The Reservation: Peter Sanchez-Iglesias is running the kitchen at this tiny spot.
In a remote little corner of Wales, in a market town just south of the Eryri National Park (formerly known as Snowdonia), one of the UK’s most exciting chefs just opened a tiny eight-seat restaurant.
Truthfully Gwen is not brand-new – it first opened in 2023 as a casual wine bar by the team behind two-Michelin-starred Ynyshir, which sits some 20 minutes away. But, earlier this year, Gwen (named after owner Gareth Ward’s mother) in its then-form shut, and re-emerged like an expensive butterfly as a fine dining, tasting menu-only restaurant in June.
Entrusted with the running of the place is Peter Sanchez-Iglesias – a close friend of Ward’s and former exec chef at Decimo at The Standard, as well as a run of Bristol-based restaurants. Moving away from the thrum of the capital’s hospitality scene and into a pared back version of fine dining seems to suit Sanchez-Iglesias: “It’s great to be on the pass again– so many chefs don’t do that,” he said in his soft Bristol accent, while delicately slicing pickled chilis. “I became a chef to cook, not to run a business. It’s done wonders for my mental health.”
He works alongside just two others at Gwen: his assistant Finn Langley, who just graduated from the local culinary college, and fresh-faced front of house and drinks manager, Sam Clarke.
The winding 20-course menu stretches its way around the world, grasping at different culinary traditions as it goes. The chef’s Spanish heritage acts as a launching point, with a turbo-charged gilda: Iberico ham, pickled chili, an olive, raw tuna, and a cube of smoked butter all find themselves wedged on to a spike, to be eaten in one swift bite.
We move to Mexico too – likely inspired by Sanchez-Iglesias’ time at Decimo – in the form of a juicy spare rib marinated in tangy, smoky Al Pastor sauce, and to Japan by way of a succession of sashimi and fatty tuna, the latter swimming in sesame broth.
In places, Sanchez-Iglesias pushes ‘fusion’ to its limits – perhaps most ingeniously in a wagyu chili con carne on top of sushi rice. That petite portion of rice is just about the only carb you’ll see on the menu – 20 courses sounds intimidating but petite platings make it more than manageable.
For all its intricacies (and the reputation that precedes it), Gwen is a surprisingly informal restaurant. The building is tiny – just a few meters wide – with a convivial bar at the front, and a petite dining room with just eight seats overlooking Sanchez-Iglesias’s open kitchen at the back. Every wall is painted black, and a thumping playlist jumps from electronic to indie music. As at Ynyshir, cutlery and crockery is bespoke and unusual, with knives made by in-house blacksmith Lee Jones.
Guests move about the space throughout their meal; there’s five or so courses in the bar, a hefty middle chunk served in that dark dining space, and then the final sweet dishes back in the entrance area. It’s billed as three hours, but don’t expect to rush out – we arrived pre-midday for our lunch, and by 4pm we were still polishing off our syrupy tres leches, piled with clotted cream.
Aspirations (and expectations) are high. Sanchez-Iglesias might not be vocal about his desires to get Michelin recognition – quite possibly having already loved and lost at his Bristol restaurant, Paco Tapas – but Clarke proudly points out a spot on the wall, primed and ready for that shiny red plaque.
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