Ynyshir is said to be one of the best restaurants in the world.Image: Instagram/ynyshirrestaurant Profile picture ynyshirrestaurant
The Ynyshir restaurant is said to be one of the best in the world. However, it only received one star in a recent hygiene inspection. But that doesn’t put the chef to shame.
Jan 15, 2026, 3:39 p.mJan 15, 2026, 4:57 p.m
With two Michelin stars, the Welsh restaurant Ynyshir is one of the best in the world. The food authority in Great Britain now came to a different conclusion – and caused trouble with the restaurant’s hygiene rating.
According to that Guardian Ynyshir opened in 2013 and received its first Michelin star just one year later. Another followed in 2022. At the time it was the first restaurant in Wales to win two such awards. Inns can receive up to three Michelin stars. One star means the restaurant is worth a stop. Restaurants that are worth the detour get two stars, and restaurants that are even worth the trip get three.
At Ynyshir, prices for a meal start at £468 per person. That’s the equivalent of more than 500 francs. At such prices, as a guest you expect not only the culinary delights but also an impeccable restaurant. However, when officials from the food authority visited on November 5, 2025, the restaurant only received one point out of five. For the office, this means that “significant improvements” are required at Ynyshir.
“I’m not ashamed”
Opposite BBC Gareth Ward commented on the rating of his restaurant on Wednesday. So he’s not embarrassed about it: “I’m not sitting here thinking, ‘Oh God, I’m embarrassed, I did something wrong.'”
Ward explains why the authorities still came to their conclusion as follows: “I buy sashimi-quality fish from Japan. “The authorities said they didn’t know the water quality and therefore didn’t know whether the fish were sashimi quality.” Sashimi quality means that fish or seafood is suitable for raw consumption due to absolute freshness, strict hygiene and special processing.
Restaurant requests re-inspection
According to Ward, their catches are of sashimi quality, which makes the raw fish completely “hygienic”. “This stuff is eaten raw all over the world, and it’s only because our rules don’t conform to their rules that they question them,” said the chef. The restaurant also has a salt chamber for maturing the fish. The authorities would obviously not like this maturation process.
The owner of Ynyshir nevertheless admitted that the food inspectors were “not completely wrong”. Since the inspection, he has installed an additional hand washing station in the fish processing area. He also said that bureaucratic problems contributed to the poor outcome. Nevertheless, the restaurant has already requested a new inspection, but a date has not yet been set.