Ynyshir

For all that has been written about this idiosyncratic groundbreaker, there’s not much that prepares you for your first visit to Ynyshir. Gareth Ward’s cooking is famously uncompromising, advocating complete dedication to Ward’s cultish cooking mantra - ‘Ingredient-led, flavour-driven, fat-fuelled and meat-obsessed.’

There are no half measures here - if you’re coming to Ynyshir you’re here for the full ride. Dinner starts at 5pm and continues for a good five hours. After a quick drink and a snack in the lounge, tables are walked one-by-one into the dining room. We’re sat theatre-style facing the open kitchen, where Ward stands, his six foot two frame silhouetted by sparks as he fans the flames of an open grill. Behind us, a DJ soundtracks the evening, evolving his set from jaunty liquid funk through to tribal house. Ynyshir’s live theatre isn’t just a gimmick - it genuinely builds to moments of euphoria throughout the meal, and Ward and his team are clearly having fun doing it, hitting you with round after round of fat-fuelled haymakers.

Sourcing, prep and cookery all play key parts in Ynyshir’s magnificence. A huge range of the meat and fish served on the menu has been aged in Ynyshir’s purpose-built Himalayan salt chamber, adding new dimensions to already impressive dishes. An early course of bluefin tuna belly is doused in peppery Spanish olive oil and paired with dabs of jalapeno puree and yoghurt - it’s fresh, hot, peppery, sweet. Utterly brilliant. A great central ingredient is often presented in different ways across multiple dishes. Later on we get two courses of lobster from the nearby River Dyfi: the first is raw, bringing gentle sweetness to a prickly nahm jim dressing; the latter is barbecued and nested in a blanket of satay sauce.

There are favourites across the meal, but that Ynyshir delivers 30 courses without a single dud is proof enough of just how exceptional this restaurant is. Service is extremely amiable and fun throughout the night, so much so that the time flies, and even at the end of the meal, you’re sad to be leaving.

Unconventional and uncompromising, Ynyshir exhibits the signs of true genius. Ward’s restaurant is unconcerned with passing trends and fads, and in being so, it may well come to blaze a trail for a new generation. This is a restaurant not to be missed.

Ynyshir is a restaurant with rooms in Wales run by chef patron Gareth Ward, who cooks a unique, 30-course tasting menu of pyrotechnic creations, heavily influenced by Japanese cuisine, with meat front and centre. The only two Michelin-starred restaurant in Wales, Ynyshir is regularly in the conversation among the very best restaurants in the country, and also boasts an attached four-star hotel where guests can stay over after dinner, which often clocks in between four and five hours.

A typical menu at Ynyshir is a true culinary journey, typically consisting of about 30 micro-courses. Aside from meat, there is also a focus on seafood. Earlier entries may include raw lobster tail with nahm jim, shrimp green curry and a chilli crab bun. These lighter bites then slowly blend into slightly meatier ones, like scallops with duck liver, aged bluefin tuna belly and miso-cured black cod with shiitake.

Moving to the meat dishes, you will typically see the likes of a duck larb, pork char siu, Welsh lamb spare rib or chicken katsu, before beef takes over. In this section, you can expect A5 beef (the wagyu of all wagyus). It could take any shape: a single-bite burger, ribs with black bean or sirloin with ponzu and caviar. Dessert is also usually spread across multiple tiny courses, which could take the form of buttermilk whey with Thai spices, Bramley apple with duck custard or tiramisu. 

The wine list is extensive and surprisingly reasonably priced, with a paragraph for each highlighting its background and best use. The back page of this list features fortified and sweet wines, but the whole list is only a few pages, showing Ynyshir's confidence in its decision-making.