Stayed two nights at the Taf Hotel. Although there are many positive comments I could make about the Taf Hotel regarding accommodations, for this review I'll mainly keep to the food, which was just great.
The night we arrived we had their traditional Sunday Lunch, by special arrangement, as we were arriving well past "lunch" time. From an American perspective, it was the UK version of Sunday dinner; plenty of variety, with multiple meat, vegetable and potato choices, and all well prepared. The vegetables in particular were not over or under cooked, which is my standard litmus test for good preparation. It was generally what I would think of as a home-style meal, but definitely from a well above average home.
The next days breakfast was notable for the choices offered, the longer we sat indecisive, the more options our hosts presented. Our ultimate choice of porridge, eggs, bacon, tomatoes and toast suited us fine, and I'm sure they would have prepared an excellent "full English" if we had wanted that.
Instead of having our next evening tea somewhere else in Whitland, as we had originally planned, we opted to eat at the Taf because of our good experience the night before. We were not disappointed. My fish was perfectly cooked, with a very tasty sauce. My wife preferred her chicken cutlets a little more well done, and this was taken care of quickly and graciously. We went away very satisfied.
Our final meal was a traditional Welsh breakfast, featuring cockles and laverbread (a seaweed specialty that is an acquired taste, I think), as well as items that seem more ordinary to an American palate. The suggestion from Debbie that the laverbread might be better spread on toast was appreciated.
I must say that the quality of the meals we had at the Taf were a very pleasant surprise. However, where the proprietors of the Taf really excel is their gracious and attentive service. The food was really delicious, don't get me wrong, but it was their willingness to go off-menu with suggestions and customized meal accommodations that made eating there really special. Examples were a specially prepared taster-portion of a dish we were unfamiliar with, didn't want to commit to a whole portion of, but were interested in sampling, an after dinner bonus sampler of Julian's home-made sorbets (delicious), a sack lunch quickly put together for us to take on our days outing, and their item by item suggestions of what they could prepare for our final dinner. Outstanding. read more