{"id":4586,"date":"2026-07-08T11:20:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=4586"},"modified":"2026-07-08T11:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:20:21","slug":"ynyshir-founders-just-opened-an-eight-seat-restaurant-in-mid-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=4586","title":{"rendered":"Ynyshir Founders Just Opened An Eight-Seat Restaurant in Mid-Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Reservation: Peter Sanchez-Iglesias is running the kitchen at this tiny spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"gwen<\/div>\n

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\u2019s most exciting chefs just opened a tiny eight-seat restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Truthfully Gwen is not brand-new \u2013 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\u2019s mother) in its then-form shut, and re-emerged like an expensive butterfly as a fine dining, tasting menu-only restaurant in June.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Peter
\u00a9Mike Sim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Entrusted with the running of the place is Peter Sanchez-Iglesias \u2013 a close friend of Ward\u2019s and former exec chef at Decimo at The Standard<\/a>, as well as a run of Bristol-based restaurants. Moving away from the thrum of the capital\u2019s hospitality scene and into a pared back version of fine dining seems to suit Sanchez-Iglesias: \u201cIt\u2019s great to be on the pass again\u2013 so many chefs don\u2019t do that,\u201d he said in his soft Bristol accent, while delicately slicing pickled chilis. \u201cI became a chef to cook, not to run a business. It\u2019s done wonders for my mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The winding 20-course menu stretches its way around the world, grasping at different culinary traditions as it goes. The chef\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"gwen
\u00a9Mike Sims<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We move to Mexico too \u2013 likely inspired by Sanchez-Iglesias\u2019 time at Decimo\u00a0\u2013 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.<\/p>\n

In places, Sanchez-Iglesias pushes \u2018fusion\u2019 to its limits \u2013 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\u2019ll see on the menu \u2013 20 courses sounds intimidating but petite platings make it more than manageable.<\/p>\n

\"glazed
\u00a9Mike Sims<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For all its intricacies (and the reputation that precedes it), Gwen is a surprisingly informal restaurant. The building is tiny \u2013 just a few meters wide \u2013 with a convivial bar at the front, and a petite dining room with just eight seats overlooking Sanchez-Iglesias\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Guests move about the space throughout their meal; there\u2019s 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\u2019s billed as three hours, but don\u2019t expect to rush out \u2013\u00a0we arrived pre-midday for our lunch, and by 4pm we were still polishing off our syrupy tres leches, piled with clotted cream.<\/p>\n

Aspirations (and expectations) are high. Sanchez-Iglesias might not be vocal about his desires to get Michelin recognition \u2013 quite possibly having already loved and lost at his Bristol restaurant, Paco Tapas \u2013 but Clarke proudly points out a spot on the wall, primed and ready for that shiny red plaque.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Reservation: Peter Sanchez-Iglesias is running the kitchen at this tiny spot.\u00a0 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\u2019s most exciting chefs just opened a tiny eight-seat restaurant.\u00a0 Truthfully Gwen is not brand-new \u2013 it first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_preview_token":"","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}