Top chef defends one-star hygiene rating at his Michelin-star restaurant

A top chef has defended his Michelin-star Welsh restaurant after it was given a one-star hygiene rating by health inspectors.

Gareth Ward insisted he is “not embarrassed” over the assessment of Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms, near Machynlleth in Ceredigion, which charges almost £500-per-head for dinner.

Wales’s only two-Michelin-star restaurant was awarded the one-out-of-five score, meaning “major improvement necessary”, following an inspection by food safety officers last November.

But Mr Ward, the chef behind the restaurant, who previously featured on MasterChef: The Professionals, told the BBC that Ynyshir is working “at the highest standard in the world”, arguing that it is merely doing “something different” in its approach to raw ingredients and techniques.

The Michelin Guide describes the restaurant as a “truly unique experience”.

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But the inspection results, published by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), declare that the management of food safety in Ynyshir requires “major improvement”, while the cleanliness and condition of the facilities and building also need to be improved. Hygienic food handling was rated as “generally satisfactory”.

Mr Ward claimed that the inspectors had questioned the restaurant’s use of raw as well as aged ingredients among the points they raised.

But he told the BBC: “We buy in the best ingredients from around the world, and a lot of it I serve raw.

“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.”

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He added: “I’ve got a salt chamber for ageing fish, but they obviously don’t like the idea of ageing stuff.”

However, the chef insisted he remains confident.

He told the broadcaster: “I’m not embarrassed by it, I’m not upset by it.

“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 per cent.

“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.”

Ceredigion County Council, which led the inspection, said: “The council stands by the professional judgement of our staff in applying UK food hygiene standards and will not be commenting further.”

The FSA said that urgent or major improvements to hygiene standards must be made if a low rating is given.

The Independent has approached Ynyshir for further comment.