Viljanen wins chef of the year award

Finnish chef Mickael Viljanen won the Chef of the Year award at the annual Food & Wine Magazine awards ceremony held in Dublin yesterday.

Mr Viljanen, head chef at The Greenhouse restaurant on Dublin’s Dawson Street won the accolade for his “innovative and exciting use of flavours and his creative approach to presentation,” according to the citation by Miriam Atkins, editor of the magazine.

The other big winner at the ceremony was Chapter One Restaurant in Dublin, which took the award for Restaurant of the Year. “Chapter One takes the title of Restaurant of the Year once again and deservedly so. Representing fine dining at its best, Chapter One boasts an exemplary front of house service and delivers the highest quality food in a restaurant that exudes style and class, while also making patrons feel at home,” Ms Atkins said.

Regional awards went to Catalina Restaurant in Enniskillen (Ulster), The Tannery in Dungarvan (Munster), Campagne in Kilkenny (Leinster), Kai in Galway (Connacht) and Restaurant Forty One - Residence (Dublin).

In all, 21 awards were presented at the ceremony, which was attended by over 400 people representing the restaurant industry. L’Ecrivain in Dublin won Best Service while Best Casual Dining went to another restaurant in the capital, 777. A new Avant-garde category went to Fade Street Social and Ananda Indian Restaurant was chosen as Best Ethnic and World Cuisine Restaurant.