the kitchen were creating. I loved the TV monitors. It showed the art and dedication the chefs put into the creation of each of the dishes. There were five at our table, and we ordered all but one dish on the starter and the main course that night, and we did order every dessert. All I can say is wow. The sound of excellent food being eaten, silence as the first mouthful was taken, followed by the joyful murmurs and expressions of excitement as the next bite was better than the first. The desserts were incredible and an absolute pleasure to eat. I started with the chicken liver parfait, followed by the lamb and the beetroot frangipane for dessert. We will be visiting Jamie and the team at Teulu restaurant every time we are in the area. What a fantastic find.

Im blown away to find a local restaurant serving food at this standard. Chef Jamie and Omar have balanced the best of Welsh produce with Egyptian tastes to present a really unique tasting experience. You can watch the chefs prepare you food via the TV link to the kitchen and sit back and enjoy some beautiful wines sourced from Wales real.These guys mean business , they have set their sights on a star and Im sure it wont be long in coming.

My first disappointment was the dining room. Once upon a time when you ate at the Caer Beris, you had the option to eat in the light and airy conservatory which overlooked the rather lovely park. This time, we were ushered into a dated, wood panelled room which lacked natural light as much as it did any sort of convivial atmosphere. Two large TV screens dominated the room and displayed a live feed to the kitchen along with a perpetually flashing “low battery” symbol. On reflection, it was very good metaphor for the evening to come. We were seated at a table stabilised by beermats. Whilst that may have been charming in a pub, in a restaurant with high aspirations to grandeur it felt like someone needed to get their priorities right. For example the “edible menu” was a gimmick where costs could have been cut without any heartbreak on my part and the same applies to the incongruous and rather distracting TV screens. We were served by a young waitress who was sweet enough, but lacked training or much awareness of what she was serving. The meal itself was fine, but I have eaten in many excellent restaurants (including Michelin starred ones – we’ll come to that later) and the offering here was of a much lower standard both in terms of quality and taste – although the price tag was certainly in the same ballpark! However, the point at which I felt I had to complain was dessert. I ordered the “Vanilla Bean Cremeaux – Foraged Blackberry – Baked White Chocolate”. What I was served - without apology or explanation – did not feature a single blackberry let alone a foraged one (see photo). The waitress looked somewhat confused when I pointed this out (clearly the chef had not bothered to tell her and she had not noticed) and headed off to the kitchen. She returned with a tall story about blackberries being out of season despite the fact that the previous day, my 10 year old had spent 30 minutes foraging enough blackberries locally for us to freeze half, give a large bowl full to a neighbour and still have enough left over for an apple and blackberry crumble which was heavy on the blackberries. The waitress then suggested that the substituted raspberries had been foraged, which at least produced some laughter from the table. As my friend pointed out, unless they had been foraged from the local Co-op that was certainly not the case. Frankly I would have been less insulted had her story revolved around the raspberries self-identifying as blackberries. Clearly the chef should have materialised to make his own excuses, but the error they were compounding was the fact that the substitution should have been flagged before I was served (as would have been the case in almost any other restaurant). Did they think I wouldn’t notice or (as my friend said) did they think I was “twp” (marvellous Welsh word - needs no translation). I wrote to the owners subsequently to ensure they were aware of my experience, but I did not receive the courtesy of a response. What I did receive from someone else was a recommendation to watch the episode of “The Hotel Inspector” which features this restaurant. It went a long way to explaining the mismatch between their rather pretentious aspirations and my customer experience. If the management are still coveting a Michelin Star, they have a lot of work to do.

Amazing taster menu. Great service. Fantastic surroundings. It was a bit special being served by Jamie himself.

Despite worries that the Welsh Rarebit we had at lunch might have stolen some of the appetite we needed to do justice to the 14 course tasting menu, we are truly delighted we made the effort to experience Jamie's wonderful cooking. I will just call out the bread and miso butter, thecawl 2.0 and the sea trout as outstanding examples of dishes that really achieved the summit of culinary excellence. My partner had a vegetarian counterpart which never felt like a poor relation to the meat version and had an equal number of highlights such as the ricotta. If we were put on a rack and forced to identify something that didn't quite work then we would call out the welsh rarebit as by the time it came the pacing was starting to slip, it lacked the sophistication of the other dishes and our palates were just ready at that point for the desserts. Obviously, our earlier lunch choice didn't help endear us to this course. As for service, the level of staffing was good and it was great to see some very young people being given such a great opportunity to experience the world of fine dining. The fact that Jamie delivered all (but one) of the dishes and took us through the ingredients and techniques really added to the enjoyment of the evening. Pacing was punchy for the most part (which we like) though tailed off towards the end when we found ourselves twiddling our thumbs and checking our watches and wondering where our desserts and petits fours were. This didn't spoil our evening but if we have a table booked for 6pm, we really do like to be on our way by 8.30 and for the timing to be disciplined throughout. Finally, the wine list would have benefited from some more welsh wines (there are 22 vineyards, after all) and, though this is our particular fetish, some amber wines which go very well with complex dishes. All in all, a fantastic experience. We will be back!

We were lucky enough to attend the opening weekend of the Teulu tasting menu. We had to pinch ourselves a few courses in and remember that this is not (yet) a Michelin starred restaurant! Amazing experience with some truly unique touches that we had never seen in a restaurant before. The Welsh theming was strong throughout the evening, in a wonderful way. We have no doubt that they will see much success in the coming years, and can’t wait to visit again.

We booked in for the taster menu and wow! What an experience! Amazing service and incredible food from a friendly and welcoming restaurant.

Visited last week, originally was going to do two of the three course menu, but as the starter and the main has been so magnificent had desert too! Was exceptional and good value for money Coming back to Try the taster menu Our waitress was a girl called Libby, she was very attentive and enjoyed our visit

Wonderful meal, every course was delicious and the desserts were absolutely divine! Lovely atmosphere, excellent service, staff friendly and attentive. You can see the kitchen on screens and watch the food being cooked and served, fab feature, really lovely to see the genuine passion from all of the chefs. Definitely recommend.

One of the best meals in many years. Attentive staff and the most amazing food, Surely a Michelin star is on the cards?