Fine Dining at Gwen
The (probably) last of our anniversary treats was a fine-dining experience at the relatively new restaurant “Gwen” in Machynlleth.
Gwen is an intimate 8-seat restaurant offering a communal dining experience. The experience begins at 3pm or 7pm, where you’ll have a chance to have a drink before a 10 course tasting menu is served by head chef Corrin Harrison, consisting of some of the world’s best ingredients as used by 2 Michelin starred Chef Gareth Ward at Ynyshir Restaurant & Rooms.
https://www.gwenrestaurant.co.uk/
We’d wanted to go since we heard it would be opening and our wedding anniversary seemed like the perfect excuse. As you may know, we’ve been to nearby Ynyshir Restaurant a couple of times, once for a lunch menu and once for the full-on 25 course dinner menu. It was a Michelin-starred restaurant at the time and we commented that the prices were about to go up so we thought we’d get in there before they did. Since then, Ynyshir Hall has had a second Michelin Star, has been rated as the best restaurant in the UK for 2 years running and the prices have more than doubled which puts it somewhat out of our range!
We were therefore excited to hear that Gwen would be opening in Machynlleth as a sister restaurant to Ynyshir with all of the same pedigree, the same ingredients and the same attention to detail but without the price tag and exclusivity that comes with being ‘The Best” in the UK and having 2 Michelin Stars. We were expecting a similar experience but at a price point we could (just about) afford.
With only 8 seats you still that you need to plan as they book up quickly. We booked seats as soon as they were available for July and went for the 3pm experience on Saturday. The tasting menu was £100 per person.
Drinks?
We don’t drink much really but thought it might be nice to have a glass of wine or two, especially seeing as
Gwen also has a cosy wine bar offering craft beers and great wine from around the world, alongside a snack menu and amazing coffee.
https://www.gwenrestaurant.co.uk/
We, therefore, strolled into Borth on Saturday afternoon and caught the train to Machynlleth so that we didn’t need to drive. This did mean we had an hour to kill in Mach so we went for a stroll, took a look in some shops and bumped into Bedwyr so had a quick chat. We then headed off to Gwen where we were warmly welcomed, told how things worked and sat down in the wine bar where I had a nice IPA and Anna had a cider!
The Restaurant
We were soon moved into the restaurant where chefs were hard at work preparing food.
The room is small and intimate and has two tables of four. We sat right next to the counter where they plated the food and shared a table with John and Gareth. John was a chef himself whose son was working at Ynyshir and therefore knew most of the staff. His son Gareth was a chef as well and both were obviously into their food! Actually, now that I’ve re-read that ‘obviously into their food’ sounds as though I’m saying they were grossly overweight – that wasn’t the case at all, they were just very knowledgable about food, ingredients, ‘chefing’ and such-like and good quality food was their thing.
As you know, Anna and I aren’t the most sociable, especially when forced to be so but we got on well with both of them and ended up chatting about all sorts of things non-stop throughout the meal. Non-stop that is until we were presented with plate after plate of stunning food.
The Food
The dishes that we were presented with have clearly been inspired by the work of Gareth Ward at Ynyshir. They were all different and possibly a little toned down from that at Ynyshir but the similarities were there, as was the quality and the taste. All were immaculately presented and we were of course told what each was, the provenance of some of the ingredients and how it had been prepared.
I won’t go through each course in detail but I’ll include a photo of the menu below. Stand-outs for me were the quail curry, the lamb and the sourdough ice-cream. The tomato with celery granita was amazingly refreshing too, and I had two of these as Anna isn’t too keen on tomato!
The Wine
We ended up having some wine too. In fact, I had three glasses. We told them that we knew nothing about wine so after a few questions they picked some for us. As I say, I know nothing about wine so can’t even remember what I had but it was a nice white wine to start with. I then had a taster of an orange wine and decided I’d rather go with what they described as the ‘Funky’ orange wine. That one was really nice and it was followed by a sweet, but not too sweet dessert wine. That’s about the limit of my knowledge of wines but it wasn’t at all intimidating and they didn’t mind that we knew nothing. In fact, they seemed pleased that they were able to let us in on some of their knowledge.
The whole experience was actually very friendly and welcoming. We were chatting to the chefs now and then, we felt really relaxed and there were no expectations put on us. It just felt like the chefs were really happy to be sharing their food with us.
It’s just a shame it only lasted 3 hours! We did have a coffee back out in the wine bar and then said our goodbyes to John and Gareth who we’d shared the table with before catching the train back home. Morgan came to collect us from the train station. Let’s hope it’s not too long before we are back for more.
What with the double Michelin-starred Ynyshir Hall, the Michelin-starred SY23 and now Gwen all within 10 miles of our house we really are spoilt for choice when it comes to fine dining. Amazing considering where we live!
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Sounds like you had a lovely evening and congratulations on your Aniversary
Sounds like a lovely anniversary ! X
Happy anniversary. It’s like all these fine restaurants are there just for you!