“There is a lot more to be revealed”
Published 23 January 2026
All eyes are on Luke Selby as he steps into his new role as chef partner at Palé Hall Hotel, a five-star luxury property on the edge of Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. Selby, the former executive chef of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, a Belmond Hotel, Oxfordshire, honed his craft at some of London’s most groundbreaking Michelin star restaurants, including Dabbous, Hide and Evelyn’s Table. One of the country’s most garlanded chefs – he is the only chef to win the Roux Scholarship and National Chef of the Year in the same year – Selby has big plans for Palé Hall, including the launch of a ticketed chef’s table experience, Hearth, from February 2026, and the opening of a brand new fine-dining menu later in 2026. CODE caught up with him between menu tastings to hear what he has planned.
You have just taken up your new role at Palé Hall. What are you working on first?
“I’ve just come off a menu tasting for the Bryntirion. I’ve got my head chef who used to work for me back at Le Manoir. I’ve got a great team in place. I’ve been helping from behind the scenes but now I’m here full time, I’m just starting to steer it. We’re just steering it in the right direction, tweaking things.”
The Bryntirion is already open. What are your plans for it?
The Bryntirion has been open for six months or so. What we’re trying to do there is showcase Welsh produce. It’s a pub so it’s having that same quality of service, same quality of product, but just a more relaxed environment and a different price point to Palé. It’s somewhere our guests can go and dine on a second and third night and something also that appeals to the local community.”
So that’s quite different from Le Manoir.
“Le Manoir was just one restaurant, a brilliant restaurant. Now they’re closed for refurbishment, the plan is to put a bistro in. There needs to be something else. That’s the opportunity that we’ve got here. The pub is effectively another restaurant, an extra arm to the estate. It’s a stone’s throw away, so guests can walk down and still stay on Palé grounds.”
Is this your first time doing a pub?
“Kind of. Evelyn’s Table was a pub; we had the restaurant down in the basement but I also curated the snacks and the food for the pub and also the wine bar. I came from pubs; that’s where I started in the industry [at the White Horse, Steyning]. I like that kind of cooking – honest, simple, delicious food.”
What’s on the menu at the Bryntirion?
“Just good, tasty food. We’re working on a few different snacks like gochujang soy chilli crispy chicken wings; we’ve just done a nice confit cod with Jerusalem artichoke purée and a spiced mace brown shrimp sauce with sea vegetables; and we’re doing a take on a rhubarb and custard tart, similar to something I learned from Ollie Dabbous in London. Definitely the pub has just got to have that kind of simplicity to it.”
How are you finding Wales so far?
“It’s a beautiful place. I’ve been very fortunate in that [my appointment] has been received very well. Some amazing chefs based in Wales have reached out and shown support. It’s such a beautiful country; there is some amazing produce and some amazing producers. I’m really excited to discover more, the more I integrate myself here.”
Why did you decide to go for this role?
“The opportunity really. I met the owner of the property and his wife, Tony and Donna [Anthony and Donna Barney] and really hit it off with them. They share the same vision for Palé as I do. And it’s a proper business partnership where I’ve got control and a say in the direction that we’re going in. It’s a natural evolution for me and my career.”
What’s the timeline? What’s next?
“Everything really. The plan for the next three months is stabilising the business. I’ve got some amazing people yet to start with us; that will be happening over the next couple of weeks. In the current infrastructure that we’ve got [The Huntsman Bar and The Henry Robertson Restaurant], we’re moving to an à la carte and a tasting menu that run side by side in the restaurant. We’re curating the dining experience and taking it to another level in terms of the hospitality and the guest experience, not just on the food and beverage side but the whole package from the moment you book, the moment you come up the drive. We’ve got a lot of work to do behind the scenes, getting the right systems in place, getting the right team in place. We’re going through a huge amount of staff training at the moment. We’ve got planning permission pending on a new fine-dining restaurant which will hopefully be ready around summertime this year. There’s a lot more to be revealed.”
Is there an existing fine-dining restaurant?
“What we currently have is The Henry Robertson Restaurant which serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon tea. Then when we get the planning through, there will be a beautiful glass extension to the property. It will be a new restaurant yet to be named by me at Palé Hall. That will be the official proper fine-dining restaurant. Up until that point, I’m tweaking the menus [at The Henry Robertson]. It’s beautiful – we’ve just redone the carpet, the tables, the linen – but it’s a very intimate dining space with just 28 to 30 covers. That’s one of the challenges: we are a 22-bedroom hotel and we need a 44-cover restaurant.”
Have you launched the chef’s table?
“We’re starting to launch it; we’re going to be dropping a few dinners in there. It’s a stunning room with a bespoke cook suite that’s been built into the room with a sommelier station made out of the original fireplace. It’s all been backlit, marbled, so it’s a prominent feature. That’s why we called it The Hearth; it’s the heart of the house.”
Have your brothers [chefs Nathaniel and Theo] joined you?
“They’re helping set things up and we’ve got a few things in the pipeline for them as well. They’re helping me get established here, assisting with setting up the Bryn, and the systems we’re putting in place, but then I’ve got something else where they’re going to be. We’ll still be together under the same umbrella, but they’re looking at their own things.”
What’s the goal for the property?
“We want to put this place on the map. We want to champion Wales, champion the produce, the suppliers, the people of North Wales. We want to become a destination.”
