The chef behind a Welsh restaurant with two Michelin stars says it has “the highest standards in the world”, despite being given a one-star hygiene rating in a recent inspection.
Ynyshir, a restaurant with rooms near Machynlleth on the southern edge of the Eryri national park, has been praised as one of the best in the world.
It opened in 2013 and gained its first Michelin star a year later. It received another in 2022, making it the first site in Wales to win two stars. Prices start at £468 per person.
The restaurant scored one out of five from a visit by Food Standards Agency officers on 5 November, meaning “major improvement” is necessary.
Chef patron Gareth Ward told the BBC on Wednesday he was “not embarrassed” by the rating, which he said was due to inspectors’ concerns about the use of raw and aged ingredients.
“I’m buying sashimi-grade fish from Japan and they’re questioning, ‘Well, we don’t know the water, so how do we know it’s sashimi grade?’
“Well, it is sashimi grade, this stuff’s eaten raw all over the world and just because our rules don’t fit their rules, they’re questioning it … I’ve got a salt chamber for ageing fish but they obviously don’t like the idea of ageing stuff.
“I’m not at all ashamed but I am disappointed. I’m not sat here thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m embarrassed, I’ve done something wrong’, because we haven’t. What we have done is something different.”
Ward, a former contestant on MasterChef: The Professionals, said Ynyshir employs a specialist compliance company to address food safety and has a £50,000 freezer capable of reaching temperatures of -80C (-112F).
After the inspection, the restaurant’s fish was sent away for independent laboratory testing, which found no concerns.
Ward acknowledged that the food safety officers were “not 100% wrong”, and has since installed an additional hand-washing station in the fish preparation area. He also said paperwork problems contributed to the poor score.
“Some of our paperwork wasn’t right, and that’s our fault,” he said. “Sometimes you miss stuff or sometimes you write stuff down wrong or forget … I’d need a full-time office worker doing the paperwork to get it perfect every time.”
In Wales and Northern Ireland, all food establishments are legally required to display their hygiene rating in a prominent place.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Ynyshir said the business had requested a reinspection but no date had been set.
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