A number of Mayo restaurants won awards this week at the Connacht regional final for the Santa Rita Irish Restaurants Awards 2012, held in The House Hotel in Galway on Tuesday last.
The county awards for the best in Mayo were as follows:
Customer Service: Cafe Rua, Castlebar; Gastro Pub: Bar One, Castlebar; Casual Dining: Sol Rio, Westport; Hotel Restaurant: The Kitchen Restaurant @ Mount Falcon Hotel, Ballina; Chef: Philippe Farineau, Mount Falcon, Ballina; Restaurant: Market Kitchen, Ballina.
More than 200 restaurateurs attended the event at which Adrian Cummins of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, noting 5,000 nominations had been received, stated: “We celebrate the award-winning cuisine and the great restaurateurs and chefs who have brought international recognition and accolades to the Irish restaurant scene. We are the economic engine rooms in every town in Ireland, creating and maintaining much needed local employment. Our industry has annual sales in excess of €2 billion and we employ 64,000 people. In fact, we are the largest employer within the Irish tourism sector.”
All county winners will now compete for the Regional and All Ireland Title which will be announced at the Irish Restaurant Awards in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, on Wednesday May 14 2012.
Further information on www.irishrestaurantawards.com
