Gareth Ward: “The day I go to work and don’t love my job we close our restaurant and I move to Ibiza”

You play loud music and serve a 30-course menu. Does everyone get what you’re doing?

We still get people now again who watch James Martin on TV and book without doing any research or reading a review. There’s nothing we don’t tell you – we send five emails that say we take no dietaries, the music’s loud, this is what you’re going to get but still people turn up and go ‘what is this?’ But we try our best to change their minds – 99% of the time they come away saying it was amazing. We get so many people who say they don’t eat fish but the first half of the menu, 15 courses, is fish, and a lot of it is raw. But by the end they love it. We use the most incredible ingredients, and we give people something they might have never had in their life before.

The menu is a hefty undertaking. Do you or your chefs ever wish you served fewer dishes?

The restaurant is so full of energy, from the moment you walk through the door it is pumping. I’d be so bored with a three-course menu.

Do your diners?

It’s all weighed and measured so it is exactly the same size every time. You can get through the menu without throwing up in the corner like at a Roman banquet, it’s very thought out and precise.

Dinner is £350 per head. It’s not a cheap experience…

We are using the best ingredients in the world, there is no expense spared. I was charging £350 when we were a one-star restaurant because that’s what it’s worth. It’s probably worth more than that because I haven’t sat down and done my GP because it scares the shit out of me - I probably should do. Take it or leave it; I’m not going to hold a gun to your head and force you to come and eat here but that’s how much it is. People think we’re millionaires and I tell them that they’re having a laugh, they’d hate to have the overheads that we have. We’re a 20-cover restaurant in 14 acres of land, it doesn’t make sense what we do, but it’s what we’ve taken on. We knew what we were getting into and are doing the best we can. But one thing is guaranteed you are going the get the best you can get. I want to finish my career and say I gave it 100% when using the best ingredients. I never want to get to the end and say, ‘I wish I’d used Japanese tuna or N25 caviar’.

How is Ynyshir evolving?

There is still so much more to do. In my opinion, we haven’t even scratched the surface. It’s a project that I don’t think will ever be finished. It’s a tiny country house but it’s a bit of a beast, there’s so much potential and there’s so many ideas that we have. There are so many more things we want to do and that’s what makes it so incredible.

Such as what?

I’ve got a few walls that I want to pull out. I want to open the whole space up to make it more of a place where people can mingle a bit more because at the moment there’s a few rooms. Currently, the first part of the menu is served in the bar lounge – I’d like a big kitchen in the middle so diners can see the chefs producing the first half of their meal. They could then move through to another space and the room can be reset for the end of the menu. The canvas is still very blank, there is still so much more to do. I’m currently digging a huge hole in the middle of the garden to put a concrete bunker in there and moving my salt chamber [meat aging room] in so that customers when they walk in up the drive can go and have a look.

And you’re opening some more places?

We’re doing something in a little town called Machynlleth​​ which is about nine miles down the road from us. I’m staying away from Aberystwyth as that’s Nathan’s place​​, and I don’t want to disturb any plans he might have for the future, so I’ve gone the other way. I’ve always loved this restaurant called Twenty One Bistro, so when the owner offered us the chance to take it on I jumped at it. My head chef Corrin [Harrison] who has been with us for five years will run it - he’s ready for his own place and he needs that fresh challenge, so it made perfect sense. It’s going to be called Gwen after my mother.

What’s the plan for it?

It will probably open in January and will be the same of concept as Ynyshir but more for the locals. It’s only eight covers and we’ll do a 10-course menu there. It will have a wine bar that will transform into a coffee shop in the mornings. It will produce things that we don’t use at Ynyshir. We buy in whole lambs so we can use the ribs at Ynyshir and the rest of the lamb goes to the tent in the garden [Legless-Fach, Ward’s more casual tapas concept] where we do something a bit more casual dining at the weekend. Now we can send it to the other restaurant as well.

And beyond that?

I’m also in the process of buying the building next door. When Peter​​ [Sanchez-Iglesias] closed hi Pi Shop I bought his pizza oven. We are going to do some sourdough pizzas and try and do something for the town. It is missing something – it needs a bit more quality in the food. I also want to build a pub at the back of Ynyshir for the locals. The village that we live in has got nothing. Over lockdown we tried doing takeaways from back of the kitchen and 250 people turned up – there are only 50 houses in the village. The support was huge, so we want to give something back to the village and build something where they can have a pint with their friends. It probably won’t be for the next five years though as our builder is a one-man band.

Have you been tempted to open another restaurant outside of Wales?

I work in my kitchen every day. I come in every morning, do my own mis en place and I run my own section at night time and that will never change unless I physically can’t do it, so I’ve got no interest in coming to London. I get asked all the time to do so, but I do not want to split myself. Ynyshir is what I do and I don’t ever want to stop doing that. Gwen will be open the same days as us so that it runs the same hours, meaning that I haven’t got to work there on my days off, or that anybody else has to. I always want to be cooking behind a stove at Ynyshir. You’re coming to my house for food. If you come to my house for a dinner party and I wasn’t there you’d be pretty pissed off.

Your style is influencing a new generation of chefs. How do you feel about this?

I love it. I want to eat in these kind of restaurants. I go to work for me, I cook for me, I don’t cook for anybody else. If you come as a customer you’ll love it, and I think you’ll more likely to love it if I love it. The day I go to work and don’t love my job we close our restaurant and I move to Ibiza. Me and my staff are all having a great time and that’s what it’s about. I’m in my restaurant cooking the food that I love listening to the music that I love.

What dish are you most proud of?

Our char sui pork. It took me seven years to get it right. It’s a piece of pork marinated and served in a little broth of the bones and trying to get those two things to work and be mind blowing has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. Everyone on the kitchen is sick of eating pork now.

You painted Ynyshir black. Why?

From the moment I got there I knew I wanted to paint it black. There are a million white country houses in Wales, and I didn’t want it to just be another one. And it looks awesome black. My neighbour rang me and said I needed to paint it white again because it’s horrible and I said ‘when you start paying for the building you can paint it any colour you want'.

Ynyshir is currently ranked as the Best Restaurant in the UK. Is it at the level you want it to be?

Every day we constantly question ourselves. We call it the snagging list - I got it from what builders have at the end of a project. I don’t allow negativity in the restaurant but at the end of the day we sit down as a group and go through what went right, what went wrong, and how we can improve every single dish. As a chef I just want to be better every day. In my opinion, I haven’t reached my best yet. I don’t think I ever will, and that’s the way it should be.