A British restaurant with two Michelin stars has been given a one-star hygiene rating following a visit to the premises by food standards inspectors in November.
Offering a 30-course tasting menu, Ynyshir is Wales’ only restaurant with two Michelin stars. Prices start at £468 (approximately $630) for the five-hour experience, described by the prestigious Michelin Guide as “truly unique.”
But now the restaurant is making headlines for less positive reasons. Inspectors from the Food Standards Agency (FSA), which aims to protect the public by ensuring food safety, gave a damning hygiene report and gave it a one-star rating out of five after visiting the site on November 5.
Inspectors said food safety controls required “significant improvements”. Food handling hygiene was found to be “generally satisfactory”, although the cleanliness and condition of buildings and equipment needed improvement.
The restaurant also has rooms for overnight stays and is located in a secluded location near Machinreth in Ceredigion, just outside Snowdonia National Park.
According to the Michelin Guide, Iny Seal’s tasting menu is one in which head chef and owner Gareth Ward “takes diners on a playful culinary journey around the world.” The list praises the restaurant for “using superior ingredients prepared with superior technique.”
The magazine said of Ward, who joined the business three years after joining as head chef 13 years ago, “He has a special respect for Japanese cuisine and is likely to feature around 30 vibrant surprise menus, including sashimi and A5 Wagyu beef, all using superior ingredients prepared with great skill.”
Iny Seal was named UK Restaurant of the Year in both 2022 and 2023. The National Restaurant Awards website describes the restaurant, which has an in-house DJ, as offering “a tasting menu of innovative cuisine with Asian influences and a lively atmosphere.”
The Food Hygiene Assessment Programme, run by the FSA in partnership with local authorities, aims to give consumers “more informed choices about where they buy and eat their food”. The report ranks facilities from 0 (‘immediate improvement required’) to 5 (‘hygiene standards are very good’).
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Ward insisted he was “not embarrassed” by the assessment and said one of the things inspectors questioned was Iniseal’s use of raw materials.
“We buy the best ingredients from around the world and serve much of it raw,” he told the BBC.
“I buy fish for sashimi from Japan, and they wonder, ‘We don’t know anything about water, so how do we know it’s sashimi?'”
“Well, this is sashimi level and eaten raw all over the world, but they’re questioning it just because our rules don’t fit their rules.”
Aged ingredients were also scrutinized. “I have a salt room for aging fish, but they obviously don’t like the idea of aging fish.”
He acknowledged that the restaurant’s administrative procedures had fallen short of required standards, and acknowledged that he and his team had taken “immediate” action to correct this and other issues, the BBC reported.
“My standards never fall below 100 percent,” he said.
“I’m not embarrassed at all, but I’m disappointed. I’m not sitting here thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m embarrassed, I did something wrong,’ because we haven’t. There’s something different about what we’ve done.”
CNN has reached out to Ward and Inyseel for comment.
