Get a sneak peek at our 101 Great Irish Restaurants guide
Ahead of its release this Sunday, we’re sharing five locations from across the country that will feature in our 101 Great Irish Restaurants Guide, sponsored by Nespresso Professional.
This is a very special week for all of us Food&Wine, because it marks the return of 101 Great Irish Restaurants, your ultimate guide to where to eat in Ireland this year. Pre-pandemic, this was an annual project undertaken by the Business Post, and we are delighted to mark its return.
There will, I’m sure, be lots of discussion about the restaurants that made the cut and those that didn’t, a fact that reflects the sheer number of quality outlets that this country is now home to.
Whittling down the list was no easy task, and I am indebted to Jordan Mooney, Joris Minne, Kate Ryan, Marcus O’Laoire and Cathal McBride for their insights, knowledge and professionalism. Thank you too to Nespresso Professional, our partners in producing 101 Great Irish Restaurants 2024.
I hope you enjoy reading this guide, and that you will keep it on hand during the year when you’re looking for somewhere wonderful to eat.
The guide itself is divided regionally, so you’ll be able to locate restaurants across Leinster, Munster, Ulster, Connaught, and Dublin. Here, we’ve selected five restaurants - one from each region - to share as a sneak peek with you ahead of the magazine’s release this Sunday. Make sure to get your copy of the Food&Wine Magazine 101 Great Irish Restaurants, sponsored by Nespresso Professional, with the Business Post this Sunday or subscribe here to read the digital version.
Neighbourhood, Naas, Kildare, neighbourhoodnaas.com
Stunningly laid out with a brand new bar now open upstairs, Neighbourhood in Naas is something special. Chef Gareth Naughton has created a menu that’s moreish and well-curated, with dinner, Sunday roast and lunch options available. If you poke around the space, you’ll find the restaurant’s dry ageing fridge at the back, alongside a wall of great wines.
The team here all have an incredible pedigree which really comes through in their warm and welcoming service. Don’t skip the cocktails here, which have been developed with incredible care.
Big Mike’s, Blackrock, michaels.ie/big-mikes
Ireland, as a country, is abundantly rich in coastline and cows, and there aren’t many places that know exactly what to do with both quite like Big Mike’s. The jewel in chef Gaz Smith’s family of restaurants is big, ballsy and bold, and very very fun.
Although the meal will start delicately, with expert service from an army of industry veterans, with homemade breads and gorgeous butterscotch butter (trust us), expect to blink and be drinking shots of Jäger to wash down the most incredible surf and turf platters you’ve ever seen, with catch fresh out of the water that morning, and beef that would make any butcher blush.
Big Mikes is the final boss of what a neighbourhood restaurant can become. Don’t skip on the starters - anything arancini-based or slow cooked is a guaranteed winner.
Roam, Belfast, roambelfast.com
Every dark alley should have a Roam. Self-taught chef Ryan Jenkins, a talented footballer, is surprisingly fancy-fingered, creating hyper delicate and fragile amuse bouches and snacks which immediately raises the first time visitor’s eyebrows.
If the snacks are this good, what’s to come? An unfeasibly deep pottery bowl three-quarters filled with a bouillon in which lurk a couple of chicken thighs and crunchy, bright green leaves. It is a life-giving broth of great intensity and delicacy, something which would probably reverse the ageing process if you supped a bowl of it every day.
There is ling with fat mussels, samphire, cauliflower puree and beurre blanc. Elsewhere there is a flat iron, a lamb rump and sexy things like grilled greens with miso onion and beef sauce, chanterelles and turnip. And you must order the crushed roast potatoes.
Goldie Fish & Ale, Cork city, goldie.ie
Dedicated to championing fish cuisine with a daily changing menu depending on what is landed off the boats in Ballycotton, head chef Aishling Moore and her team work collaboratively to present their artfully-plated dishes as exciting, fun and delicious while meeting the challenge of sustainable seafood head on.
Goldie’s dual ethos of whole catch and fin to gill is the bedrock of how every ingredient is individually handled, ensuring the best extraction of flavour and texture. Fish nuggets made from fish trim like cod tongue and cheek, under Goldie’s care, become one of the most fun and tasty things you can eat.
The Owenmore at Ballynahinch Castle, Connemara, Galway, ballynahinch-castle.com
Danni Barry, who was previously at Belfast’s Eipic, where she gained a coveted Michelin star and in doing so became the only female chef in Ireland to hold the award at the time, has found a new home in the wilds of Connemara.
Ballynahinch’s grounds have been intensively upgraded in recent times with a kitchen garden that has become her culinary playground, and these elements are evident on the plate.
Walled garden beetroot plays a role in the starters as do fresh herbs, enhancing dishes like the scallops with smoked bacon and cabbage. Supremely classic dishes such as dry-aged Hereford beef fillet, slow-cooked short rib and smoked bone marrow play their part in the fine dining restaurant, The Owenmore, but also consider the on-site Fisherman’s pub for superbly executed dishes like the decadent seafood pie or Killary Fjord mussels.
