REVEALED: All the Cork restaurants taking home Michelin stars for 2020
We’re taking home a constellation of stars this year.
Four Cork restaurants are included in the record-breaking Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2020, in one of the best years ever for food on Leeside.
Chefs from Ireland’s best restaurants gathered at The Hurlingham Club in Fulham this evening for the grand unveiling of the new guide, where awards were presented by legendary chef Raymond Blanc, who currently holds two Michelin stars for his Oxfordshire restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.
Bastion in Kinsale received the honour for the first time, increasing the number of Michelin-starred restaurants in Cork to an even four.
Owned by Helen Noonan and chef patron Paul McDonald, the Market Street restaurant has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand since 2016. Paul was fooled into travelling to the UK for the stars ceremony when organisers told him he needed to make an appearance to collect the Bib.
Cork’s top restaurants retain their Michelin stars
Rob Krawczyk’s 18-seater restaurant Chestnut, which reopens for the season on October 10th, 2019, retained its star for 2020. The Ballydehob dining room earned its first Michelin star within six months of opening last year.
Chef Takashi Miyazaki also retains his star for 2020, with a brand new seasonal menu currently wowing customers at his Japanese restaurant ichigo ichie on Fenn’s Quay.
Ahmet Dede head chef at Mews Restaurant in Baltimore took the third new Michelin star back to West Cork last year. Mews retains its Michelin star into 2020 also.
Dillon’s in Timoleague retained Bib Gourmand status in the Michelin Guide to Britain and Ireland 2020.
Named after Bibendum – the Michelin Man cartoon – the Bib Gourmand distinction highlights restaurants offering ‘good quality, good value cooking’ at €40 or under for three courses.
Irish chefs lead the way at Michelin 2020
The team behind Aimsir in Celbridge made their first foray into the Michelin Guide with two stars. Chef Jordan Bailey’s 18-course menu is made entirely of Irish produce, apart from one ingredient (sugar) which he’s working on.
Dublin fine dining restaurant Greenhouse also accepted two-star status, gratefully accepted by self-taught chef Mickael Viljanen.
Dublin chef/owner Keelin Higgs and his brother Aaron nabbed their first star for Variety Jones, while Galway restaurant Loam took home the Michelin Sustainability Award 2020.
Chef-owner Enda McEvoy of Loam in Galway was lauded as the first in Ireland to ‘champion natural ingredients and build personal relationships with his suppliers’, taking home the Sustainability Award 2020.
The Sommelier Award 2020 went to Jurica Gojevic of Limerick’s Adare Manor, with Devon chef Mike Tweedie taking away a Michelin star for the hotel’s Oak Room restaurant.
Irish chef Kenneth Culhane collected a Michelin star for turning an arts and crafts house into the destination restaurant Dysart Petersham in the UK.
“This is an amazing year for the Republic of Ireland, with five new Michelin Stars being awarded – two of them at Two Star level.” says Rebecca Burr, Director of the Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland.
“This brings the total number of Starred restaurants in Ireland up to 18 and is just reward for the determination of young chefs who are keen to make their mark on the Irish dining scene.”
A short history of Michelin in Cork
Arbutus Lodge nabbed a Michelin star in 1974, followed by Ballymaloe House and Ballylickey House the following year, but Cork experienced something of a dry patch for 44 years until we scored a hat trick in the 2019 guide.
With another feather in our foodie cap, 2020 is looking promising for gourmet tourism in the real capital.
