It’s rare that an 18-course dinner leaves you wanting more, but that’s what happened at Gwen. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but behind an ordinary wine-bar exterior on the high street of tiny Machynlleth, Wales (population 2,100), is the baby sister of culinary Valhalla, Ynyshir.
But if you thought Gwen would be any less intense than its mountain of a sibling, you’d be wrong. Sure, Gwen’s Mexican-Japanese tasting menu is a full 12 courses fewer than the one served by Gareth Ward down the road, but it’s still 18 dishes, though at £180 plus vat, less than half the price.
Former Ynyshir head chef Corrin Harrison launched the bijoux eight-seater in 2023, and when he left for Mor in Cornwall earlier this year, it was assumed Gwen would close. That was until Ward parachuted in his buddy Peter Iglesias Sanchez, who’d just left Decimo, the in-house Mexican restaurant at The Standard hotel in London. ‘I feel like I’ve signed Cristiano Ronaldo,’ Gareth reportedly commented.
Sanchez’s cooking is beautifully non-denominational
Sanchez’s first move was to get rid of Gwen’s counter seating. Before, meals in the miniature space were reminiscent of a group therapy session, with diners breaking sourdough bread over one shared table. Now the set up is more agile – guests sit side saddle on two-tops in a black-brick front room for a host of fish dishes, before heading through a dungeon-eqsue leather curtain into the fire-powered back kitchen for a bunch of barbecue, then finally returning to the front for a dessert-powered afters. True, sitting in a somewhat oppressive black box as the Twin Peaks soundtrack plays might be enough to induce a panic attack in some, it does in many ways make Gwen all the more intriguing.
Some people are over gildas. I’m not one of those people. The turbo-charged pintxos that kick off our meal set the stage for greatness. They’re topped only by the dish that comes immediately after; a beaker of parmesan foam and silky custard, laced with juicy 25 year-old balsamic. Cheese shouldn’t be this frothy. Or this wet. But I’d have demanded another round were there not 18 more rounds to go. Isle of Wight tomato jam follows, its pink, playful sweetness set on a bed of creamy stracciatella.
Sanchez’s cooking is beautifully non-denominational. He simply likes to cook delicious things. Across the three-and-a-half hour meal there’s a strong Mexican influence, but he’s not bound to it. Bluefin akami sashimi and N25 caviar bob on a pert dashi jelly, as good as anything at the high-flying likes of Nobu. A furl of seabass comes with jalapeno and lemon-y nods to Mexico as does a pert, tangy madai aguachile. Trout comes with peanut-y salsa macha lifted with a yuzu sweetness. Nothing falters, and kicks the menu at Decimo – concocted to be crowdpleasing and ‘safe’ in a way that hotel restaurants have to – off the pitch. Well, if you will sign Ronaldo.
The hits keep coming after we change tables, and seafood remains a main character. There are honking prawn heads in birria, a filthy nubbin of lobster lavished with bone marrow, and a single, slippery al pastor pork rib, the act of eating was like engaging in an unspeakable act with God. There’s more caviar, there’s A5 wagyu, and in a perfect pivot, chilli con carne that’s fittingly fine dining but also what you’d make in your halls kitchen when trying to impress whoever you bought back from the uni bar at 3am. Unlike Ynyshir, it doesn’t feel like too much food, it feels just right.
There are four mini desserts, all of them a class act, but the rum-soaked tres leches cake, soggy and trifling in the best possible way is the undisputed champ.
Skilful, scrumptious and a little bit naughty, this is how tasting menus should be done.
The vibe A tiny two-room restaurant for just eight diners in the far reaches of Wales.
The food Eighteen perfect little courses of Mexican and Japanese-accented fish and meats. Not one for vegetarians, sorry, as no substitutions or amendments can be made to the menu.
The drink For another £180 an ad hoc wine pairing will be prepared. Or you can just order a glass or two.
Time Out tip The brave (and rich) can do a double booking for Gwen and Ynyshir, with overnight accomdation included.
Dining and Cooking