Adventure company Zip World and official catering partner Levy UK has opened Blondin Restaurant, a modern bistro-style venue at Zip World, Penrhyn Quarry, Bethesda, featuring five dishes from renowned North Wales chef Bryn Williams.
Open seven days a week, the Blondin Restaurant is part of the Zip World experience and features a 150-cover eatery, offering indoor seating and an outdoor terrace with views across the slate mine and turquoise waters of the quarry lake. Metres above the terrace is the fastest zip wire in the world, “Velocity”.
Bryn, also known for his Porth Eirias restaurant in Colwyn Bay, has created five dishes for the restaurant’s menu, all of which celebrate his love of North Wales and showcase local ingredients. Dishes featuring on the menu include; Welsh bacon roll; steamed Conway mussels; Welsh cawl featuring local lamb slowly braised; and a Welsh cheese board.
The Blondin Restaurant is at the heart of the new three floor Adventure Terminal building developed by Zip World. The Gallery, a private function space on the top floor can cater for parties, special events and meetings for up to 60, people while the ground floor will welcome those starting their Velocity zip line experience.
Chef Bryn Williams, said: “I’m all about showing off the best that North Wales has to offer and at the Blondin Restaurant that means combining a few signature dishes, such as Welsh beef burgers and Conwy mussels, alongside bespoke creations like my Zip World wings, that are prepared using sauce from an Anglesey chilli company.”
Sean Taylor of Zip World said: “North Wales is now a real dining destination and the Blondin Restaurant will be a great addition to the landscape.”
The name ‘Blondin’ celebrates the development of equipment historically used in Welsh slate quarrying. ‘The Blondin’ was a type of aerial ropeway developed to transport slate in open quarries. It was named after the 18th century tightrope walker Charles Blondin and used throughout Penrhyn Quarry with the nickname of ‘Jerry Ms’.