Tony M.
Yelp
We came to Wales for a couple of weeks, hoping to find some great Welsh food. Until we found Olif, we'd had British pub food, some great Indian meals, and too many mediocre dinners.
Olif is what we were looking for. Olif features some of the best food from Wales and Spain, mostly as the name says, as small plates to share.
From the Spanish side we had the hummus, Seville Gordal olives and Padrona peppers. Yum.
On the Welsh side we tried mussels from the Menai Straits (wow - with a sauce from cream, onions, etc. - best mussels ever), Boozy fish (the best fish and chips on the trip), Angelsey eggs (potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, ... baked in small dish - amazing).
For drinks they offer curu (beer), curu seider (cider), and spirits (several gins and whiskeys) all from Welsh producers, as well as wine and other items from other countries.
Each night they offer a few desserts. They're also excellent (we tried two on different nights but I've forgotten the details).
The first dinner was so good we made a dinner reservation for another evening.
They had a well-curated set of Welsh music playing in the background which I very much enjoyed. Some of the music was Mim Twm Llai, Rheinallt H. Rowlands, Cerys Matthews, Gwenno Saunders, Huw M, Euros Childs and Gorky's Zygotic Mynki. I tracked some of it down and am listening to it as I write this review. I listen to music from many countries but until Olif had never heard any music from Wales. Good listening!
Olif has a limited number of tables - make a reservation to avoid disappointment. On our first night there we were the last people for dinner, and we watched a number of other people turned away.
While enjoying dinner we discovered they also are a B&B and have five rooms (all with an ensuite bathroom if I recall correctly).
On, one more thing. They offer a smaller tapas menu until 4pm and change to the dinner menu after that. If you get there at quarter til you can enjoy items from both menus.
Great food and great people! Of all the restaurants we tried in Wales over our two weeks, this was the most delightful of all. Highly recommended.