For the last couple of days I have been doing some morning shifts at the new Cafe at Pen Y Pass, if you haven’t been there in the last couple of weeks then you probably won’t recognise the place from the inside. The previous cafe was stuck in a 1970’s timewarp, the counter looked like something out of open all ours and the food was basic to say the least, the booth seating was taken from a motorway services of a similar generation.
It looks amazing now, and the food is no longer just re-heated pasties, and scoulding over priced tea is no longer served in polystyrene cups. Instead a fantastic open plan counter and kitchen greet you as you come in along with smiling faces, of the staff.
The Cafe is an off shoot of Caban in Brynrefail, that is a ‘social entreprise’, where the main emphasis is on employing people long term as well as providing a quality menu. A menu that yesterday I was thrown in at the deep end, and left to cook for the visitors. My background as a chef has been in the large part home based cooking for friends, in particular the manager of the Pen Y Pass cafe Huw, who roped me into working up there to save some money to go away on an extended trip latter on in the year.
I have always enjoyed cooking, and have found doing it for paying customers just as enjoyable. As well as preparing the food to order, I have also been making industrial sized quantities of food. First up was Dark and White chocolate Hob-nob Cookies, which as the chef I of course had to taste, and they got my seal of approval, and today I made up a massive chilli. Again the type of food I have often served for friends, and something that I don’t think they would have turned there noses up at.
The main problem of course of doing two extra days work a week, is that I no longer have five days off to go climbing, and the weather hasn’t been playing ball. So whilst I had planned to go out after work yesterday, the rain did nothing to help!
I hope that a few of my readers and friends try to come up to the cafe, the parking is quite limited, however come about lunchtime midweek the car park starts to empty of the ‘early risers’ for Snowdon, and there is enough space to risk the drive up. There is of course the Sherpa Bus up from the village, and if you have some kids and its a sunny day, then a ride in the open top bus up the pass is a great attraction in its own right, do check the timetable thoroughly though, as they can be rather fickle.
Whilst you might not want to walk all the way up Snowdon the Miners track is a lovely path to follow to the first or second lake you came across, and actually not very steep. You could even get a pushchair along it for at least a mile!
