A young chef from Co. Kildare has scooped a coveted Michelin star for a restaurant at Carton House, just a stone’s throw from his hometown of Maynooth.
Adam Nevin, 30, won the star for Carton House’s Morrison Rooms, impressing the inspectors with his inventive cooking, while Ireland collected two other new stars for Ballyfin Demesne in Co. Laois and Lignum, Co. Galway.
Meanwhile, Zsolt Lukas of Daróg in Galway was named Best Sommelier in the UK and Ireland. Ireland also managed to retain its five two-Michelin-starred restaurants but has yet to achieve the elusive three-star status for any venue.
That pinnacle of gastronomic brilliance was reserved for Moor Hill in Lancashire, England. Following a ceremony in Scotland on Monday, Ireland now has a total of 16 one-star restaurants and did not lose any from last year in the Republic.
Carton House welcomed Adam Nevin as head chef of The Morrison Room in 2023, when he returned home after working in London. Nevin trained at Ballymaloe before working at Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel, moving to England in 2018 as chef de partie at Tom Kerridge’s two-Michelin-starred The Hand And Flowers, and then to The Grill at The Dorchester.
He said on Monday: ‘I’m over the moon and so proud of our whole team whose ambition and hard work has been tireless, and has paid off.’
The Morrison Room’s tasting menu is about €135, or you can opt for the €110 chef’s five-course menu.
In Co. Laois, chef Richard Picard-Edwards and his team were praised for their brilliant food at the ‘breathtaking’ Ballyfin Demesne hotel – which holds Three Michelin Keys, given to outstanding hotels. Picard-Edwards joined Ballyfin in April 2023 and serves a stunning eight-course menu costing €145.
Over in Bullaun, near Loughrea in Co. Galway, Lignum made the leap to star level thanks to Danny Africano using wood-fired flavours to let his produce really shine in his €145 ten-course tasting menu.
The team behind Daróg in Galway, which picked up the sommelier honours, are husband-and-wife team Zsolt Lukács and Edel McMahon.
Lukács was previously sommelier at the Michelin-starred Aniar restaurant in Galway.
Meanwhile, Tipperary chef Luke Ahearne won a Michelin star for his London bistro Lita, which opened last March.
Ireland’s two-Michelin-starred restaurants continue to be Chapter One in Dublin; Dede in Baltimore, Co. Cork; Terre in Castlemartyr, Co. Cork; Liath, in Blackrock, Co. Dublin; and Restaurant Patrick Gilbaud at the Merrion Hotel in Dublin.