The amuse bouche on this visit was a swordfish croquette with lemon mayonnaise.  This was nicely done with a lovely, contrasting tang of the lemon mayo and not something you have every day as a nice change. Bread is made on-site at The Walnut Tree and this was brown granary.

My chosen starter was asparagus with quails eggs and hollandaise.  This was very nicely balanced in terms of the vinegar with superb hollandaise which was light as well, with perfectly runny quail eggs.  A simple yet classy take on a classic and as a hollandaise sauce lover, was lovely to see this used properly.  Using whipped egg white is a good way of making the sauce lighter and allows you to use more.

The main of skate was a triumph plane and simple! Perfectly done fish, was complemented by a superb sauce that didn’t overpower at all, with textures that were also present.  I think I actually wrote in my notes when I was having  this dish something on the lines of: “This is ****ing great!”  Dessert was a vanilla cheesecake and initially, I thought a little overdose of dairy with the milk sorbet and already creamy vanilla cheesecake, but this worked out in the end.  It was a good dessert in any case and the portion size was controlled as well. Petit fours were a decent fudge and dark chocolate truffle which were both ok.

All in all, I am very pleased with this place and this second visit confirms even more how much of a safe bet this is to enjoy good cooking in all its simple glory of a three-course meal.  If you need a break from tasting menus and fanciful plates, this is definitely the place for you.

On to the products then, the greeting snack of perfectly done sausage roll was a lovely opening and just what the doctor ordered.  I thought the duck liver parfait was one of the nicest I had ever had with a clever format for the brioche in its layered but the grilled presentation (making it a lot easier to eat than most) and the outstanding dressing to go with the borage and pansy flower salad on the side.  This dressing turned out to be sweet mustard and olive oil with finely chopped parsley and is officially the nicest dressing I have ever had and will be used forthwith when cooking at home.  The salt from this, combined with the sweet from the fig with the utterly smooth and flavoursome parfait, made this an absolutely superb starter – a real hit.

I was also tempted to go for the special starter of steak tartare however, this turned out to be less of a joy to the parfait as the flavour was quite subtle.  No problems with the texture of the tartare, especially with the home-cooked chips but it simply wasn’t on a par with those that I have had at say, Bonhams, Chiltern Firehouse, Brasserie Chavot or Berner’s Tavern for example.  The anchovy and garlic potato dauphine on the other hand were a solid gold pleasure – so light with beautifully soft mash, but perfectly strong enough in garlic and anchovy tones.  Finally, the peanut parfait and chocolate dessert was great but I thought the chocolate was a bit heavy so I found I didn’t need such a thick slice of it, but the flavour combo of it all with the drums of banana and well-done peanut and toffee crisps (which did not stick to every corner of the mouth as many do) were very good.

All in all, I found this a lovely meal, served by those who seemed very focussed.  It is clearly one of the best options to go for in the vicinity of SE Wales and I’m pleased I made the journey.

First things first, you must accept various things regarding a visit to Ynyshir Restaurant & Rooms:  1) The rooms are available for one night only to serve as a resting place for diners rather than a hotel for random hikers; 2) Do not get off at Dovey Junction if you are going by train even though is closer to Ynyshir as this involves a 20 min walk to get to the main road – Machynlleth is your baby(!) and 3) Prepare yourself during the day that this will not be a short dinner (or lunch).  For that reason I have to say the value for money is still exceedingly good here.  The 20+ courses for dinner with wines we had and the stay came to £225 per head with an additional £125 for the matching wines and additions totalling just over £350 for the marathon meal, stay and breakfast.  This is tremendous value comparative to the rest of the country’s high end notable eateries as a huge bonus (and comparative to other establishments across the world cooking at this level).

And so, on to the good stuff.  The meal began with something I had had before entitled ‘Not Onion Soup’ which is a small soup made with miso onion, tofu, sea vegetables, onion oil, dashi and croutons.  I actually forgot how insanely good this was and made no bones about this in the summary of my first trip last year and is one of the stronger openings to any meal I have on record it is that good and worth the attention here.  Leg of Aylesbury duck with black bean glaze with spring onion & toasted sesame came next which, in spite of being a fraction dry had a wonderful crunch and glaze of the orient.  

It’s always lovely to have wonderful dips and for the bread course here, you are in for a treat.  Although this particular sour dough is not my absolute favourite in being a tad bitter, it is carefully made and proved over 7 days and the wagyu fat and miso butter are things of beauty to dunk this in to.  The miso butter in particular, which is in fact pure gold in the butter world.  Another previously enjoyed dish of mackerel, dried in kombu and brushed with miso butter with Yorkshire rhubarb ketchup, soy and back fat was very good, with all accompanying oils and fats working well with each other and the mackerel which was prepared very well.  

Crab claw with soy sauce with curry ketchup, coriander and puffed rice was sheer knock out, plain and simple.  The crab worked excellently with the fresh curry and I honestly haven’t had a creative curry dish like that since the pork and banana curry at 3 Michelin starred Alinea and this frankly at a similar quality line.  The pork belly char su was marinated for 4 days and barbecued, proving to be very succulent and with pleasing flavour.  The breast of duck with hoi sin, pickled cucumber had perfect breast meat with wonderfully subtle hoi sin but also had just the right ‘hit’ of how sin at the same time, perfectly balanced with the pickled cucumber; a great dish. 

Duck liver was next with spelt crisp, grated smoked eel and birch syrup grade creating a smokey, silky liver mousse collection.  This really was destroyed in a matter or seconds it was that good having such a smooth texture and decent flavour.  Yellow & red tomatos came next in  dehydrated form and also pickled with back fat, sour dough and smoked cream cheese.  All these components went well together and really nothing to not like on this.  

Garlic prawn from Isle of Skye (wild garlic in the UK becomes abundant between Apr-May) was served with oil made with garlic and also frozen with stems pickled and vacuum packed.  The sweetness of the langoustine was lovely and the garlic oil with pickled wild garlic stems on top was a cracking combination.  St George mushroom with mushroom cream was a luscious mini-celebration of mushroom, the flavour being enjoyable.  Asparagus was the next dish with garlic,  miso butter and mussels with fermented grains.  This was quite vinegary as the main element and it seemed the asparagus’ main job was providing the necessary texture. 

 On to the meats! The short rib wagyu was 72-hour slow cooked at 60 degrees producing all fat to be rendered down nicely.  It was then barbecued and served with pickled lettuce, puffed rice with shiitake ketchup and soy which was joy in the mouth altogether.  The same can be said of the Wagyu ‘burger’ with fermented lettuce sour dough mayo, charred gherkin pickled shallot sesame seeds – a superb biteful collection.  Then finally was the prize of upgraded Wagyu which was aged 250 days encased in wagyu fat (to stop the air drying it out too much) then given a dose of ultra violet light at 2 degrees Celsius for final entrapment of flavour.  The fermented lettuce with Hampshire-grown wasabi came with beef dressing.  Initially I thought there was a danger of too much fat, but it’s job was to kill the harshness of the wasabi which it did brilliantly and the overall effect was a deep and flavoursome umami sensation and a lovely addition.  

Sour dough pieces with wagyu fat and onion came as almost a miniature soup and texturally was a nice change and the onions gave the fat the slight relief it needed.  Next came the sour dough crumpet with Tunworth (and camambert from Hampshire), ‘minus 8’ vinegar (grapes picked at 8 degrees and turned in to iced wine and then in to vinegar) with maple syrup blended with Italian biancito truffles which was just heavenly.  Yes, this was as good as it sounds and another great dish from a genuine composer.  

The Yuzu shlush was a lovely mouthwash to have in the crossover to sweet dishes (I happen to adore the freshness of yuzu as a citrus fruit), followed by white chocolate and tofu mousse black bean syrup black bean biscuit.  The latter I have had before and was very pleased to show to my associate at the table who concurred that it was as quality as I had recalled it to be.  Next came a lovely little compote of Yorkshire rhubarb with raw slices on top.  The custard here was made the old fashioned way: cornflower, eggs, milk and sugar and was utterly first rate custard, there is no question here.  I was especially pleased how well the raw rhubarb had been toned down as was not the acidic slaughter house it often can be and was balanced really well.   

Sticky toffee pudding had dates with no stones, vanilla ice creamed with Tahitian vanilla and a lovely, sticky toffee sauce.  No issues with this at all and another pleasing dish to add to the proceedings.  Nettle granita with nettle oil and nettle biscuit, goats curd pannacota granola and fresh lemon had a visual and lovely scent across the whole table and I was pleasantly surprised at this dish as well – I have had some poor experiences of nettle being attempted but this was actually quite refreshing.  Finally, the old favourite of tiramasui coffee and cake purée, vanilla mayonnaise, sweet masala wine gel, frozen madcapane and masala wine sprayed on top with 100% Madagascan chocolate grated on top.  There is not much that can be faulted on this except if you have a problem with deconstructed dishes – which I don’t in anyway if it produces the flavour goods and this most certainly does.  It was a wonderful finish to the meal, with all parts of this dish coming together well and in a fun and innovative way.  

To sum up, there were very few moments of this meal that didn’t strike a memorable chord and the bottom line here is that right now, I simply can’t see any other appropriate tier for this restaurant to sit in other than 2 Michelin star level based on the handling of the ingredients, creative combinations and balance.  Price is also an interesting factor which, is interesting to see – this was an absolute steal for this level of quality when comparing to the $1,200 price tag I had for just one dinner (for 2) with very modest wine at The French Laundry…and the £350 here will give an abundance of good wines on top of the tasting menu and a lovely room at Ynyshir as well!  Powys is a little easier to get to than you might think – if you’re coming from London, a quick change in Birmingham, a bottle of fizz and a laptop or tablet with a film loaded on and you are there, so this was actually better than driving as I did last time.  

I was fairly sure this was a great venue within the UK when I visited last year; I’m now convinced and know it is above that from this second visit and rarely does a menu with so many courses have so many genuinely decent moments – very difficult to pull this off which proved to be possible here.  A lovely food & weekend escape in all ways – thank you, Ynyshir for another belter! 

As a welcome to the table, a Birch tree had been ‘tapped’, enabling sap to pour out and be collected.  This was allowed to ferment slightly, kicked off by adding a dash of sugar and then with rasins added resulting in a refreshing and sweet, fractionally carbonated welcome drink – a very nice touch an opener.

Miso onion and dashi with local sea vegetables from the beach two miles away were then brought in a bowl and I had an automatic love with the buttery feel of the dish (pretty impressive when no butter was used) and refreshing fragrances of the sea but without being too pungent.  I seriously wanted more and more of this dish.  The sour dough was made over 7 days of proving to increase the sour flavour, with fermented grains was deliberately charred on the crust but carefully made not to taste burnt.  This had a lovely texture but in retrospect I personally would have opted for a crust that stretches more as opposed to being brittle, but the effort was plain to see.  The cultured miso butter (made by adding yoghurt and putting in water bath for 4 days) then churning (beating to separate fats to gain consistency) was more the pleasure as was the wagyu dripping butter; the miso butter was itself on way to being cheese and had a complimentary sourness to the bread – overall a clever and a good combination.

The mackerel turned out to be wrapped in seaweed for 24 hours with rhubarb ketchup and pork fat shavings.  This had sweetness from the ketchup with richness of fat and the crunch of the slices and was a very good dish.  It was fresh, fatty and tangy all at the same time – utterly well done, with all components serving their function absolutely.  Then came the duck liver with apple syrup and woodsorrell with spelt biscuit and smoked eel shavings on top – this was beautifully smooth, had the earthy overtone of woodsorrell, glorious crunch from the spelt and v good combo of the eel and liver.

Then came the Lamb rib: treated and rested for four days in total with shizo onion in vinegar with soy glaze and mint.  This was undeniably a lovely play of sweet and acid with the most tender of lamb had in a LONG time.  I could have have practically eaten the fat on its own and this was perhaps the nicest piece of lamb I think I have ever had, it was that good.  Next time I come here I am going to simply destroy this rib in about 6 seconds.

Then another absolute belter of a lamb dish came(!) – mint kombucha (Asian tea left for a month which turns in to a vinegar) with roasted lamb and soy sauce.  The lamb itself, prior to cooking, had been brushed with lamb fat for 2 days in order to lock in the moisture and the combination of the soy and the mint was frankly an outstanding combination.  This was also a perfect example of using good fat and moisture with Asian influences without the need for dairy / butter.

The truffle and cultured butter tunworth cheese with maple and sour crumpet made me instantly happy.  I usually find cheese on its own on a board with grapes or chutney a little boring frankly, so having a cheese course like this I thought put this in the same league as The Square when I visited there a few years ago – cheese to be made ultra interesting and wonderful to the taste as well.  This was another corker – light vinegar was sprayed on for the final effect producing an absolutely instantaneous, lovely squidgy, rich, smokey combination.  I literally couldn’t have been happier.

Beer was poured over lime gel with grated lime on top for the next course.  The lime gel I found quite sour and with a hard crunch; it was nice to have balanced with yoghurt at the bottom but overall I found this a little too sour for my palate.  Next up, white chocolate with black bean which was beautifully sweet, rich and with a savoury blend.  Too much of any one of the components of this dish would have been a train wreck but together and in the portions they were, this was absolute harmony.

The nitro rhubarb with rhubarb gel was wonderfully sweet with a sharp twist and an enjoyable, light crunch in the mix as well.  This was followed by a deconstructed tiramisu which was very nicely balanced, with good textures but the only aspect being a bit of a shock for the roof of ther mouth being so many nitro-frozen elements dominating the sesnations in the mouth.  Flavour wise this was very nicely balanced for the coffee as well.  Finally, a Fat Duck style nitro-poached white chocolate mousse with injected fennel emulsion was provided in the kitchen for a lovely finish.

This really was a superb meal and I instantly regretted having to do lunch as opposed to dinner (my other restaurant that day did not do lunch and meant having to do it this way round).  As this ‘glimpse’ of a lunch was so impresssive in its own right, in my mind this is one of the discoveries of the past 12 months for me and of all the Michelin starred retaurants (1-3) in the UK, I haven’t been this keener to get back to one so much, since the likes of doing Midsummer House for the first time.  This is an incredibly strong 1 Michelin starred restaurant which, based on the flavours alone, I would go back to before I would to at least eight of the 2 Michelin starred restaurants in the UK.  I honestly cannot wait to get back here for the full, nine yards; it was a great meal and living proof why this is so enjyoyable to do.  Thank you, the team at Ynyshir for making this what it was.

Canapés included an onion sample with nettle purée which was soft and good.  A wild garlic cracker, with goats cheese with spring herbs and this was very nicely done.  The amuse bouche was a cauliflower purée with local black pudding, cauliflower shavings and grass was the texture of a cold creme brûlée with the crunch of the crisps which was great, but the black pudding was slightly difficult to detect with all of the egg richness surrounding it. 

Wye Valley asparagus with hedgerow pickings, maritime pine and Tintern mead, Pennywood, asparagus and asparagus purée was beautiful.  The asparagus was perfectly cooked, lovely crunchy, deep fried hogwheat with Tintern mead foam (a local wine with notes of apple & honey) was another creative dish that worked well. 

Loch Duart Salmon with Apple rosebay willowherb, elderflower, apple jelly, compressed apples and wild borage was nothing short of great.  The charred leak was absolutely outstanding – charred leek with cheese sauce (Isle of mull), nasturtium purée, nasturtiums, smoked pork fat and herb flowers.  This had the perfect smoked balance of pork fat and light in quantity – beautiful. 

Dayboat plaice with smoked cod Roe, garden chard, fennel and wild chervil oil and chervil had a smokey, salty, succulent taste and the herb strengthened the gorgeous food.  Huntsham farm suckling pig with heirloom radishes, Jersey Royals, charred onions, ramsons (plant relative of garlic) was a brilliant dish. From right to left in the picture,  loin, belly, shoulder were the parts. Pigs head croquette, ramson oil & onion powder on Jerseys.  Belly was absolutely magnificent (smokey, juicy, perfect skin). The shoulder was almost lamblike with a dryer texture and the loin more like gammon. Pigs head croquette had the perfect flavour (soft), delicate and thin breadcrumb coating and delicious. Onions gave a wonderful element of sweetness.  A skilful and great dish. 

Camomile ice cream wrapped in blackberry jelly, black currant ‘shade’ and sorrel was original, not my favourite flavour combination as very sharp.  However, the poached Yorkshire Rhubarb with caramelised walnut, Jersey milk sorbet and jersey milk crisp and medlar syrup was wonderful.  On first mouthful of the desert, the meal was a confirmed success once again at The Whitebrook. Wonderfully gentle flavoured milk sorbet (dairy element toned down) to help soften the rhubarb and the break down of the walnut with medlar syrup worked extremely well.  This was a wonderful dessert. 

Poached pear with buttermilk, yoghurt crumble and maritime pine ice cream (very bitter) and flakes of lactose which, on its own was basically a thin candy texture flavoured like sweet milk came with pear gel. Altogether this was was clever: a tangy, sweet, mix of crunch and soft with overriding flavour was the pine with sweet shard – although the pear was struggling to be the main player, it was a pleasing taste all round.  Petit fours of violet and blackcurrant (very good all-round) and Vienoissiuer with chocolate ganache and hazelnut was well done.  

This wasn’t the shortest of lunches taking 3 hours, but quite understandable when there is only one person driving everything in the kitchen.  The £60 total all in for this array of fine dishes was beyond value for money. However, the care and attention to detail and respect for the ingredients is obvious to see here and remains one of the better restaurants not just for Wales but also for the country in my view.

The tasting menu here really was excellent.  Although I thought the portion sizes were quite small initially, the number of them thankfully weighed up to being just sated at the end.  However, the key point is that each dish was crafted with utter care and I loved the balance of sweets and salts throughout with original flavours and not once did the creator seem to take his eye off the ball with wonderful textures.

Personal favourites for me on this meal were the smoked beetroot (because normally I don’t like beetroot but this I really did) with the black pudding crumbs, the utterly divine pork skin and succulent pork replacement for the scallops (thank god for an intolerance to those on this occasion frankly!) and the violet parfait pre-dessert.  The latter really was a wonderful surprise of flavours, held together with freshness and crispiness from the other elements as well.  Normally I don’t like savoury and sweet in desserts, but the tarragon and herb sorbet was judged beautifully in its softness.

It was a delight to hear Chris Harrod reflect on the fact that it was only after being able to part with a large company and go solo and doing things exactly how he wanted to pursue with all of the local ingredients at his disposal that then he gained his Michelin star.  The principle I think, being something we could probably all learn from.

A very controlled and skilful style of cooking seen here, well worth the journey for those who appreciate notable food.  My only slight gripe being that I wanted more of some of the dishes.  But I really thought this was super cooking from someone who wished to gain the maximum from the components used and as a result, the £103 for the meal seemed fair enough to me as a price tag for this level of cooking.  As it is slightly hard to get to, it is very good that they have rooms to stay as well, just in case a full blow out of food and wine is wished.  I will secure lodgings or a driver next time!

Regrettably, I have to report that from the outset of this meal it was obvious that the service was pushed to the limit.  I counted 5 staff on the floor to cover 38 people in a packed restaurant and might just be enough but didn’t seem to add up on this occasion.  A key, combat indicator was noting staff had that ‘hoping not to be asked anything’ air about them – rushed with an avoidance of eye contact.  After a 10 minute wait in the holding / bar area it was actually 36 mins until canapés arrived at the table and an hour after arrival that bread arrived.  My request for a food menu 20 minutes in at the table was answered with there was only enough copies to being used by other tables so something was obviously not quite right as that is a bit of a surprise for a restaurant to not have enough to go around or have to wait to share – a genuine first for me.

Anyhoo, now that that gripe is out of the way I can focus on the food and on this occasion I opted for the chef’s selection after looking at the menu as this was to be signature dishes of the week, selected by the chef. Kicking off with the canapés, I thought these were excellent.  The garlic espuma was outstandingly light and interesting with fennel seeds, the tapioca crisp texture was tougher / chewier than expecting but with strong flavour from the taramasalata and the cheese greyures were nice with truffle but I not in the same league as House of Tides or Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.

20 minutes later after finishing these, they were cleared.  At 9pm the bread arrived (I arrived at 8pm for my 8pm table) and this came with salted seaweed and normal butter (both beautiful texture and fair in flavour).  The focaccia bread was fine and nicely warm and I had high hopes for the onion bread but it turned out to be drier and tougher than the norm – I wasn’t expecting The Ledbury standard for the onion bread (pretty to beat anywhere in the world), but this version could have been more impressive.

Next came liquid pea ravioli, sage, ham and Parmesan foam.  This was a lovely combination, done well and although first thought a little subtle, it was still darn nice.  The butter poached lobster was good with a light and well spiced bisque and hints of fennel with crunch of granola & seeds and broccoli was overall v pleasant.  Final fish of the evening was the brill with smoked potatoes and salsify which was a gorgeous dish – it was creamy, smokey, crispy and juicy.  All round this was brilliant.

The beef was done beautifully with a lovely jus.  The cheek was very nicely done (moist and seasoned well) and the parsnip purée and onion all made for a very good dish.  This was highly enjoyable.  And on to the sweets – the lemon curd, meringue, cherry and biscuit with lemon essence all over was a beautifully designed dish.  Dry ice for the sake of it is a bit dangerous as it spells style over substance but this really did gain the lemon fragrance wafting over the entire table and me which was great.  The Lemon tart sorbet itself was completely delightful.  Poached pear, caramelised toffee ice cream dessert was similarly pleasant with beautiful flakes of pastry and the petit fours were delicate and all really excellent.

So all in all, I thought the food on this visit was in a considerably strong league.  Apologies to have to keep going on about it but it really was marred by the unpolished service.  It was nice to see the head chef personally bring out some of the dishes to the tables but the pace that was needed for this and the fact that one table had desserts placed at a table with empty savoury dishes still to be collected, combined with the hour wait for bread (not a stand alone course) made this the more notable point of the visit.  A shame, as the food really was quite super and comfortably in the upper quadrant of 1 Michelin starred UK venues.  If more menus were available, more staff were at hand, more genuine proactive desire from those on the floor to give what diners needed with more attentive urgency, this would take the restaurant to a super level.

As it stands, I feel only going to the chef’s table would be the only choice for a more slick meal.  Total time for the meal was 3 hours, 45 mins by the time that the bill was paid which, for a 6 course menu is just too long. For 18 courses (which I have done in a similar timeframe) this is fine but not, I would suggest for 6.  Although I received a discount for being a Luxury Restaurant Guide member (annual fee to get discounts at various places at various times), the menu price represented very good value for money for what was produced – some excellent dishes.

As time was an issue we had to go for the 3 course set menu at lunch priced at £32 pp.  With canapés and an amuse bouche and the overall quality of the food, the first thing to say is that this was very good value.  Canapés of sweetcorn panna cotta with bacon and mouth-bite of truffle was warmly receieved although I felt the sweetcorn panna cotta would have been better with a touch more seasoning.  The amuse bouche of leek mousse and salmon was absolutely sumptuous – perfectly light and balanced with gently pickled beetroot and fried shoe-string potato for texture.  The white and brown breads arrived beautifully warmed and the unsalted and seaweed butters were both served at the perfect temperature.

The pork belly and mackerel were the chosen starters, both of which were frankly superb.  The creamed jus that accompanied the mackerel went perfectly and this was a lovely dish, as was the pork belly that was probably the best of the meal – powerful in flavour and carefully constructed.  These were followed by the mains of shin of beef and the vegetarian option.  As the menu does not give too much away, it was only apparent on serving that the vegetarian option was a lasagne with cream sauce and parmesan foam to accompany which was well done and left me wishing for more and the shin of beef with creamed mash I tried was also delightful.  All the desserts were ordered and again, it was only obvious on serving that the passion fruit was a soufflé – thankfully, these I love.  The soured dark cholocate was very much needed as the passion fruit soufflé was exceptionaly sweet.  It was gratifying to have, particularly on a set menu, however I did feel it was in danger of being a little too sweet and could have possibly benefitted from being set a fraction more.  This was not a show-stopper though and it was a very nice aspect to have at the end of the meal.  The cheeses showed the very good value of the options here.

All in all, the skill shown on this basic set menu for lunch was clearly evident; there was no question of being of a very high technical standard.  The service was very good throughout I felt that this meal demonstrated cooking that, in my opinion, was clearly operating within the 1 Michelin starred quadrant.  My only regret is that all diners were driving and had to leave relatively early, so we could not drink or stretch to the other menus, however, this will be done on the next visit which I look forward to doing and will do in the next few months to see the whole show.  A highly pleasing meal.