Top Restaurants in Connaught Announced at Santa Rita Irish Restaurants Awards
29 March 2011
The Irish Restaurant Awards 2011 sponsored by Santa Rita / Sunday Independent Life Magazine took place in The House Hotel, Galway on Monday 28th March 2011.
Speaking at the Connaught Awards in The House Hotel, Galway last night, Paul Cadden President of the Restaurants Association of Ireland said
‘Since their inception, the Irish Restaurant Awards have cast a spotlight on Ireland’s hottest restaurants and chefs. They have become a byword for quality, class and achievement… The awards everyone wants to win. As a testament to their success, the entries have doubled since last year, with 6,000 nominations made for Ireland’s favourite Restaurants, Chefs, Gastro Pubs, Hotel Restaurants and Local Food Heroes throughout the Country.
We celebrate the award winning cuisines and the great restaurateurs and chefs who have brought international recognition and accolades to the Irish restaurant scene. We are the economic engine rooms in every town in Ireland, creating and maintaining much needed local employment. Our industry has annual sales in excess of €2 billion and we employ 64,000 people. In fact, we are the largest employer within the Irish Tourism Sector. And tonight, everyone is a winner’.
Declaring the night a resounding success for the Industry in the Connaught Region, Adrian Cummins Chief Executive said
‘It was great to see such an overwhelming response to the awards in the Connaught region this year. It was fantastic to see local food producers such as Martys Mussels, and foods of Athenry here tonight to showcase their wonderful product to Local Restaurants, we look forward to seeing all of the Connaught County Winners in Dublin on the 25th May where Regional and All Ireland winners will be announced’.
Nominations for the awards were made by readers of the Sunday Independent Life Magazine and members of the Restaurants Association of Ireland. All nominees are then assessed by Regional Judging panels, made up of Industry experts across the region. Votes from the Consumer, Members of the Restaurants Association of Ireland and the Regional Judges are independently assessed by KPMG who give us our County Winner in each category.
All County winners will now compete for the Regional and All Ireland Title which will be announced at the Irish Restaurant Awards in the Burlington Hotel Dublin on Wednesday 25th May 2011. www.irishrestaurantawards.com . There are 3 components to this stage of the process. Each element is independently assessed by KPMG.
1. Mystery Guest Visit (35%) This component of the awards is conducted by Prism Consulting headed by Hugo Arnold, independent food writer and consultant. (http://www.hugoarnold.com). All County Winners receive a mystery guest visit throughout the month of April.
2. National Awards Academy (55%) Our National Awards Academy is made up representatives from each of the regional judging panels and will meet in May to Judge the County Winners.
3. Menu Judging(10%) All County winners and the Dublin Shortlist in each category are asked to submit a copy of their food menu and wine list for judging.
Connaught Regional Irish Restaurant of the Year Award 2011 winner’s are:
| GALWAY WINNERS | BEST CHEF SPONSORED BY TIPPERARY WATER |
| Jess Murphy-Bar 8 | |
| BEST CASUAL DINING SPONSORED BY THOMAS BARTON | |
| Bar 8 | |
| BEST RESTAURANT SPONSORED BY SANTA RITA | |
| Asian Tea House | |
| BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE | |
| Lough Inagh Lodge | |
| BEST GASTRO PUB SPONSORED BY FAUSTINO | |
| O’Dowds | |
| BEST HOTEL RESTAURANT SPONSORED BY PALLAS FOODS | |
| Rosleague Manor | |
| LEITRIM | BEST CHEF SPONSORED BYLOUIS TIPPERARY WATER |
| WINNERS | Piero Meilis- The Courthouse |
| BEST CASUAL DINING SPONSORED BY THOMAS BARTON | |
| Courtyard Kitchen | |
| BEST RESTAURANT SPONSORED BY SANTA RITA | |
| The Cottage | |
| BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE | |
| The Cottage | |
| BEST GASTRO PUB SPONSORED BY FAUSTINO | |
| Oarsman Bar | |
| BEST HOTEL RESTAURANT SPONSORED BY PALLAS FOODS | |
| Lough Rynn Castle | |
| MAYO | BEST CHEF SPONSORED BY TIPPERARY WATER |
| WINNERS | Phillipe Farineau- Mount Falcon |
| BEST CASUAL DINING SPONSORED BY THOMAS BARTON | |
| Sol Rio | |
| BEST RESTAURANT SPONSORED BY SANTA RITA | |
| Market Kitchen | |
| BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE | |
| Café Rua | |
| BEST GASTRO PUB SPONSORED BY FAUSTINO | |
| Bar One | |
| BEST HOTEL RESTAURANT SPONSORED BY PALLAS FOODS | |
| The Kitchen Restaurant @ Mount Falcon | |
| ROSCOMMON | BEST CHEF SPONSORED BY TIPPERARY WATER |
| WINNERS | Vincent Meldrum- The Purple Onion |
| BEST CASUAL DINING SPONSORED BY THOMAS BARTON | |
| Meet You Here Café | |
| BEST RESTAURANT SPONSORED BY SANTA RITA | |
| The Yew Tree | |
| BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE | |
| The Purple Onion | |
| BEST GASTRO PUB SPONSORED BY FAUSTINO | |
| The Purple Onion | |
| BEST HOTEL RESTAURANT SPONSORED BY PALLAS FOODS | |
| Abbey Hotel | |
| SLIGO | BEST CHEF SPONSORED BY TIPPERARY WATER |
| WINNERS | Moria Tighe- Cromleach Lodge |
| BEST CASUAL DINING SPONSORED BY THOMAS BARTON | |
| Bistro Bianconi | |
| BEST RESTAURANT SPONSORED BY SANTA RITA | |
| Coach Lane@ Donaghys | |
| BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE | |
| Davis Restaurant @Yeats Tavern | |
| BEST GASTRO PUB SPONSORED BY FAUSTINO | |
| Hargadons | |
| BEST HOTEL RESTAURANT SPONSORED BY PALLAS FOODS | |
| Cromleach Lodge | |
| BEST WINE EXPERIENCE SPONSORED BY LOUIS LATOUR | |
| Ashford Castle, Co.Mayo | |
Ends
Fur Further Information please contact Adrian Cummins CEO, Restaurants Association of Ireland Phone: 01- 6779901/ 086-8263311 or email adrian@rai.ie
