News & events

Buy from Graffeg

Not bad for a Taff... Bryan Webb winner of the Good Food Guide 'Best Restaurant in Wales'

30 September 2008

“He cooks from his heart. The joy of eating Bryan’s food stays with us for days,” Franco Taruschio, founder, The Walnut Tree, Abergavenny.

Thanks to his Mum encouraging him to bake cakes, Bryan Webb side-stepped a job down the mines, as a school-leaving Valleys boy at that time was expected to do, opting to become a chef instead.

"As a naive sixteen-year-old, I thought cooking would be an easier option," he recalls ruefully.

As luck would have it, his first job was with Sonia and Neville Blech at The Crown in Whitebrook, near Monmouth - the only Michelin starred restaurant in Wales.

"Had my first job been flipping burgers I might have ended up down the mines afterall," he says. "But Sonia and Neville paved the road to what I have achieved as a chef and restaurateur."

Fortune smiled on the youthful Bryan’s ambition - winning the William Hepinstall award for young chefs led to an opportunity to work in France, followed by a move to London as a head chef - aged just 24.

Two years later and Bryan was running his own show, Hilaire on Old Brompton Road, where he remained for 14 years until hitting 40 prompted a change of course.

Following a total break travelling the world and eating other peoples’ food for a change, Bryan and his wife, Susan, bought a glorious Georgian country house, Tyddyn Llan in Denbighshire, North Wales, and opened a restaurant with rooms.

The vibe there is relaxed, informal and unstuffy, and there’s no dress code.

"I don’t like being asked to wear a tie, so I wouldn’t inflict that on my guests either," says Bryan.

Running a successful hotel is a 24/7 commitment, with Bryan even cooking the breakfasts.

"Susan and I feel that breakfast is just as important as lunch and dinner. It has to be right as it is the last impression the guest has before leaving and parting with their hard-earned cash," says Bryan. "As with everything we cook at Tyddyn Llan, all our breakfasts are made from the very best ingredients."

Bryan and Susan’s commitment has paid dividends with The Guardian’s food and drink editor, Matthew Fort, describing Tyddyn Llan as one of the ten best restaurants in the UK. Bryan also recently received one the greatest accolades for an chef, his own Michelin Star for 2010.

Throwing open his kitchen door, Bryan’s cookbook is packed with delicious recipes, designed to be doable for ordinary mortals who are not award-winning chefs.

Among the recipes are:

• Chicken with tarragon and morels
• Asparagus soup
• Braised short ribs of beef
• Grilled lobster with coriander, lime and ginger butter
• Salad of fennel, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and shaved Parmesan
• Roast wild bass with laverbread butter sauce
• Lemon and banana tart
• Prune and mascarpone ice cream

"The recipes in my book have all been close to my heart for the last sixteen years, I hope people enjoy cooking them as much as I have," says Bryan.