As a Welsh food establishment comes out top at the National Restaurant Awards for the first time, Jonathan Swain sings the praises of the victor – and some of those bubbling under.
So this year, the National Restaurant Awards have said what many have been saying privately for some time now: Ynyshir, in Eglwys Fach near Machynlleth, is the UK’s best restaurant. That’s significant in its own right, but especially because it is the first time in the award’s 16-year history that a restaurant outside of England has won the honour.
It was overdue. I visited three years ago and it was clearly a Michelin two-star in waiting, its £70 tasting menu quite unlike anything I’d ever had. Since then, prices have skyrocketed to £370 and tables are sought after fervently, with the road to Machynlleth becoming a well-worn pilgrimage for food lovers from across the UK and abroad.
The food itself is famously described as “ingredient-led, flavour-driven, fat-fuelled and meat-obsessed”. This is an entirely accurate tagline, but one that doesn’t quite do justice to Gareth Ward’s remarkable cooking. He marries superb ingredients, a strong Asian influence, ageing and innovative techniques in a menu served over four to five hours.
The menu gives few clues as to what appears in front of you, with terse descriptions like
‘Lobster: raw tail – nahm jim’ or simply ‘Shrimp – green curry’ or ‘Scallop – duck liver’.
It’s all about the quality of ingredients, from black cod to ibérico pork from Spain and Welsh lamb, prized A5 Japanese beef or Oscietra caviar.
None of this is your stereotypical fine dining, with a soundtrack that may include anything from Arctic Monkeys to Johnny Cash to Wu-Tang Clan. It’s an intense experience and one not quickly forgotten. Indeed, with former head chef Nathan Davies heading up SY23 – recently named Michelin’s ‘opening of the year’ – nearby in Aberystwyth, his influence will only become stronger and more tangible.
Back to the National Restaurant Awards: third place went to Tomos Parry at Brat in Shoreditch. His bold, fire-led cooking, modelled on the fire-powered restaurants of northern Spain, has won a huge following in the capital and a star from Michelin. Named after the Old English word for turbot, the menu celebrates simple but delicious ingredients.
Turbot itself, grilled directly on the coals in an iron basket, is the restaurant’s signature dish, but there’s much more to the menu. Think smoked cod’s roe, oysters roasted with seaweed, or asparagus with fresh cheese, many either on the stove or in the restaurant’s wood-fired oven. Parry has been vocal in paying tribute to his mentor, Cardiff’s Grady Atkins, telling the Guardian, “He’s better than me — he taught me everything. He hasn’t got [a Michelin star] and he should have been awarded one.”
The plaudits for Wales didn’t stop there. For the first time in the history of the Awards, the public was asked to vote on their favourite restaurant in the UK, and the inaugural Food Lovers Award went to Beach House in Oxwich: fitting recognition for Hywel Griffith’s clever but unfussy cooking. And for Cardiff’s Kindle, only open since September 2021, sustainability is at the heart of what they do – so to be one of four shortlisted establishments in a new category, nominated by the Sustainable Restaurant Association, is a notable achievement. Next year, perhaps?
Info: Ynyshir / National Restaurant Awards
words JONATHAN SWAIN
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