Anybody who has ever worked in a top-notch kitchen or sat on their couch eating crisps watching The Bear knows high-end cooking is a stressful business full of shouting and sweating and swearing and a lot of fancy chopping, searing and prepping.
But when the world of fine dining decamped to Dublin for one night only on Monday there was no swearing or sweating at all, although a hint of stress was detectable before the judgments of Michelin’s men and women were handed down.
The Michelin Guide ceremony covering this part of the world was staged in the Convention Centre on Dublin’s North Quays and that had some hoping home turf would serve as an advantage.
But the folk in Michelin don’t give a rashers about geography and in the foyer, the accepted wisdom was there would be no favours handed out to the sons and daughters of Ireland just because of where the event was happening.
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Executive chef at the Anantara The Marker Hotel in Dublin Gareth Mullins sipped a glass of wine and marvelled at the presence of the stars of Michelin in his home city.
“It is everything that it has come to Ireland. It shows how far we have travelled as a food destination. It is a really big deal. We are all rooting for a third star for Ireland but I don’t think home advantage will make any difference.”
[ Two new Michelin stars for Irish restaurantsOpens in new window ]
As he spoke the crowd of more than 500 milled around, but the absence of finger food was striking. The wine and cocktails flowed freely, but anyone expecting a pre-ceremony awash with amuse-bouches and palatecleansing sorbets and canapes served with foam and dry ice and freshly harvested offal from the happiest of mountain goats resting on a bed of twigs was left bitterly disappointed.
Ross Lewis is the co-owner of Chapter One along with chef-patron Mickael Viljanen and he cut a relaxed figure. “I’m just a side dish today,” he said and when asked about the likelihood of the two-starred restaurant getting a fabled third star, he laughed.
“I’ve been hearing rumours about what the Michelin people will do for over 30 years and I don’t think I have ever said afterwards that the rumours were right so who knows.”
As the crowd mingled, some of the chefs were left starry eyed by the presence of others. “There’s the big guy,” said Andy McFadden of one-starred Glovers Alley when he saw Gordon Ramsay standing nearby.
Ramsay was the evening’s special guest. He told the MCs Amanda Stretton and Lisa Hogan that the secret to Michelin success was “leaving the guests with an experience like no other”.
Then the bell tolled and it was showtime. There was some early success for local heroes, with Barbara Nealon of Saint Francis Provisions in Kinsale, Co Cork, winning the Michelin Service Award. Whenasked what her secret was she said, simply “liking your customers”.
But most of the attention was on the stars. The ceremony is somewhat unusual in that it doesn’t detail all the winners, just the names of the new star holders.
That means if a current holder of a Michelin-star or two or three has the misfortune to lose out, it only becomes apparent once the curtain comes down and the Michelin folk update their site.
As it happens, what we had, we held and we added a couple more stars to the Irish firmament.
In perhaps a nod to the host country, the first new star of the evening went to The Pullman at Glenlo Abbey just outside Galway.
It was widely anticipated and came after the restaurant in two carriages rescued from the Orient Express reopened after an extensive renovation just under a year ago.
Its head chef, Greek-born Angelo Vagiotis’s CV includes Noma in Copenhagen and Terre in Castlemartyr, also in Cork, places that are no strangers to stars, and he was super chilled after his win. “It is a testament to the dedication of our team and good Irish produce,” he said. “We will enjoy this tonight and have a good night out.”
Vagiotis was the first on to the stage at the star point of the evening, and John Wyer of Forest Avenue in Dublin 4 was the last. “I knew the awards were coming but every year I try and forget about it and I had forgotten about it,” he told The Irish Times.
“Then we got an invite and that was a beautiful surprise that we were invited but then there was a couple of nervous weeks waiting around. It was a bit of torture.”
“We have been open for 13 years. We have been cooking the best this year I feel we are ready and I am not overwhelmed by the thing and it just feels right and natural. I am emotionally and professionally ready for this.”
The evening ended with cocktails and a menu of canapes befitting of the starriest of nights, with the new winners and the star holders and their teams horsing into trout mousse, duck neck croutons and monkfish coddle among other delicate bites.
