‘I feel free’: Peter Sanchez-Iglesias on Gwen, Gareth Ward and rediscovering his love for cooking
In just his second service at Gwen, Peter Sanchez-Iglesias was brought to tears. Tears of joy he was back doing what he loved.
Seventeen years on from first winning a Michelin star, the chef appeared to be at a crossroads.
In 2009, alongside his late brother Jonray, Peter was awarded a star at Casamia in their hometown of Bristol.
Jonray passed in 2015, as Peter’s restaurant journey continued, opening Paco Tapas, also in Bristol, as well as Decimo at The Standard in London.
Casamia closed in 2022, relaunching as Casa, which also shut two years later. Paco went in 2025, having lost its Michelin star, and then Peter left Decimo behind earlier this year.
Many wondered what the next move would be for a chef who, a decade ago, was widely regarded as one of the best in the UK.
Joining forces with Gareth Ward
“The day I closed Casamia, I was always just clucking to reopen. But it was just having the right moment, the right time,” Peter told The Staff Canteen.
Suddenly, the moment and timing were perfect. Peter’s close friend Gareth Ward, who runs two-Michelin-starred Ynyshir, was seeking a new head chef for sister restaurant Gwen in Machynlleth, following the departure of Corrin Harrison.
When Peter was announced, Gareth said: “It feels like I’ve signed Cristiano Ronaldo.”
Discussing the decision to take on the role, Peter said: “The week I basically handed in my notice and literally left The Standard, me and Gaz spoke and he was like ‘mate, come and do Gwen, this is it, everything's aligned just for you to come down and do it.’
“I was like ‘but it’s three hours away’. Anyway I came up and met him and the drive is actually easy.
“It's not like a three-hour drive going to London or going up north. You're not hitting motorways, it's just dual carriageways and then you open up into the most amazing scenery.
“I still live in Portishead with my wife and my kids, so it was a big decision for all of us.
“But at the same time, this just had everything to be able to make it work. So it was a no-brainer.
“I just feel so happy that I pushed myself to do it, because I think it's one of those times in your life where you know you might live in regret if you don't ever try again.”
Peter has known Gareth for around 15 years, when Gareth was working for Sat Bains.
“Over the years we've grown into best friends,” Peter said.
“We go on holidays together and spend as much time together as possible. We've just blossomed into this lovely relationship where I really do treat him like a brother and vice versa.
“He just wanted to do anything to be able to get me back in the kitchen.
“It's got me back doing what I love.
“The first service was really hard, like anything. But I just remember the second service, I literally went down to the basement and I had a little cry to myself.
“I was like, this is why you did it. This is fucking hard work, but this is exactly why you did it, because you love cooking at this level.”
Continuing the Gwen legacy
Gareth, with his partner Amelia Eiriksson, opened Gwen in 2023, but following Corrin’s exit, some reports suggested the intimate eight-seat restaurant was going to close down.
But while the direction in terms of the food offering is now very different since Peter started working there around a month ago, the name remains.
“Gaz never wanted to close Gwen,” said Peter.
“Gwen is his mum's name. He wanted it to live on forever.
“The food and the wine programme has always been taken very seriously here. They've built up an amazing reputation.
“The menu is very well thought out. It's early days, so at the moment we're trying to just keep consistency. Little details are constantly being tweaked on a daily basis to make it better.”
When speaking to The Staff Canteen, Peter was in the midst of some renovations to the apartment above Gwen, where he will spend some of his time to avoid a daily commute to Bristol.
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Asked what it is like working in Machynlleth compared to Bristol or London, Peter said: “This place has an energy. There's something about it. It has this incredible, almost spiritual energy.
“The way it makes you feel, it puts you instantly into a good mood.
“You're in your own little bubble. We can do whatever we want here.
“There isn't real competition of trying to look at who's doing what around the corner. We're away from a lot of the noise.
“That itself is very refreshing because I think sometimes you get caught up in what's going on in that moment or what's happening in London.
“A lot of chefs go into an avenue of not really holding to their personality and their style because they're just chasing fashion.
“Here, I just feel free. That's the best way to describe it.”
Inspiration from Ynyshir
As well as putting his own stamp on Gwen, Peter now gets to spend time with Gareth and the team at Ynyshir, widely regarded as a potential future three-star restaurant.
“We do all the preparation there and we treat Gwen like service kitchens,” Peter said.
“It's just class being around that kind of team, that kind of quality. It's really, really inspiring.
“It's like the old saying: surround yourself with great people and they rub off on you. That's exactly what's happening here.
“I needed to be in a kitchen where people take it very, very seriously. This is their livelihoods on the line. They're pushing it to the absolute maximum.
“They're part of something that's really super inspiring - a three-star in the making.
“You get that energy and you use it. It helps you and it pushes you that little bit extra, but not in an unnatural way. It feels so natural. It feels positive from everything.
“Honestly, it's unbelievable.”
The challenges of operating multiple restaurants
Going from operating multiple restaurants to owning none in a short space of time has made Peter value what is really important.
“It's this whole theory of your time being the most valuable asset you have,” he said.
“The problem is when you have multiple businesses, you have to stretch yourself.
“London, I never really wanted to fail, I wanted it to always be a successful venture. So I concentrated and put a lot of time into it.
“I knew from that moment, with the tapas bar going, with Casamia, with Decimo, I just knew that I couldn't be creative in Casamia anymore. I couldn't be the driving force because I can't be there all the time.
“I needed to change something. That was when we came back from COVID and we literally changed the restaurant from white to black and went super creative with what we were doing.
“It was great.
“Before you know it, trade just goes down a little bit. It's whether you can survive through those times, through those hardships.
“After doing it for almost 25 years, we just decided to make a change because I wasn't making money to be able to reinvest into Casamia.
“Because I'm not on the forefront cooking every single day, I was like, maybe I need to put this to bed and just close it and then open up something a bit more easy-going.
“I remember in the February we were hitting the numbers and it was amazing. Then March suddenly plummeted.
“The whole of Bristol, we were all on the phone to each other going, are you really quiet this week? And next week?
“It just continued. We never really had the demand of what we needed.
“There were a lot of new restaurants, a lot of people were doing good stuff as well. People just tend to go back to their old ways of going abroad and spending money elsewhere and not eating out as much because cost of living was starting to go up with electric bills and things like that.”
Asked what he would see as a success for him and Gwen, Peter said: “The main objective is being happy and excited about being creative again.
“We just want people to have a wicked time and enjoy eating food.
“This food is coming from my soul. It's my personality, it's my journey of life so far.
“I'm 40, I've done quite a lot. I will probably be forever evolving, but right at this moment in time, this is exactly where I'm at.
“It's really exciting.”
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