Renowned chef Alasdair Gill has shared his disturbing experience working at an unnamed top restaurant, recalling the moment he walked into the kitchen for a 5am shift and something shocking
A professional chef has shared his thoughts on the one-star rating slapped on a two-Michelin-star restaurant in Wales last November.
The damning score was given to Gareth Ward’s Ynyshir, an establishment that’s been hailed as amongst the globe’s finest dining spots in the 13 years since it first opened its doors.
In the wake of this decision, culinary experts nationwide have rallied to defend the restaurant, recounting their own encounters. Amongst these is celebrated chef Alasdair Gill, who declared he was prepared to offer the establishment “the benefit of the doubt”.
Writing his account in the Times about his stint at a “titan… big dog of an establishment”, Alasdair described the scenes that greeted him upon arriving for a 5am shift, only to be met with pandemonium in the kitchen, reports the Mirror.
He recalled: “I’ll never forget the first time I arrived for a shift early. Too early… As I stepped onto the kitchen floor, half-dazed with fatigue from the night before, I thought my brain was playing tricks on me. The floor was moving. Twitching. Rippling, like it had a pulse.
“When my eyes adjusted, I clocked them: dozens of mice, caught alive on a carpet of sticky tape laid across the tiles, spasming back and forth in unison like some kind of tiny rodent rave.
“The kitchen didn’t start addressing its vermin issue until many customers complained about droppings. Each night was a horror show.”
Alasdair’s tales of rat droppings are a stark contrast to the predicament faced by Gareth Ward, who has since publicly addressed the rating and its potential cause.
Speaking to the BBC, Gareth expressed no embarrassment over the downgrade, attributing it to inspectors’ concerns about his use of raw ingredients.
The former MasterChef: The Professionals contestant explained: “I’m buying sashimi-grade fish from Japan and they’re questioning, ‘Well, we don’t know the water, so how do we know it’s sashimi grade?’
“Well, it is sashimi grade, this stuff’s eaten raw all over the world and just because our rules don’t fit their rules, they’re questioning it … I’ve got a salt chamber for ageing fish but they obviously don’t like the idea of ageing stuff.”
Gareth stressed that he felt no shame, but disappointment was evident. “I’m not at all ashamed but I am disappointed. I’m not sat here thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m embarrassed, I’ve done something wrong’, because we haven’t. What we have done is something different.”
Post-inspection, independent lab tests found no issues with the fish used at the restaurant. Gareth conceded that the inspectors were “not 100% wrong” and confirmed the installation of a new hand-washing point.
He added: “My restaurant is working at the highest standard in the world and we take what we do very seriously. I’ve got 27 years of experience in what I do. The kitchen is open, everyone can see everything, the place is immaculate.”