Glovers Alley were the big winners at last night's Food and Wine Awards, held in The Intercontinental Hotel in Ballsbridge, with Andy McFadden and his team taking home the award for 'Chef of the Year 2018', as well as 'Best Chef Dublin'. Dessert Queen Aoife Noonan also took home 'Pastry Chef of the Year', which her second in command Tara Gartland collected on her behalf, as she's over in London to cook at a dinner in Selfridges tonight featuring Ireland's best culinary talent. Good week all round.
Giving such a big award to a chef and restaurant that's only been open for six months is an unusual move, especially with long-established chefs like JP McMahon from Aniar and Mikael Viljanen from The Greenhouse in the same category, but Norah Casey cited McFadden's "A-team" and the restaurant's "craic". All eyes will now be on McFadden and Glovers Alley when the new additions to the Michelin Guide 2019 are announced on the 1st of October in London.
Chapter One was named 'Best Restaurant in Dublin', with head chef Eric Matthews collecting the award, and overall 'Restaurant of the Year 2018' went to Ox in Belfast, who looked totally shocked at the win, claiming they only came up for a day out, and celebrated with tequila shots. Strangely Ox didn't win 'Best Restaurant Ulster', and only came fourth. That went to Wine & Brine in Armagh.
Other Dublin winners included Michael's in Mount Merrion (below) who took home 'Local of the Year' and 'Host of the Year' for manager Talha Pasha, and The Legal Eagle who took home 'Pub Food of the Year'. L'Ecrivain won 'Restaurant Bar of the Year', and Meet Me In The Morning were named 'Best for Brunch'.
The Wine Lovers award went to Whelehan's Wines in South Dublin, and the Food and Wine 'Rising Star' award was given to Ananda in Dundrum's head chef, Karan Mittal.
For the full list of regional and national winners click here.
