Top honours for Gregans Castle

Encouraging people to stay overnight in the Burren is the challenge facing the tourist industry in the area, according to the owner of the North Clare establishment, which took the top honours in the Food & Wine Magazine Penfolds Restaurant of the Year Awards.
Gregans Castle in Ballyvaughan was named Ireland’s best restaurant while its chef, Mickael Viljanen, was selected as the country’s best chef.
At a gala luncheon in Dublin’s Convention Centre at the weekend, the winners of the Restaurant of the Year Awards were announced. 
Sweeping the boards with an array of awards, including the coveted overall award, was Gregans Castle. Voted number one restaurant and chef in Munster, Gregans Castle went on to claim the top awards for Mickael’s ground-breaking cuisine.
Set amongst the beautiful landscape of the Burren, Gregans Castle is owned by Simon Haden and Frederieke McMurray.
By scooping the Restaurant of the Year Award, Gregans Castle joins the esteemed rankings of previous winners Chapter One, Dublin in 2010 and 2009, and the 2008 winner, MacNean’s House and Bistro, Cavan.
“Not enough people stay over in the Burren, they pass through too quickly,” Mr Haden told The Clare Champion.
“We have to get people to stay here and that is one of the biggest challenges we in the tourist industry here face, especially with the decline in the number of people coming from the USA into Shannon. Our business from America has halved in the past few years but we have replaced that with people from the home market and our food and restaurant have played a huge part in that. It was a plan of ours at the end of 2007 to make this a food destination and thankfully that plan has worked,” he continued.
“There is great potential for Clare and the West of Ireland to become a food destination because we have great local produce and potential to have even more great produce. There is lots of talent here too and I know Tourism Ireland has looked at food tourism as a concept and I think if that was developed further we could increase the business we do have,” Mr Haden added.
Mickael has worked at Gregans Castle for four seasons and winning the chef of the year award is something Mr Haden believes he thoroughly deserves.
“There are two reasons we won the Restaurant of the Year, Mickael’s food and the work we have done to bring the hotel up to another level. It is a twin approach really but Mickael is the most exciting chef in Ireland at the moment and that is why he has won this award. The critics coming down have recognised that the hotel, restaurant, food and location is special,” he outlined.
At the awards ceremony, Ross Golden-Bannon, editor of Food & Wine Magazine explained what he felt set the finalists and award winners apart in the hospitality industry.
“It has been a tough year for the catering sector but standards have not slipped and the excellence of the finalists and winners are a testament to the determination of restaurateurs and chefs across the country to innovate and succeed. They can hold their heads high in 2011 and other sectors could learn from their fast responses to a rapidly changing market place.”
Always high in the voting scores, Chapter One took home two trophies this year for Best Dublin Restaurant and Best Service.
For the second year running, the Readers’ Choice Award went to Campo de’Fiori, Bray, Wicklow, who offer timeless and traditional Italian dishes.
Returning for its second year as title sponsor was Penfolds, Australian wine makers, distributed in Ireland by Edward Dillon.
“As a native of Ballyvaughan, I am especially delighted to see Gregans Castle recognised for their stellar work and would like to congratulate Simon, Frederieke and Mickael for their massive achievement in sweeping the boards at this year’s awards,” commented Caragh Walsh, Penfolds brand development manager.
For the judging, readers of Food & Wine Magazine were asked to nominate their favourite restaurants, chefs and sommeliers.
Then a regional panel of experts including academics, food writers and industry specialists provided their own feedback on the list, created a shortlist from the nominations and voted on national categories.
Finally, an expanded panel of national judges voted on the overall winners of best chef and best restaurant using a secret ballot.
Munster was well represented at the awards, with numerous restaurants shortlisted in the Munster Best Restaurant and Best Chef categories.
Shortlisted in the best restaurant and best chef in Munster was Lisdoonvarna’s Wild Honey Inn and its chef, Aidan McGrath, as well as Limerick’s White Sage.