Ynyshir team to open second restaurant in Wales

The team behind two-Michelin-starred Ynyshir in Wales are to open a new restaurant in the nearby town of Machynlleth later this year.

It will be named Gwen, after chef-patron Gareth Ward’s mother, and will take over the former Twenty One restaurant site in the town.

The venue is located around six miles from Ynyshir and will be led by the main restaurant’s current head chef Corrin Harrison.

Amelia Eiriksson, creative director and co-owner of Ynyshir, said: “We never really decided that we wanted to do a second venue, but had always said that if we did it would be in this area.

“When we heard that Laura and Sam were planning to close Twenty One we just gave them a call out of interest, as we’d always loved their little restaurant and didn’t want it to be lost as a great venue for the town. This just planted a seed and we decided to go for it and make it ours.”

Gwen will feature a more casual space at the front, designed to look similar to the main Ynyshir restaurant. The area will be run as a wine and coffee shop in the day and a wine bar in the evening, serving meat and cheese boards, paninis, soups, croissants, and breads.

There are plans for a more intimate eight to 10-seat restaurant in the back of the site, which will serve a tasting menu from an open kitchen run by Harrison.

Harrison and Ward will plan and design the menu with the same ingredients used in the main Ynyshir restaurant.

Eiriksson said: “We feel [Harrison is] ready for his own kitchen and really want to be behind it.

“It’s a chance to have bit of fun with the dishes and make something of the same quality as Ynyshir, but...priced much more in line with a neighbourhood restaurant.”

Ward arrived at Ynyshir in 2013 and the venue has since become Wales’ only two-Michelin-starred and five-AA-rosette restaurant with rooms.

He and Eiriksson took a stake in the business in 2017.