Bryn Williams at Porth Eirias

The return to the North Wales bench

The fish fingers land with the plain confidence of daily catch. Bryn Williams, chef at Bryn Williams at Porth Eirias in Colwyn Bay, sets that kind of cooking beside the promenade rather than behind ceremony. His line here begins earlier than the restaurant: Denbigh bakery work, study at Coleg Llandrillo Cymru, then Cafe Nicoise in Colwyn Bay before London kitchens widened the discipline. Criterion, Le Gavroche, Orrery, Patisserie Millet in Paris and Hotel Negresco in Nice all sit behind the hand, but Porth Eirias is not a London room transplanted to the coast. Williams opened Bryn@Porth Eirias in 2015 as chef and founder, bringing the method back toward the North Wales larder that formed him. His role at Coleg Llandrillo, held since 2009 as Skills Ambassador, keeps that loop visible: training, service, return. The house also carries its own recognition, including a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which belongs to this Colwyn Bay address, not merely to the chef's earlier reputation.

Unfussy cooking, held to the line

The programme is a la carte, modern British in its frame, with seafood close to the centre because the room faces the water and the cooking allows for that proximity. Porth Eirias Full Breakfast, daily catch fish fingers and house baked Alaska give the range without turning it into performance: breakfast, the coastal staple, the finished sweet. Williams's wider practice has long favoured clarity over ornament, from Pure Honey to Sôs Coch and Salad Dressing, and the same instinct suits this brasserie. Local sourcing is not a flourish here; it is the working premise, shaped by a chef from a Denbighshire farming family who grew up around fishing, game, vegetables and produce handled at source. The wine programme is curated, but the restaurant does not build its identity around the cellar. The weight falls on the pass, the timing of service, and dishes that can meet both a local lunch and a coastal supper without changing voice.

Blue banquettes beside the sea

The room keeps a relaxed buzz, conversational rather than hushed, with faux industrial styling, blue leather banquettes and the long pull of sea views from the promenade. It works as restaurant, café and bar, which matters because the cooking has to hold its shape across different rhythms of the day. A beachside brasserie can easily become all scenery; here the counter and the pass keep the view in proportion. The mood is friendly, but the discipline remains visible in the decisions that reach the plate: the local fish treated plainly, the breakfast given a house identity, the baked Alaska kept as a finishing gesture rather than a novelty. Williams closed Odette's in 2024 and spoke of spending more time in his native Wales, particularly North Wales. That leaves the next chapter close to this room, this promenade and Porth Eirias.