Cork is now home to no less than four Michelin star restaurants.

Kinsale’s Bastion restaurant joined the hallowed leagues of ichigo ichie, Mews in the Baltimore and Chestnut in Ballydehob on Monday, taking another coveted star back to Ireland’s Gourmet Capital this year.

With our international gourmet clout growing, there’s a new interest in all things Michelin on Leeside and now you can see exactly what makes a Michelin star menu, thanks to the online food store Sous Chef, which has studied the best menus and figured out the most popular ingredients and cooking techniques Michelin chefs are using.

Unsurprisingly, chocolate appears on 80% of all the Michelin menus analysed.

Potato and caviar each appear on 72% of the menus analysed – putting the humble spud on equal footing with one of the most expensive ingredients in the world. Michelin chefs also favour beetroot and mushrooms over more luxurious crab and oysters.

When it comes to the crème de la crème of restaurants, the three-star establishments, the menus become even more refined.

Here, in place of chocolate and potato, we see lobster, caviar and foie gras but interestingly hazelnut, sweetcorn, mushroom and celeriac also take equal billing at the top.

Smoking and pickling are in 

Meanwhile, smoking tops the chart of Michelin techniques – it’s used as a description on 68% of the menus analysed, while pickling is not far behind with just over half of the restaurants offering something pickled on their menu (52%). The three star restaurants also display a notable classic French approach with prominent techniques including confit, puree and coulis.

The top-ranked ingredients are intriguingly meat-free with seafood dominating the top spots. Further down the list, pork is the most mentioned meat – appearing on 52% of menus (ahead of duck, chicken, beef and lamb).