AFTER working in kitchens since the age of 16, it was, by his own admission, time for Sonny Walker to “take the plunge”.
And so, in November 2018, Sonny and wife Monika opened Indulge Restaurant, providing quality food and cocktails to customers in Tal-y-Bont, Conwy Valley.
Then, in August 2020, after being allowed to re-open amid the turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic, Indulge relocated to Llandudno.
Since then, Sonny, who started at Castle Hotel before later spending nine years at Signatures Restaurant, both in Conwy, and his eight-person team have never looked back.
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He said: “I just took the plunge. I’d worked at a few different places with some really good chefs, who taught me everything I knew.
“I’d worked in kitchens since I was 16. I’d moved up to head chef at Signatures and thought: ‘I need to do this sort of thing, but for myself’.”
With a range of quality dishes, and a more unique range of cocktails to sample, Indulge prides itself on providing a fine dining experience, albeit with a more “casual” atmosphere than most.
Sonny sees this as filling a void he spotted in the industry– a place where people can come and go as and when they fancy, rather than for specific occasions, maintaining high standards of service and food and drink all the while.
He said: “I see it as a bit of a gap in the market – you’ve got your pub dinners, and fine dining establishments, which are both really popular, and a bit of a gap in-between.
“We want it to be the best in the area, but to fill that gap, where people just can come whenever they want.
“Casual, but where the quality is still up there with more ‘occasion-based’ establishments. The price range might be cheaper, but you’re getting just as good quality.
“When I write an evening menu, I keep it quite small and like to change it a lot. The lamb dishes all go down really well and sell out, and the fish just flies out.
“For the first year, we just did run-of-the-mill cocktails, and people seemed to like them, but we really wanted to be a bit more exclusive with them.
“We’ve made our own versions of different cocktails, changing the recipes, so you couldn’t have the same cocktail somewhere else.”
The restaurant has earned two titles to show for their efforts, too – firstly, “best restaurant team” at the Welsh Hospitality Awards 2019.
But the more recent of the two, “outstanding restaurant of the year” at the Food Awards Wales 2022, understandably meant more to Sonny and the team.
He added: “This one (2022 award) feels like a bigger one; the name of the award – ‘outstanding restaurant of the year’ - just sounds very prestigious. It sounds great, and it feels great!”
Indulge Restaurant, 39-41 Madoc Street, Llandudno, LL30 2TL.
For more information, visit: www.facebook.com/indulgeatllandudno.
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