Almost 1,200 restaurant and hospitality business owners and staff celebrated their hard work and achievements at the Irish Restaurant Awards All-Ireland final awards event, which saw many well-known restaurateurs, hospitality business and staff turn out to see if they had won one of the prestigious awards.
Food outlets were nominated under the categories of Local Food Hero, Best Sustainable Practices, Best Free From, Best Emerging Irish Cuisine, Best Restaurant Manager, Best Wine Experience, Best Café, Best World Cuisine, Best Newcomer, Pub of the Year, Best Casual Dining, Best Hotel & Guesthouse Restaurant, Best Customer Service, Best Gastropub, Best Chef, and Best Restaurant and finally a new award category for 2023 Innovator of the Year.
Held in the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road, Dublin, the Munster and overall category winners were as follows:
Best Restaurant All-Ireland winner: Chapter One, Dublin – Munster winner: Kingdom 1795, Kerry.
Best Chef All-Ireland: Uno Mas, Paul McNamara – Dublin – Munster winner: Takashi Miyazaki, Ichigo Ichie – Cork.
Best Gastro Pub All-Ireland: The Dirty Duck, Down – Munster winner: O’Mahony’s of Watergrasshill, Cork.
Best Customer Service: All-Ireland: Guinea Pig Restaurant, Dublin – Munster winner: 1826 Adare, Limerick.
Best Hotel & Guesthouse Restaurant: All-Ireland and Munster: The Bishop’s Buttery at Cashel Palace Hotel, Tipperary.
Best Casual Dining: All-Ireland: Crudo, Dublin – Munster winner: Momo, Waterford.
Pub of the Year: All-Ireland: Thomas Connolly, Sligo – Munster winner: Friel’s Pub, Clare.
Best Newcomer: All Ireland: Blackrock Cottage, Galway – Munster winner: Terre Restaurant, Cork.
Best World Cuisine: All-Ireland: Pickle, Dublin – Munster winner: Da Mirco Bridge St, Cork.
Best Café: All-Ireland: The Vanilla Pod Blackrock, Dublin – Munster winner: WunderKaffe, Cork.
Best Wine Experience: All-Ireland: Union Wine Bar, Waterford – Munster winner: Union Wine Bar, Waterford.
Best Restaurant Manager: All-Ireland: Denise McBrien, The Old Spot – Dublin – Munster: Neil Hynes, Number 35 – Kerry.
Best Emerging Irish Cuisine: All-Ireland: Library Street, Dublin – Munster winner: Restaurant Chestnut, Cork.
Best Free From: All-Ireland: Glas, Dublin – Munster winner: Avo Café, Waterford.
Innovator of the Year: All-Ireland: Lock 13 Gastropub & Brewpub, Kildare – Munster winner: The Fish Basket, Cork.
Best Sustainable Practices: All-Ireland: Grain Store Restaurant at Killruddery House and Gardens, Wicklow – Munster winner: Fitzgeralds Woodlands Hotel, Limerick.
Local Food Hero: All-Ireland: Con Traas, The Apple Farm – Tipperary – Munster winner: Con Traas, The Apple Farm – Tipperary.
Best Cocktail Experience: All-Ireland – Haddington House, Dublin.
Best Learning & Development: All-Ireland – The Kingsley Hotel, Cork.
Best Cookery School: All-Ireland – Fiona Egan Cloughan Farm and Cookery School, Longford. Best Private Dining & Club Restaurant All-Ireland – RDS Members Club, Dublin.
