SY23 Restaurant
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion
* The owners have announced that the restaurant is closing for good on 23 December 2023.*
Set in a smart old Georgian building in a pretty corner of Aberystwyth town centre is a 'cool, vibey' restaurant with an 11-course set menu that does wonderful things with a wood and charcoal grill. You start the evening in the downstairs bar – a cave-like space where music thrums and candlelight flickers; guests then move upstairs en masse into a room deliciously scented with woodsmoke. Here, too, the walls are dark, the rustic wood tables aglow with candlelight, and chef Nathan Davies and his team are visible in the open kitchen. Davies’ career includes time as sous-chef at Ynyshir – and Gareth Ward's influence is evident in his assured use of Japanese flavours. Bread – a big, generous, home-baked sourdough loaf made with local grains – is accompanied by a 'beautiful' miso butter, while a fat scallop caramelised on the grill sits in a lively Japanese three-cup sauce with crispy seaweed and burnt butter. Local fish and seafood are a mainstay of the menu and they are luminously beautiful. Standouts include meaty lobster tail with an intense, vermilion lobster sauce invigorated with pine oil, soy and a lobster crumb topping, while Basque-inspired turbot is aged to meaty perfection in a Himalayan salt chamber, grilled and served with cockles, clams, a dashi miso broth and broccoli cooked in miso butter. Nothing is wasted: the turbot skin stars in the next course as a crackling-crisp wafer with soured cream and luxurious oscietra imperial caviar. Davies’ treatment of land-based ingredients is equally thrilling. An opening dish simply dubbed 'mushroom' features maitake and shiitake varieties with shiitake ketchup and sourdough croûtons in a mousse-light mushroom soup, delivering textural sophistication and pure, intensified fungal funk. Later on, Welsh lamb takes the stage – tender saddle with soy, and fall-apart, blackened rib cooked in hay, served with black-garlic ketchup and a shallot caramelised in lamb fat. And the thrills keep on coming: an optional cheese course pairs gently warmed Pen Helyg – a Welsh brie-style number – with caramelised cauliflower, aged vinegar and deep-fried breadcrumbs under a mountain of shaved Welsh truffle, while a 'transcendent' series of desserts include rich chocolate mousse with miso caramel, malty ice cream flavoured with Hen Gymro (an ancient Welsh grain), orange-infused rapeseed oil, and puffed, crunchy spelt seeds. It’s a virtuoso performance from start to finish, backed by a classy, interesting wine list and impeccable service. What more could you ask for?
Dining Information:
Separate bar, Deposit required
2 Pier Street, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 2LJ
01970 615935
