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СпутникиРНSpaceXРоскосмосNASAMark Williams recently went for a taste test at Woodys' cafe at Bala's Llyn Tegid
Mark Williams recently went for a taste test at Woody's cafe, Llyn Tegid, Bala, this is what he found:
Bala's Llyn Tegid has been heaving with tourists all summer long, mainly down to the fine weather, but also for the chance to cool down. It seems to be the place to be seen at the moment, due to the popularity of paddle boarding.
The car park was absolutely rammed and every patch of faded yellow grass was taken up by gazebos, picnic tables and people bathing in the sun. It was a bit like the opening scene from the film ‘Jaws’, or perhaps you should replace that with the fabled Teggie. (Bala’s version of the Loch Ness monster).
You can see why the area is so popular, as the lake is surrounded by serene mountain scenery. Llyn Tegid is the largest natural lake in Wales. The lake is over 3½ miles long, ¾ mile wide and over 140 feet deep in places.
The lake has fourteen species of fish, including the Gwyniad, a species of whitefish which is unique to Llyn Tegid from the ice age. It’s the perfect location for water-sports including sailing, kayaking and canoeing.
Woody’s cafe is located between the outdoor portable sauna and the paddle board canoe hire shop on Llyn Tegid/Bala Lake. The café has a queue outside it most weekends during peak tourist season.
There are two entrances to the cafe, one on the leisure centre side and the other on the lakeside. There are plenty of picnic tables with parasols on both sides of the cafe, including a shaded covered terrace area.
Inside, there is a separate ice cream counter serving Mario’s ice cream or you can order food at the counter in front of the kitchen. There were various cakes chilling in the display glass refrigerator by the ordering point.
The cafe has a wooden shack feel due to the wood panelled walls and forest green carpet. There were a mixture of comfy sofas or more formal table and chairs in the building. We were sat right next to the window, which had glorious views of the lake and the mountains. It was a great place to people watch as paddle boarders struggled to stay afloat and kayakers paddled in the wrong direction.
Woody’s has a simple menu designed to fill up the hungry hordes and water sport enthusiasts. It’s the kind of place that doesn’t really have to try too hard as the tourists will flock here anyway. Tourists were queuing up for ice cream, drinks and food, with seemingly no end of customers swarming in through the glass doors.
Their all- day breakfast with bacon, sausage, egg, beans, hash brown, mushrooms, tea and toast was priced at £13.25. A smaller version of the fry up was priced at the cheaper price of £9.25. A bacon or sausage bap was priced from £5 upwards with various combinations available, including a full breakfast bap.
Lunch time options included typical greasy spoon options such as pie chips and peas for £15.45, scampi peas and chips £14.45 or various burgers and chips for £13.95. The portion sizes looked very generous indeed as we witnessed on the next table to us.
Healthier options included jacket spuds with various toppings at £11.45 or cooling salads with either cheese, ham, chicken, tuna mayo with pickled onions, beetroot, coleslaw, sweet pickle and boiled eggs for £10.45. Sandwiches or toasties were priced at £7.25 as were the children’s meals.
We were on a walk so decided on a quick refuel by trying one of their many cakes on display. They had options such as lemon drizzle, chocolate brownies, giant blueberry muffins or Welsh cakes. I eventually chose a big slab of carrot cake for £3.75, which was moist and had a lovely taste of spiced ginger. It had a sprinkling of sesame seeds and edible flowers on top the rich tangy cream cheese frosting.
My ‘queen of the scones‘ wife chose a cream tea for a very reasonable price of £3.95. Due to the baking heat, the fruit scone was served with cream and jam straight from the fridge. The fresh scone had a slightly crunchy outer crust with a delicate, buttery crumb. My wife spread the cream and jam really carefully, before enjoying a bite and leaving a bit of the cream on the tip of her nose.
My wife made do with a bottle of water as it was too warm for a hot drink, whilst I went for a bottled banana milk shake, which was served in a jam-jar with a straw. It tasted cool and refreshing and was priced at £4.15.
We paid our dues and walked very carefully over the hot pebble stones and dipped our aching feet, from the launch dock, into the clear cool lake. It was bliss as we watched paddle boarders and canoeists glide over the calm waters.
Woody’s cafe is a magnet for the many tourists who gather around the beautiful natural glacial lake. Paddle boarding must make you hungry as the queue for the café was full of people with wetsuits. Thanks to social media, the Lake appears to be attracting people from the north west of England, with the car park filling up with campervans, especially at weekends.
Parking was priced at £5 for all day by the lake or £1.80 for an hour by the leisure centre (which sometimes doubles up as an overflow car park on busy weekends).