Top Restaurants in Aberdyfi (Aberdovey)
Top Things to do in Aberdyfi (Aberdovey)
Countries
Top 3 Contemporary food in Aberdyfi (Aberdovey), United Kingdom
Find out what Contemporary restaurants to try in Aberdyfi (Aberdovey) including Sea Breeze, Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms, Number Twenty One
Things to do in Aberdyfi (Aberdovey)
1. Sea Breeze
Overall Ratings
4 based on 506 reviews
Reviewed By pidgeonwidgeon
Really enjoyed this place. Aberdovey has quite a few places to dine, pubs, cafes and then restaurants. This falls into the latter category. Really nice staff, food is delicious and worth that extra money. Fish excellent! A good idea to try somewhere new. We booked a table on our first night of the holiday and decided to book the last.
2. Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms
Overall Ratings
4 based on 179 reviews
Ynyshir is a 5 star restaurant with rooms near the Snowdonia National Park, Aberystwyth and Machynlleth. The restaurant at Ynyshir holds 5 AA rosettes - the first and only ever in Wales and has held 1 Michelin star since 2014. It is currently Number 5 in
Reviewed By Fouski
The brief summary - we had a wonderful dinner at Ynyshir. The service is excellent, managing to combine laid-back casual and very professional. The format is a no-choice small plates menu (about 25 courses) where the hit ratio of each individual course was phenomenally high (I only had 2 courses which I didn't feel quite worked, and my husband had one). The price is fairly high but on a par with with similar quality dining experiences in the UK and Europe - we felt it was excellent value for money. We definitely plan to return.The more detailed version. Location - Ynyshir is about a 10 minute drive from Machynlleth, and set in very beautiful countryside. It feels very remote but we actually found it perfectly accessible. On this occasion we were staying about 30 minutes away in a holiday cottage, but on a future visit we would definitely choose to stay at the restaurant itself. The overall aesthetic, the location and the timings of the meal (which finishes quite late) all encourage an overnight stay. Dining Room/Ambience - The look and feel of the dining room and bar is quite dramatically modern (black walls, quite 'industrial' lighting) but blends well with the original Georgian/Victorian house. There is a definite sense of theatre about Ynyshir. The kitchen is completely open to the dining room and the black walls and the lighting in the dining room work to create a sense of the kitchen as a stage. Its very effective. There are only 5 tables in the dining room and 2 more in the kitchen itself so everything is very intimate and you feel very much part of the experience. The ambience is further enhanced by a live DJ (!!). I was a bit dubious about this element at first, especially as the music wasn't really my preferred genre and (in the bar) it can feel a bit intrusive, but as the evening progressed I found it a perfect backdrop to the growing excitement which we felt about what we were eating. It's unconventional, but we felt it genuinely worked. Food - The food was quite simply phenomenal. The Good Food Guide rates Ynyshir at 9/10 and has named Gareth as their chef of the year for 2019. Michelin gives him 1 star. The Good Food Guide is definitely right on this one, and Michelin needs to get its act together. This is at a minimum 2 star cooking, and for sheer excitement, daring and execution it beats many 3 star places that we have dined at. As mentioned the menu is a no choice small plates format. There are 2 menus to choose from - the standard one and an 'upgraded' Wagyu menu. We took the latter, not because we are particular Wagyu fans, but because the standard menu featured 2 lamb courses incorporating mint which my husband has an aversion to. We were delighted with our choice. The Wagyu component manifests as 3 courses - a one-bite hamburger, a sort of carpaccio dish and then slow-cooked shoulder. They were all exquisite, with the hamburger being one of those dishes that you remember for years to come. The entire menu was brilliant with each successive dish building the excitement - by the time we were on our 7th course we had 6 times declared that THIS was the best dish so far, and that just continued throughout the evening. To make a stab at identifying the signature elements of the menu, I would say that it is the many Japanese influences (various forms of miso, Katsu curry, black bean sauce, etc) and the ever-present interest in the different techniques for preserving and ageing meat and fish which really made the dining experience unique. The menu also reflects local suppliers and the results of expert foraging but those are elements which are increasingly common at fine dining restaurants (and very welcome). As with any really great meal it is a challenge to identify specific standout dishes, but the ones that I find myself remembering most are the Katsu Curry Chicken, the Garlic Prawn, the Wagyu Hamburger, the White Chocolate with black bean and the Blueberries with Custard. A final point to make about the food is that Gareth physically cooks continuously throughout the evening which I've rarely seen in open kitchens before. Most top chefs spend the evening overseeing the kitchen, constantly tasting and, often, doing final prep work before dishes leave but to see the head chef stand over a (presumably very hot) stove for 4 hours was remarkable. Drink - We dipped only modestly into the wine list. My husband was driving and I was on pain killers so we limited ourselves to an aperitif and I then had a couple of glasses over the course of the meal. What we did have was excellent though - a lovely fresh South African Chenin to start, an excellent Oregon Pinot Noir with the Wagyu and a Canadian Ice Wine to finish. Ynyshir is one of the new breed of restaurants that offers many excellent wines by the glass rather than the whole bottle - a wonderful innovation. The wine pricing seemed very acceptable. Service - We felt very welcome and well looked after throughout the evening. The tone is determinedly casual and unstuffy but there was nothing slip-shod about the experience - there is a strong core of professionalism in the front of house. There is also obviously a lot of passion for the food. Each dish is brought to the table by one of the chefs who briefly describes and explains the dish, and who can enlarge on any details that you ask about. To start with, we simply listened and then ate, but as the meal progressed we found ourselves engaging more and more with the chefs. It's another element of dining at Ynyshir that contributes to the intimacy of the experience. Overall - we loved our dinner at Ynyshir and are already plotting a return. We think the cooking is exciting and unlike any other dining experience in the UK. There are an unusual number of constraints applied to the meal - there is fixed time to arrive, a fixed time to eat and a fixed duration of the meal, there is also no choice on the menu, dislikes and allergies are only minimally catered for and substitutions are strongly discouraged. I can imagine many people who will not enjoy dining under those constraints (the 'I-paid-good-money-for-this-I-should-be-able-to-get-what-I-want' brigade). If you're one of those people, don't come, you won't enjoy it. But if you're happy to put yourself in the hands of great chef and allow him the freedom to direct a dining experience according to his own sense of what is perfect, then I think you'll have a wonderful evening.
Where to eat British food in Aberdyfi (Aberdovey): The Best Restaurants and Bars
3. Number Twenty One
Overall Ratings
4 based on 390 reviews
Reviewed By Neill B
The restaurant is small. We were squashed between three other tables effectively in the corridor to the kitchen with the loos also accessed from here.The portions are also small. We ate on a themed Mexican night but were underwhelmed. The massive plus was the hanger steak which I chose and had to swap half way through with my wife whose chicken wrap dish was so disappointing.
