He’s known for breaking the boundaries of fine dining with his 30-course flavour-filled menus and beautiful destination venue which has retained its two-Michelin-star status. Now Gareth Ward of Ynyshir has another accolade, after being named chef of the year at an awards ceremony in London. It follows his restaurant being crowned best restaurant in the UK at the Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards for the second year in row. Gareth got the award at this month’s Catey Awards 2023, where an esteemed panel of some of the UK’s top chefs included Paul Ainsworth of Paul Ainsworth at No 6, Angela Hartnett at Murano and Tom Kitchin of the Kitchin Group.
Reacting to this win (he wasn’t at the awards themselves because he was “cooking for our guests” at Ynyshir) Gareth took to Instagram to say how proud he is. He wrote: “Wow. Absolutely blown away, thank you so much @thecaterermag I am hugely honoured. Sorry I could not be there tonight but if the restaurant is open I have to be here cooking for our guests. Hugely proud of the @ynyshirrestaurant family for everything they have achieved this year, huge love.”
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The Durham-born chef, who first went to Ynyshir in 2013 and earlier this year opened a second venture named Gwen in Machynlleth, has been described by the Michelin Guide as giving diner a “truly unique experience” and “an immersive culinary journey”. He has also been named as GQ’s Chef of the Year.
And it’s not only his food that is impressive but his positioning as a boss, according to The Caterer. Gareth and his partner, Amelia Eriksson, have introduced a number of initiatives to ensure the wellbeing of their team. These include implementing a four-day working week as well as “dropping Saturday workdays altogether in response to feedback about work-life balance”.
The Chef of the Year award at the Cateys “recognises individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the industry” and “must have made a major contribution through innovation in cooking techniques, styles of cuisine and the understanding of culinary processes”.
Revealing their reasoning behind Gareth’s win, Paul Ainsworth said: “Every so often a real maverick comes along and changes the game by doing things unapologetically their own way. When you view the criteria from a culinary perspective, and consider what Gareth has done at Ynyshir, this makes him a worthy winner.”
Fellow judge Amanda Afiya added: “Together with his partner, Amelia, Gareth has not only created a world-class restaurant in a remote and surprising location, but he has earned Wales its first and only two Michelin stars. And he’s done that by reimagining the experience of eating out at the very highest level.”
For the full list of winners, see here.