Lockdown food review: The Hand at Llanarmon's vital role in dark days
Andy Richardson visits a remote restaurant which is keeping local residents fed during the lockdown.
There have been plenty of good times. Fridays and Saturday nights. Christmases and Valentines. Mothers Days and Bank Holidays. Times when the restaurant and bars have been packed to the rafters.
These, however, are the worst of times. When businesses are not allowed to open their doors. When staff stand around bored, waiting for something to do. When banks circle like sharks and when customers stay away for fear of Covid-19.
And yet The Hand at Llanarmon, a short distance from Oswestry on the Mid Wales border, is one of the businesses leading from the front. It has retained as many staff as possible.
It has diversified its offering to help feed an elderly and isolated rural community. It has battled with the very banks whose unhelpful interventions have drawn widespread condemnation. Their story is one of resilience and dignity, one of fortitude and determination. They are showing others how to survive this thing.
The Hand at Llanarmon is located in the picturesque Ceiriog Valley. It has an enviable list of local suppliers, drawing from the wealth of exceptional producers across Mid-Wales.
It retains two AA rosettes for culinary excellence and has been listed in the prestigious Michelin Guide. Its story is one of teamwork, of skilful staff working together with a common goal. But it is also the story of those who lead that team; owners Jonathan and Jackie Greatorex and head chef Grant Mullholland.
When Boris Johnson told people to stay away from pubs and restaurants – without ordering them to close – he decimated trade for all. From pubs on street corners to Michelin-starred restaurants, from country pubs like The Hand to cheap and cheerful bistros.
Many took action in the intervening days, laying off staff or closing for the foreseeable future. And such actions were perfectly understandable; no business can operate if it is not receiving revenue.
The Hand, however, stood firm. And by the Friday of that week, when Prime Minister Johnson enforced a shut down and Chancellor Rishi Sunak took responsibility for staff wages, The Hand was still in business.
Since then, it has re-imagined its business. Hotel rooms have been made available free of charge to NHS workers. And it has created a £10-per-dish menu to feed the local community. It profit margin can’t survive on 30 boxes of fish and chips per night, of course, but its reputation can. And when all of this passes, The Hand will be among the restaurants that opens its doors and welcomes guests.
Members of the public have long memories about the way businesses operate. They will remember the companies that ramped up the price for hand sanitiser or sought to profiteer from a global health crisis. Indeed, there are those who have spent decades building up a great public image, only to see that shredded in the space of days.
Figures like Gordon Ramsay and Rick Stein as well as businesses like Wetherspoons and Virgin Airlines have found themselves enormously unpopular because of some of the measures they have taken.
Others have behaved impeccably; showing community spirit and a willingness to do the right thing. The Hand is among those. It will emerge from Covid-19 with its reputation enhanced.
In recent weeks, it has operated a takeaway service, with food being left on large tables outside the premises for people to collect. They make contactless payments, collect takeaway bags and either eat hot food or heat up pre-prepared dishes from the comfort of their own home.
So while Chef Mullholland used to dazzle with complex dishes that demonstrated high levels of skill, now he cooks lamb burgers or fish and chips, while also making lasagnes and cottage pies for people to cook the next day.
The standards are as high as ever they were. I ate a lamb burger that was still a little pink and oozed with fatty flavour. Served in a delicious, fresh bread roll that had plenty of crust, it had been topped with a generous, high quality round of black pudding while a strong, bite-back slice of cheddar had been melted on top.
A side of chips were perfectly pleasant, golden on the outside and with ample crunch. The restaurant might have been repurposed as a takeaway, but standards have not fallen and the food remains a cut above the rest.
My partner ate a delicious dish. Three vegetable bhajis were fabulously crunchy with thin strands of shredded vegetable encased in a crisp golden batter. T
hey were served with tomato chutney and mango chutney and a side of rice. Small peppers, stuffed with ricotta, added flavour while the gentle heat from chillis permeated the dish. It had been prepared hygienically, transferred to us without contact and delivered at a price that was frankly unbeatable.
We ordered two of the cook-at-home dishes, which were presented in the same way – a brown paper bag with an A4 sheet of cooking instructions stapled to the outside.
The cottage pie was delicious. Soft, fluffy mash topped an intense and expertly-seasoned bed of meat. The lasagne was equally good and we added a cheese sauce to the top five minutes before it emerged bubbling from the oven.
It’s a tough gig owning a restaurant during an era when restaurants are closed. It’s even more difficult to do the right thing and retain hard-working staff who were there through the good times.
But The Hand at Llanarmon is doing those things. The Ceiriog Valley is one of the region’s most remote and most isolated communities and feeding local residents has an element of public service.
In an area where there are no village shops or community centres, the pub has an important role to play. And its owners and chef have stepped up to the plate.
These may be the hardest of times when ever day involves a double-check on the bank balance. But once Covid-19 is under control, The Hand will bounce back. Customers will remember the dignity and sense of community service it displayed and reward it handsomely.
Contact information
The Hand at Llanarmon
Llanarmon DC, Ceiriog
Valley, Llangollen
LL20 7LD
01691 600666
Sample menu
Takeaway
Cod, chips and tartar sauce, £10
Chicken tikka, rice, poppadum and mango chutney, £10
Vegetable bhajis, sundried tomatoes, ricotto-stuffed peppers, pea shoots and pumpkin seeds, £10
Lamb burger, black pudding, melted cheese and chips, £10
Breaded scampi, chips and tartar sauce, £10
Pork curry, rice and poppadum, £10
Steak ciabatta and chips, £10
Pie, chips and gravy, £10
Half a roast chicken, chips and gravy, £10
Cook at home
Lasagne, £10
Cottage pie, £10
