The three metre-wide restaurant with eight seats named best in Wales

At the back of a dimly lit bar on a Welsh high street, a curtain hides a restaurant that is three metres wide and has space for just eight diners.

But small can be mighty.

Gwen in Machynlleth, Powys, was named best restaurant in Wales in the Harden's guide last year.

For head chef Corrin Harrison, who opened the tiny venue in 2023 after working as head chef at Michelin-starred sister restaurant Ynyshir, the accolade was recognition he had carved out his own path.

"Being the sister restaurant of the former best restaurant in the UK and the only two-star in Wales is a massive shadow, so for me it feels like the first steps out from underneath that shadow," he said.

On a road among independent shops and cafes, the building consists of just two small rooms.

At the front is a casual wine and cocktail bar, which can seat up to 18, and seems almost large in comparison, with customers including a couple of local bikers who come in every week.

Move past these and a leather curtain, and you will find a tiny, fine dining restaurant.

"I want to cook the best quality food I can cook, but I don't like the pretentiousness of three-Michelin star restaurants," 35-year-old Harrison said.

"It's what used to scare me as a young chef, going out to eat at a restaurant with white tablecloths and very rigid, where you almost felt you had to be of a certain class to be there."

He wanted to create a personable, welcoming environment, "like you're at someone's house".

Harrison's philosophy is being open and hospitable, creating a relaxed atmosphere which he hopes will make people willing to try new things.

There is no crisp white linen, no strict dress code.

Instead, the dimly-lit space is set up with communal tables, meaning diners need to be open to meeting new people.

"Everyone's got the same common interest if they come," Harrison said.

"They're interested in trying food, so there is common ground between people."

Forcing people to sit together was "scary at first", he said, but three years in, he says there has been no awkwardness.

"We've had guests come in for lunch, just four people - two couples - and leave and book holidays together," he said.

Others guests met at the restaurant and have booked to come back together.

Harrison moved to Wales from his home town of London in 2017 after being told about Ynyshir's owner and star chef Gareth Ward by a fellow chef.

Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms, near Machynlleth, offers a high-end dining experience starting at £468 per person, including a 30-course tasting menu and an in-house DJ.

It remains Wales' only restaurant with two Michelin stars after it was given the prestigious award in 2022.

However, it made headlines recently after Ward said he was not embarrassed it had received a one-star hygiene rating because it was doing "something different" with how it approaches raw ingredients and techniques.

Harrison found Ward on Instagram and went for a trial at Ynyshir in 2016.

He was inspired by his dedication and way of working, and said he knew he had to take the plunge and join him once he tried his food.

"I had to convince myself. There was nothing in Wales for me apart from Ynyshir then," he said.

"I didn't drive, I was a young single man moving to the middle of nowhere."

He worked two stints at Ynyshir - from 2017 until 2018, and returning a year later in 2019 to become head chef.

"The first week I moved into the staff accommodation at Ynyshir, I decided to walk to the local supermarket and it took me two and a half hours. I had to call someone on my way back because it got dark," he said.

"It was a massive culture shock, a massive change."

The move to Gwen, also owned by Ward, "felt like fate", Harrison said.

Ward had told him he was open to the idea of opening another restaurant if the right opportunity came up.

The owners of the building Gwen is based in then approached them and the project fell into place.

The restaurant has just four staff, two brothers on the bar and Harrison and chef Jamie Henstone in the kitchen.

They cook all the food, but also clear the tables and wash the plates.

"You get to see the joy on people's faces when they consume what you've created," he said.

His hardest task, he says, was not replicating what he had been creating at Ynyshir, adding: "Your food should be a CV of what you've done in your career.

"Experiences you've had, your heritage, where you've cooked."

Eventually he landed on a style of cooking which he felt was his own.

A sample menu contains dishes such as Devonshire eel, Chalk stream trout, Sicilian pistachio and Yorkshire rhubarb.

"All we're really trying to do is put our ideas onto a plate and hope that people understand it," Harrison added.

A Michelin star or two for Gwen is "not the aim" he says, although he concedes it would be "amazing".

"My main aim is to make sure everyone who comes through the door is satisfied," he said.

"If you aim for that, you can only end up in a successful place," he said.