A restaurant which charges £350 per head for asian-influenced food has been voted the best in Britain at the recent National Restaurant Awards.
Based in Eglws Each, in north Wales, Ynyshir came first in the annual top 100 list, edging out some distinguished competition.
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Remarkably, in topping the 2022 list, it become the first restaurant to do so that was based outside of England.
Moreover, seven of this year's top 10 were situated in London, showing the scale of Ynyshir's achievement.
As The Times report, the award was decided by a public vote for the first time in its history, which also saw 60 of the top 100 restaurants featured being based in the UK's capital city.
However, for everything that London can offer, it cannot compete with the Welsh gem for natural scenery.
The awards website boasts: “Surrounded by rhododendron bushes and undulating yet carefully trimmed lawns, Ynyshir looks like a typical country house hotel. But all is not quite as it seems at this remote property.”
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It's been a fine year all told for head chef Gareth Ward, as back in February, the restaurant received its second Michelin star.
Ward has been widely praised for his role in transforming the place, which was previously part of a hotel complex.
Boasting "fun dining, not fine dining", it serves up a Japanese-influenced menu with a focus on cooking over fire.
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Ward, who is a protege of the celebrated 'Sat Bains' restaurant in Nottingham, serves meals in a “small dining room which is stripped back and a little Scandi in feel with a fully open kitchen where diners can watch the casually clad brigade at work”.
While not cheap, at £350 per head, the ever growing list of satisfied customers tells it's own story.
Included in this is Adam Woodyatt of Eastenders fame, who posed for a picture with the head chef earlier this year.
The restaurant was praised as an 'uncompromisingly edgy Welsh gem which melds punchy, Asian-influenced food with a Nineties hip-hop' approach which is 'ingredient-led, flavour-driven, fat-fuelled and meat-obsessed', by the National Restaurant Awards.
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Ynyshir's title comes from the village and there furnace of the same name, one which historically provided electricity for the region.
The restaurant pushed Mark Birchall's 'Moor Hall' into second place at this year's awards show, following back-to-back wins for the Lancashire favourite in 2021 and 2020.
Elsewhere, The world famous Ritz in London collected the service award, all while coming fourth overall.
Topics: Food And Drink, UK News
Tom Fenton