Two Ceredigion restaurants are celebrating after being given Michelin Stars and putting “Wales on the culinary map”.
Despite only opening in 2019, Aberystwyth restaurant SY23 have been awarded their first Michelin star, as well as the Michelin Guide Opening of the Year award.
Ynyshir, near Machynlleth, have been promoted from one to two Michelin Stars, a first for restaurants across Wales, after receiving their first star eight years ago.
Ynyshir chef and part-owner Gareth Ward said the news will put “Wales on the culinary map”, while chef Nathan Davies, who set up SY23 alongside owner Mark Phillips, said the news is “surreal”.
“It’s just incredible really, we opened the restaurant with the ambition of becoming one of the best restaurants around,” Nathan said.
“With Michelin awarding us a star, it puts us in the top 100 restaurants in the UK. It puts us up alongside some of the best restaurants in the country.
“It was a bit of a shock to begin with. It feels like a dream come true, just the most surreal experience. You dream of this sort of thing happening when you open a restaurant and you star cooking – it’s global recognition. We’re completely elated.”
Gareth said: “Everyone is blown away, there’s been a huge effort gone into Ynyshir. It’s a massive project, this place is constantly pushing, constantly striving forward.
“This is a nice bonus, it’s not about the stars – we do it because we love it. But it’s nice to be recognised like this.”
Gareth said they were also proud of SY23 and Nathan, who is a former team member: “We’re very proud of my team, but also Nathan. It’s amazing to see, it’s like a child that goes on to do something amazing – I am as proud of him as I am of us. He is a huge part of what we’ve done here.”
This week, Nathan has been competing on BBC show the Great British Menu for the second time, wowing judges by winning a string of 10 out of 10 scores.
“The timing of it couldn’t have been better, this whole week we’ve been on cloud nine,” Nathan added.
Looking to the future, both restaurants said they were excited to continue striving forward in the culinary world.
Nathan said: “We’ll have a day to get over the hangovers and the celebrations, but we’re still not finished. We’re still growing, we just want to progress and develop and get better, to reach our full potential.”
Gareth said Ynyshir are hoping to further expand and make use of the 40 acres of land it sits on by opening a pub and holiday homes.
“I would love to get best restaurant in the world one day, why not?” Gareth added, “You can’t sit there saying ‘we can’t do that’ - why can’t we? You just have to have the belief and the drive.
“Thank you to everyone for the support and to all the staff, let’s keep pushing.”