Wales’ only two-Michelin-star restaurant has been hit with a one-star hygiene rating.
Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms, which charges a minimum of £468 per head, has been told it needs “major improvement” by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), which gave it just one star.
The restaurant boasts a 30-course, five-hour dining “experience”, with the hideaway restaurant being praised for its “fine dining, scenography and ambience” by reviewers.
If diners opt for the “full experience”, they can stay for the night at an additional charge of £330, or £714 for the “Garden Room”. Stays include a “light breakfast” before checkout.
A spokesman for the restaurant said they take the rating “seriously” and explained some of its “specialised” cooking methods “differ from conventional kitchen operations”.
Even celebrity TV chef James Martin called it “the best place to eat in the world”.
Additionally, the Michelin Guide describes the restaurant as “a truly unique experience” that offers an “immersive approach”.
However, the FSA disagrees.
Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms, Wales’ only two-Michelin-star restaurant, has been hit with a one-star hygiene rating
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The organisation placed management of food safety into the category of “major improvement necessary”.
Improvements were also considered “necessary” on the cleanliness and condition of the facilities and building, while the hygienic food handling was found to be “generally satisfactory”.
According to the FSA’s website, businesses with low ratings “must make urgent or major improvements to hygiene standards”.
Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms’ co-owner and head chef, Gareth Ward, is not buying it.
Co-owner and head chef Gareth Ward won the AA Chefs’ Chef Award last year
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Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms
Mr Ward, who featured on BBC hit show “Masterchef: The Professionals”, said he isn’t “embarrassed” or “upset by it”, saying: “The people in life that push the hardest and think outside the box and do something different will always have to deal with this kind of stuff. My standards never drop below 100%.
“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,” he told the BBC.
“My restaurant is working at the highest standard in the world and we take what we do very seriously.
“I’ve got 27 years of experience in what I do. The kitchen is open, everyone can see everything, the place is immaculate.”
The Saturday Kitchen Live host, Mr Martin, has previously praised Mr Ward as “the greatest chef in the UK at the moment”.
“We buy in the best ingredients from around the world and a lot of it I serve raw,” Mr Ward continued. “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.”
Mr Ward has built a reputation on preserved ingredients and aged meats, which is what makes his cooking “stand out from anything else in the UK,” according to Great British Chefs.
He believes some of his aged ingredients had been scrutinised, explaining: “I’ve got a salt chamber for ageing fish but they obviously don’t like the idea of ageing stuff.”