Lucinda O'Sullivan's restaurant review: Will this chic and sublime dining experience be the first in Ireland to get 3 Michelin stars?

Being just about the classiest, coolest place in Dublin, this restaurant has become something of a legend over the years
When will Ireland gets its first 3-star Michelin restaurant? This has been the question on the lips of many for the past couple of years, with the attention firmly focused on Dublin's 2-star Michelin Chapter One. No one knows for sure what Michelin will do (they're so erratic at times), but what I can tell you is that last Monday night at the annual RAI Restaurant Awards, Chapter One took the gong for Best Restaurant in Dublin.
Winning awards is nothing new for Chapter One, with the quintessential high-end Dublin restaurant being just about the chicest, classiest, coolest place in the city. Opened by Ross Lewis and Martin Corbett in 1992, Corbett retired some years ago and then, in June 2021, after 29 years fastidiously pot walloping to the delight of his high-end clientele, Lewis stepped down from the kitchen, cleverly reinventing Chapter One by joining forces with the already Michelin-starred Finnish chef Mickael Viljanen. A strong team sees general manager Juba Paridi keeping the front of house wheels oiled; restaurant manager James O'Brien adding his own style and inimitable humour, and head pastry chef Darren Hogarty playing a blinder in his field.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Irish Independent

3 days ago

• Irish Independent

Where Michelin-star chefs go to eat toasties and sandwiches in Ireland: ‘Their sourdough toastie is brilliant. There's a queue out the door every morning'

In a weekly series, chefs across the island of Ireland who currently hold one or more Michelin stars share their greatest culinary secret: where do they eat when off-duty? Today at 21:30 For some, it's thick-cut sourdough, slowly fermented for flavour and charred until just on the edge of burnt, stuffed with aged cheese that drips in golden strands, with roast meats, wild mushrooms, kimchi, confit garlic or caramelised onions. For others, it's a freshly made baguette, slathered in cultured butter, filled with ham and home-made pickles, or an Italian panini filled with roast porchetta, crackling and salsa verde. And is a traditional Irish pub really Irish if it doesn't serve a ham and cheese toastie with a side order of crisps?

RTÉ News​

4 days ago

• RTÉ News​

TV chef Heston Blumenthal says moment he was sectioned was 'like a nightmare'

TV chef Heston Blumenthal has spoken of the moment he was sectioned as being like a living "nightmare" but said he has had a lot of "wonderful responses" from people after his diagnosis of bipolar disorder. The restaurateur has spoken widely of his mental health issues in recent months, and told the I'm ADHD! No You're Not podcast that "talking is the most important thing". "Sharing stories helps us realise we are not alone," he said. "The more we share, the more we normalise. "It's OK to not be OK. "I had an awful lot of wonderful responses to the things that I've been saying and talking about. "From either people that have bipolar, or neurodiverse people. "Also from people who've lived with people with bipolar." Blumenthal, who presented Channel 4 shows Heston's Fantastical Food and Heston's Feasts, was sectioned following a manic episode and given a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in November 2023. Appearing on the podcast, which is presented by comedian Paul Whitehouse and his wife Dr Mine Conkbayir, Blumenthal described how he was forcibly pinned down on his sofa and given an injection to sedate him so he could be sectioned. "There were nine people there, and they said, 'We're going to give you an injection and take you to hospital'. "I got pinned on the sofa, my arms crossed, two people on each arm. "I was fighting, and I saw the doctor pull out this massive syringe and I thought it was like a nightmare I used to have as a kid." Blumenthal, known for his experimental dishes including snail porridge and bacon and egg ice cream, has been awarded seven Michelin stars over the course of his career. Source: PA

Irish Independent

06-06-2025

• Irish Independent

Where Michelin-star chefs go to eat pastries in Ireland: ‘For a small town to have that kind of quality is remarkable'

In a weekly series, chefs across the island of Ireland who currently hold one or more Michelin stars share their greatest culinary secret: where do they eat when off-duty? Who makes the best croissants in Ireland? What about Danish pastries, cruffins or the other mainstays of cafe culture? It's a subjective question, but certainly when it comes to knowing good places to go for a coffee and something sweet, Ireland's Michelin star chefs are not short of opinions. From glossy fruit-topped tarts to feather-light mille-feuille; from the humble scone to the very best viennoiseries with perfectly laminated layers of deliciousness... there's no shortage of high-level pastry talent in Ireland right now. The country's best cafes and bakeries regularly turn out handmade, fresh-every-day pastries that wouldn't be out of place in the window of a patisserie in Paris, made with the kind of attention to detail that high-end chefs notice.