Gregans Castle chef wins mega award

NORTH Clare country house Gregans Castle has received yet another national acknowledgement, this time from premier foodies John and Sally McKenna, authors of the Bridgestone Guides. Every year the couple compile a list of the country’s top performers in the food industry and Gregans’ Mickael Viljanen was named top chef in the 2010 Megabyte Awards announced this week.
Mickael’s cooking over the past few years is getting him and Gregans noticed by the country’s top chefs and critics and winning chef of the year in the Megabytes is the latest in a long list of honours for the young man.
According to John McKenna, many established figures in Ireland’s food industry have been blown away by Mickael’s cooking.
“So many of our friends, who would all have very pallets, have been wowed by his food. ‘The best cooking I have eaten in Ireland,’ we have heard this so often during the last year, said to us by someone who has just tried Mickael Viljanen’s cooking in Gregans Castle. The great Derry Clarke, who cooked alongside Viljanen for a couple of nights in Kenmare’s Park Hotel, simply said to us: ‘I’m going to do a stage with this guy!’ Viljanen has the technique and, like the new wave of Nordic cooks, he has the humility and the respect for his ingredients that creates food of breath-taking beauty and simplicity. He connects with his food, and lets us connect with it also. Quietly profound,” said John.
The core ethos of Gregans and its chef, John believes, is one which represents the future of the restaurant industry in Ireland.
“The more country houses and restaurants support their local food producers, the better it is in terms of fresh seasonal produce and the better it is for the local economy. We have seen a year where 200 hospitality companies have gone out of business yet many really good restaurants are still doing well because Irish customers have become more discerning. They are no longer throwing their money around as they used to, they are going to good establishments and they are going back to them,” John concluded.