Interview with Welsh chef Bryn Williams ahead of The GWCT Welsh Game Fair

At the top of his game

Welsh chef Bryn Williams is fronting a new fine dining pop-up restaurant at the inaugural GWCT Welsh Game Fair this September. A vociferous patriot and advocate of eating game, he was the obvious choice to devise the menu and host diners at the stunning new VIP White Park Restaurant, sponsored by Clogau Gold, located on the front lawn of Vaynol overlooking Snowdonia

Tell us what first inspired your interest in cooking and food?

I was already interested in where food came from thanks to my family background. I come from Welsh farming stock and while my father chose to become a mechanic instead, I seemed to have numerous uncles with farms. As kids we spent lots of our time camping next to the river and eating anything we could catch. 

I read the cookbook White Heat by Marco Pierre White and it had a profound and immediate impact on me. All I wanted to do was join this crazy world I’d read about and be a part of that exciting kitchen energy. I went to college to study catering, worked in Colwyn Bay and went to London to train, first under Marco Pierre White at The Criterion and then Le Gavroche under Michel Roux. 

Your career after that is so impressive, what would you say is the highlight? Did you visit Wales much as your career took off? 

When I first came down from London to learn my craft it was supposed to be for one year… and I’m still here! I have cooked at some incredible places, with a stint in Paris at a bakery and a restaurant in Nice. Back in London I worked under André Garrett at Orrery in Marylebone before taking part in the BBC series Great British Menu. After we wrapped up filming, I knew I was one of four winners, but I had no idea of the power of TV. My plans for a good holiday after 11 years of hard graft were dashed as everyone wanted a slice of me! The chance to be head chef at Primrose Hill restaurant Odette’s and then buy it was something I couldn’t pass up. That meant that for a while I was only in Wales for hatches, matches and dispatches – and I’m still awaiting that holiday. 

Thankfully I have managed to weave Wales back into my life now and visit once a month since opening ‘Bryn Williams at Porth Eirias’ in Colwyn Bay in 2015. We are lucky to have a house with land near Llandyrnog and Denbigh, where I grow 80% of the fruit and veg for both my restaurants. Our Welsh terrier Socks loves it when we head out of London to Wales, scratching at the car door to be let out to start hunting rabbits and squirrels. 

Hunt, shoot, fish is in your DNA, how often do you get to go out?

I manage to get out five or six times in the season and it’s lovely to turn the phone off and relax. All you can do is concentrate on what’s coming from the left or the right. I’m also learning to fly fish now. I’ve certainly not mastered it but I love standing in a river with my own thoughts and the only sound is the water burbling by. With both shooting and fishing, whatever I catch or shoot will be used. My belief is that we have to keep game on the table to keep game shooting and fishing in our way of life in Britain. 

Can you share a favourite recipe for game?

I love to make a pheasant pithivier, which is like a posh pork pie or wellington. I take the breasts off, seal them quickly with salt pepper and allow them to cool. I then make a pancake, sweat some cabbage and mushrooms and layer the pancake over a ladle. You add the cabbage, mushrooms and pheasant in and turn it over and voilà

 – it’s a perfectly wrapped pithivier. The pastry keeps the moisture and flavour in and served with some seasonal vegetables, it’s sublime.

How did the partnership with The GWCT Welsh Game Fair come about?

When my wife [Sharlene Spiteri from the band Texas] and I married after 15 years together we didn’t want presents, so we asked for fruit trees. We created an orchard on our land in Wales and when Lee Oliver at the GWCT heard about it he came and visited. He saw what we were doing with mob grazing the cattle, hedge laying, herbal lays, beehives and fruit and veg growing, and linked me up with James Gower, who is show director for The GWCT Welsh Game Fair.

I’m 100% a country boy living in the city and I’m incredibly passionate about Wales, so my ears pricked up when I heard about the plans for a Welsh game fair. This event will celebrate so much of what I believe in, in terms of caring for the land and championing Welsh farming game and produce whilst showing how beautiful and bountiful my homeland is.

The event is also an important fundraiser for the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, a charity that funds vital research into Wales’ most vulnerable species such as woodcock and sea trout.

What are your plans for the White Park Restaurant at The GWCT Welsh Game Fair?

My style is classic British modern, so we use classic techniques and skills but with a lighter, pared back finish. For example, using rape seed oil and vinegar rather than butter and cream. I am planning to showcase some amazing Welsh game and seafood with recipes from Odette’s and my seaside restaurant in Porth Eirias. If you haven’t been to any of my restaurants, this is a rare chance to get a flavour of each served with a superb atmosphere in the most incredible surroundings. We’re going to situate the restaurant in front of the main house on Vaynol Estate with views of Snowdon right from the table. We’re planning for 120 covers each for breakfast and lunch so there’s lots of preparation work going on to make sure it runs smoothly. 

How would you describe north Wales in three words?

Beautiful, beautiful and beautiful.

Tell us something that not many people know?

I love scuba diving. As the owner of three restaurants my phone is always red hot. One thing that you absolutely cannot do when you are scuba diving is text or call, so it’s great to be uncontactable. All my hobbies have that in common – shooting, fly fishing, scuba diving and squash – no phone. 

The GWCT Welsh Game Fair is being held at Vaynol Estate in Gwynedd from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 September.

Tickets cost £149 for entry, breakfast, lunch and forward parking.

welshgamefair.org