Akami, chut­oro, oto­ro. At pre­cis­e­ly 5:00 PM, the culina­ry show beg­ins at „Ynyshir“. Anyone who wants to dine with „pro­duct fetis­hist“ Gareth Ward needs time. The menu com­pri­ses 30 cour­ses, divi­ded into six chap­ters. „Everything starts with raw, dry-aged fish, inclu­ding aka­mi, chut­oro and oto­ro from bluef­in tuna. An abso­lu­te high­light, becau­se this cour­se shows the fasci­na­ti­on you can crea­te with purism and pro­ducts of the very hig­hest calib­re,“ says Luca Bianchi, one of the three CEOs of the come­sti­bles mer­chant G. Bianchi AG. Photo abo­ve: Head chef Gareth Ward and the rou­te to „Ynyshir“.

Madai, the Japanese super sea bream. Bianchi repea­ted­ly tra­vels through the vast world of gour­met dining and empha­sis­es: „With every visit to a tru­ly world-class restau­rant, I not only shar­pen my pala­te, but also deepen my under­stan­ding of how today’s top chefs think—and how up to date we at G. Bianchi AG are with our pro­ducts.“ It is the­r­e­fo­re fit­ting that the „Ynyshir“ expe­ri­ence also inclu­des a culina­ry talk in the age­ing cham­ber. „There, the team pres­ents deli­ca­ci­es such as dry-aged hama­chi or madai. Madai—a type of sea bream nati­ve to the waters off Japan, cha­rac­te­ri­sed by a mild, slight­ly sweet aroma—is, for me, one of the dis­co­veries of recent times,“ Bianchi stres­ses. In his day-to-day work, he obser­ves that dry-aged fish is also beco­ming incre­a­sing­ly sought-after in Switzerland. „We main­ly use this method for pike-perch. The loss of water con­cen­tra­tes the flavour—a fan­ta­stic thing!“

Powerful, com­plex, Japanese-inspi­red. After the raw fish, „Ynyshir“ ser­ves fish coo­ked in various ways, dis­hes whe­re uma­mi and sea­so­ning take cent­re stage, refres­hing „pala­te cle­an­sers“, red meat and, final­ly, des­serts. „The meat cour­ses are just as powerful as they are com­plex and often Japanese-inspi­red,“ explains Luca Bianchi. Two of the stars on the pla­te: A5 marbling-gra­de wagyu beef from Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture and Silver Hill ducks, aged using tech­ni­ques that are some­ti­mes cen­tu­ries old.

Dishes that stay with you. Bianchi is fasci­na­ted by Gareth Ward’s phi­lo­so­phy. „I’m impres­sed by his uncom­pro­mi­sing approach. He doesn’t want his dis­hes to be fri­end­ly and pleasing—he wants them to grab you and not let go,“ says the well-tra­vel­led Swiss gour­met, describ­ing his impres­si­ons. Ward’s cre­do: ingre­di­ent-led, fla­vour-dri­ven, fat-fuel­led, meat-obses­sed. In German: gui­ded by ingre­di­ents, focu­sed on fla­vour, fuel­led by fat, obses­sed with meat.

A „sushi master“ with fire and steel. „Gareth Ward, who has been award­ed two Michelin stars, stands at the coun­ter hims­elf all evening—filleting, por­tio­ning, con­duc­ting. Like a sushi master, but with fire and steel instead of silence,“ reports Luca Bianchi. „In the open kit­chen, a DJ plays loud music, giving the evening more the feel of a con­cert than a clas­sic din­ner.“ Despite the uncon­ven­tio­nal ambi­ence, howe­ver, the love of excel­lent pro­ducts always remains at the heart of „Ynyshir“—whether you have dry-aged wagyu, iod­i­ne-rich delights from the sea or local lamb on your plate.

„Product-know­ledge mis­si­on“. The only slight dis­ap­point­ment for the curious con­nois­seur Bianchi: „That not even more Welsh spe­cia­li­ties such as mus­sels, lob­ster from the Llŷn Peninsula or game from the local forests were used. That would have inte­re­sted me great­ly.“ Even so, he is hap­py with his expe­di­ti­on. „For me and our com­pa­ny, it was also a pro­duct-know­ledge mis­si­on: I saw that we have madai, hama­chi, bluef­in tuna and dry-aged pro­ducts such as wagyu, lamb or Silver Hill ducks in our ran­ge that can com­pe­te in the Champions League.“

Bianchi’s new Uccelin part­ner. This is also good news for the scho­lar­ship hol­ders of Fundaziun Uccelin. G. Bianchi AG is the new part­ner of Sarah and Andreas Caminada’s foun­da­ti­on, which pro­mo­tes young culina­ry talent. Those accept­ed into the pro­gram­me can com­ple­te a stage at Bianchi’s head­quar­ters in Zufikon, Aargau, and learn how to hand­le the very best pro­ducts from the ground up. Luca Bianchi is a big Uccelin fan. He says: „We are all very plea­sed to be able to con­tri­bu­te to the suc­cess of this flag­ship pro­ject in gastro­no­my. And of cour­se, it is also exci­ting for us that the future top chefs know exact­ly what we have to offer.“

» The „Ynyshir“, ope­ned in 2013 and award­ed two Michelin stars, near the Welsh vil­la­ge of Machynlleth, is one of Europe’s most exci­ting restau­rants. Head chef Gareth Ward reli­es on ingre­di­ents he ages for up to 300 days. The 30-cour­se menu costs the equi­va­lent of around CHF 500. ynyshir.co.uk