{"id":2228644,"date":"2026-10-29T22:03:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T19:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2228644"},"modified":"2026-10-29T22:03:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T19:03:49","slug":"gareth-ward-defends-michelin-star-ynyshir-after-food-hygeine-debacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2228644","title":{"rendered":"Gareth Ward defends Michelin-star Ynyshir after food hygeine debacle"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/c445\/live\/6b59f800-d470-11f1-a701-fddedf244c16.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"AppleApple TV<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Chef Gareth Ward, who co-owns Ynyshir near Machynlleth in mid Wales, appears in an Apple TV documentary<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The chef at Wales’ only two-Michelin-star restaurant has defended the way he operates his kitchen after the venue came under scrutiny over food hygiene standards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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While chasing a third Michelin star, Ynyshir was handed a one-star hygiene rating in February and told to improve due to concerns about raw and undercooked foods.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The news made global headlines and was a blow to Ward and his team, but in Apple TV’s documentary series Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars, Ward said Ynyshir was “an incredible place”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“There’s nothing in there that’s amateurish,” he told the programme. “I run a spotless kitchen.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ward, who co-owns the restaurant near Machynlleth in mid Wales, added the hygiene rating had hurt, “because we are only trying to be the best”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Whether you’re a cafe, or a pub, or a two-Michelin-star restaurant. We’ve all got the same rules,” he told the eight-part second series of the show, which follows elite chefs and their teams.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“But we go above and beyond everything to make what we do safe.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Front<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Ynyshir became the first restaurant in Wales to hold two Michelin stars<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ynyshir was previously ordered to stop serving raw lobster after Ceredigion council found “significant hazards” were not properly identified.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The restaurant received its first Michelin star in 2014 and its second in 2022, becoming the first and only restaurant in Wales to hold two. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It missed out on a third star at the ceremony this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The 16-seat restaurant serves Japanese-inspired raw dishes as part of its nearly \u00a3500 a head 30-course tasting menu, and accused inspectors of not understanding its specialised procedures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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By August, the council had reinstated its five-star hygiene rating after it found the “business had addressed all matters identified during the original inspection”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But, for Ynyshir, the scrutiny was a major setback, and Ward shared his frustration in the documentary.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I’m very proud of my whole team and my business, and what we’ve achieved,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It’s obviously massive in the media, which anyone instantly jumps on and thinks it’s about cleanliness,” he said. “I run a spotless kitchen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“When something like this happens you’re a bit blown away.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ward said the restaurant served a lot of raw food and did a lot of things “that aren’t normal”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We have done some things wrong, but we don’t deserve everything [we were accused of],” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It’s just, we dare to be different.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He said the inspection left him feeling the weight of responsibility, with more than 30 members of staff and the business potentially at risk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Management of food safety at Ynyshir was categorised by inspectors as needing major improvement, as was cleanliness and condition of facilities, while “hygienic food handling” was rated “generally satisfactory”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A dirty floor, inadequate hand-washing facilities in some areas and broken equipment posing a potential contamination risk were also identified in the inspectors’ report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ynyshir responded at the time, saying the inspection “identified a small number of minor issues typical of a busy professional kitchen situated in the countryside of rural Wales” which had been “rectified immediately and in full”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It said biological testing, at “significant cost” to the restaurant, had “conclusively confirmed that our techniques are safe, compliant and appropriate”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It said at the time it was prepared to work constructively with the council but expected “an informed, consistent and fair assessment process that recognises the realities of modern, non-conventional restaurants”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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When Ynyshir was reinspected, Ceredigion council said the “business had addressed all matters identified during the original inspection”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cqp8g19r66y4o”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/c445\/live\/6b59f800-d470-11f1-a701-fddedf244c16.jpg”] Apple TV Chef Gareth Ward, who co-owns Ynyshir near Machynlleth in mid Wales, appears in an Apple TV documentary The chef at Wales’ only two-Michelin-star restaurant has defended the way he operates his kitchen after the venue came under scrutiny over food hygiene standards. While chasing a third Michelin star, Ynyshir was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2228644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2228644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2228644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2228644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2228644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}