Voting has begun to select the best restaurants and chefs in Ireland. The Irish Restaurant Awards allow members of the public to nominate restaurants and hospitality providers for inclusion across 23 categories. Now in its 16th year, the awards, which are run by the Restaurants Association of Ireland in association with The Irish Times, had 160,000 nominations last year for the best food-led hospitality businesses and the people behind them.
People can nominate their favourites via an online public vote hosted by The Irish Times which can be accessed here. The nomination window runs for two weeks until noon on Wednesday, January 29th.
Those who vote will be entered into a draw to win a break at one of two of Ireland’s Blue Book properties. An overnight stay with bed and breakfast and dinner for two in The Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge, in Co Limerick or Ghan House, Carlingford, Co Louth.
The public can nominate candidates in 23 categories, including 18 main award categories and five national award categories. This year also sees the introduction of a new category recognising the growing role of social media across the Irish restaurant sector, with the Best Use of Social Media award.
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The public nomination process will be followed by a judging process by national experts, culminating in regional events in the four provinces in March and April at which county winners will be announced, followed then by a Dublin shortlist. Last year Cork restaurants emerged as the big winners, with Dede at the Custom House Baltimore named Best Restaurant in Ireland while Aishling Moore of Goldie won Best Chef in Ireland.
On May 19th, the overall regional and national winners – including in categories such as Best Restaurant and Best Chef – will be announced at the All Ireland Awards Finale which will take place at Dublin 4′s Clayton Hotel. Ticket and event information will be available on irishrestaurantawards.com shortly.
