Early next month, the former Casamia chef will launch Ynyshir’s younger and much smaller sibling as an ‘ultra-intimate, ever-evolving culinary experience’.
Hosting just eight guests per service, the restaurant will offer a 20-course tasting menu priced at £295, shaped by a kitchen team of only two: Sanchez-Iglesias and an assistant.
At Gwen, Sanchez-Iglesias - who recently left his role as executive chef at London restaurant Decimo - will look ‘to distill his career to date, pushing his instinct and creativity to its limits’.
Gwen centres around two open kitchens, with guests moving through the space as their meal unfolds.
Full menu details are not yet available, but the cooking will reflect Sanchez-Iglesias’ ‘deeply personal relationship’ with food, pairing his background and global influences with a focus on the finest ingredients available, with ‘fire playing a defining role throughout’.
Produce will be sourced at the highest level and served within a daily changing, hyper-seasonal menu.
On the new restaurant, Sanchez-Iglesias kept it simple: “If it excites me, let’s go.”
Last month, it was revealed that Gwen – originally launched as a much more casual counterpoint to Ward’s nearby two-Michelin-starred Ynyshir – was closing after a three-year run.
Shortly afterwards, Ward and his wife and business partner, Amelia Eriksson, named Sanchez-Iglesias as the new chef.
Ward said at the time: “I feel like I’ve signed Cristiano Ronaldo.”
The project is being billed as a return to the stove for Sanchez-Iglesias, who closed his sole remaining Bristol restaurant, Paco Tapas, last year shortly after the Harbourside restaurant lost its Michelin star.
Sanchez-Iglesias is best known for his progressive modern British fine dining restaurant Casamia, originally launched by his parents and later taken on by him and his brother, Jonray.
The restaurant won a Michelin star in 2009 and held it until it closed in 2022 to make way for a more casual Italian concept, Casa, which has also since closed.