Four Mayo restaurants have just been nominated for food and wine awards in the annual Food & Wine Magazine Restaurant of the Year awards, sponsored this year by Penfolds Wines. The restaurants in the shortlist are Ashford Castle, Cong; the Ice House, Ballina; La Fougere, Knockranny House Hotel, Westport; and the Salt Restaurant, Lisloughrey Lodge, Cong.
The complete shortlist includes 155 nominees in 21 categories from every corner of the country, reflecting the huge variety of culinary expertise available throughout Ireland. The awards, celebrating 10 years, are recognised as the most prestigious and authoritative culinary awards in the Irish calendar.
The rigorous judging process using the Eurovision-famed ‘Positional Voting’ system took place over recent weeks with a panel of experts representing the industry as well as votes from the restaurant-going public. The winners will be announced at a gala luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin on Sunday August 22.
While Ireland’s restaurants are facing a very tough time, the evidence from the nominees suggests that they are fighting back with imaginative food offerings and value prices too. “It has never been tougher for the restaurant sector as they struggle to maintain standards and try to meet the demand for good value, but many have taken this challenge as an opportunity to try new things and in turn promote new dishes, and their efforts have the enthusiastic support of our readers,” said Ross Golden-Bannon, editor of Food & Wine magazine. “Our judging process showed us that Irish people want to see good quality, seasonal produce with a friendly service at the right price and they are now seeing a stronger emphasis on these values from our restaurants.”
The national awards include Best Chef, Best Restaurant, Best Sommelier, Best Service, Good Value and Best World Cuisine, while each category also includes an in-depth list of regional awards. Previous winners of the top accolade include Chapter One, MacNean House & Bistro, and The Tannery while previous winners of the Chef of the Year Award have included Dublin’s Derry Clarke, Dylan McGrath, Belfast’s Michael Deane, Cavan’s Neven Maguire and, last year, Sunil Ghai of Ananda took the award for the new Irish.
