It’s easy to get caught up in the challenges currently facing Irish food and hospitality businesses. Looking back on 2025, much of Irish Country Living’s food output addressed the ever-increasing costs of operation, the shortage of skilled staff and the difficulty in ensuring adequate footfall, particularly in rural areas.
These challenges remain – they possibly haven’t even reached their peak – but as we jump into 2026 and reflect on the last decade of Irish gastronomy, we can’t help but feel proud at how far we have come as an industry.
Just over a decade ago, we were asking: “What is Irish food?” We now know the answer cannot be one specific thing. That would be too easy for a culture as diverse and complex as Ireland’s. We are both homebodies and explorers.
We leave, only to return with new ideas and flavours. We are hospitable and generous because, somewhere deep in our DNA, we remember times of famine and hardship. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we are seriously talented.
Some of us were not born in Ireland but have made it our home and brought new culinary perspectives. Others were born here, and design modern menus around the nostalgic flavours of their youth. This eclectic, fun, flavourful mélange is modern Irish hospitality.
Rural Ireland has been home to iconic food destinations for decades, and in recent years the accolades have started to catch up with the quality of our output. Dede in Baltimore, Co Cork, Homestead Cottage in Co Clare, Lignum in Co Galway – these are just a smattering of the restaurants on the scene with uniquely stunning interpretations of Irish food.
Michelin judges have been following these restaurants closely, and our increasing number of rural stars is a testament to the hard graft these chefs have put into developing their style of hospitality.
But no chef can do this work alone. And while we bemoan the lack of skilled chefs currently in the industry, we neglect to highlight the young hospitality professionals who have chosen this as their life’s work.
David Harte, The Sea Rooms Restaurant at Kelly’s Resort, Hotel and Spa, Co Wexford
“I always wanted to be a chef,” says David Harte, who is a junior sous chef under the mentorship of chef Chris Fullam at Kelly’s Resort, Hotel and Spa in Rosslare. “I was always really interested in food. I started at the Riverbank House Hotel as a runner [in secondary school] and went into the kitchen a year later; that kind of spurred me on to keep going.
“After studying culinary arts [at SETU in Waterford], I travelled to Copenhagen and Iceland where I gained lots of experience.”
Working in restaurant kitchens like Noma in Copenhagen and in the west of Iceland gave David a solid base in Nordic-style cooking. He also spent time in Canada, where he continued his studies in the culinary arts for a semester.
In 2024, he brought this wealth of experience back home to Wexford and this past October, David was awarded the Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year accolade. His winning dish was an ode to his Wexford roots – Winetavern farm pork, potato cake, black pudding, cauliflower, blackberry and black garlic, and included a spin on his granny’s colcannon recipe.
“I’m Wexford born and bred,” he says. “Everything I do comes back to that. My granny, Rita, was a huge influence on me. Growing up, her house was always the house to be at. There’s no one dish that stands out for me from my childhood, it was more that feeling of togetherness around the table. That comfort and feeling totally at home – that, to me, is what hospitality is all about.”
Judges of the 2025 Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year included Michelin-starred chefs Mark Donald (The Glenturret Lalique Restaurant, Scotland), Christina Blevins (Row on 5, London), and John Kelly (Lady Helen Restaurant, Mount Juliet), alongside Euro-Toques Ireland’s Gareth Mullins (Anantara The Marker, Dublin), Conor Halpenny (Square), and Domini Kemp (Lottie’s). The judges’ comments on David’s dish commended his skill, craftsmanship and his understanding of his chosen ingredients.
“Cooking with confidence under pressure, he extracted maximum flavour while allowing each element to shine: the pork was beautifully tender, the sauce rich and glossy, and the potatoes added a personal and thoughtful touch,” they said.
“Chris Fullam mentored me through the entire Euro-Toques process,” David says. “It was a lot of extra work. I’d be practising on my evenings off, or I’d do extra hours after work. Almost every spare minute, you’re thinking, ‘I could do this,’ or ‘I could do that.’ To be part of the competition has led to a lot of personal growth.”
David is happy to be able to work in rural Ireland, close to friends and family, and says rural Irish restaurants are getting better all the time.
David started at Kelly’s soon after he returned from his travels and enjoys being able to work in high-end cuisine, so close to friends and family. Kelly’s is a multi-generation family-run hotel dating back to the early 20th century. Throughout their many years in business, they have been consistently well known for their well-curated wine lists and menus. David says they fully supported him through his Euro-Toques Young Chef journey.
“I’ve been so lucky to have these opportunities,” he says. “The Kellys are an amazing family; they take such good care of their staff and guests. Being close to home was one of my big reasons for coming back. I feel like Wexford itself has developed since I first left to go travelling. It’s amazing to see the rural Ireland aspect come through [in awards and accolades like this one].”
Conor Halpenny,
Square Restaurant, Co Louth
If you think winning the Young Chef of the Year award might be “peaking” too soon, fear not. Past winners include Mark Moriarty, who has since reached full-on celebrity chef status, and Grainne Mullins, who went on to launch her luxury brand, Grá Chocolates, and was featured in the prestigious Forbes 30 under 30 list. Taking part in this competition is more of a launch pad for furthering a young chef’s career.
Conor Halpenny can attest to this, having won the award in 2017. Conor now serves as commissioner general for Euro-Toques Ireland and is co-owner and head chef at Square Restaurant, located in his native Dundalk.
“I won the competition in 2017, eight years ago,” he says. “I was in Chapter One [at the time] under Ross Lewis, and it was my third year entering. By 2017, I was fully committed to the cause. Today, as a judge, we’re looking for a young chef’s personality to come out. We say in the brief, ‘give them a stage to show off their heritage and their culinary skills.’ The year I won, with Ross being a mentor, he said: ‘Cook for yourself. Put the love into it.’ Richard Corrigan was judging, and I cooked a big, hearty dish with my own personality.”
In addition to operating Square, Conor is currently working with Fáilte Ireland on a new culinary tourism initiative and is kept busy with his work with Euro-Toques Ireland. He wants the narrative around careers in hospitality to change and challenges the perception that gastronomy and hospitality aren’t serious career options.
“Even my own mother didn’t want me to be a chef,” he recalls, laughing. “It was that perspective that being in hospitality wasn’t a real career. But now, celebrity chefs are making it trendy; it’s no longer a closed-off thing, even here in Square we have an open kitchen. The 80-hour work weeks of the past just aren’t on anymore, it’s not acceptable. We do four days a week in Square and then everyone gets three days off. Work life balance has become important.”
A self-described “homebody”, Conor takes extreme pride in having been able to successfully operate a restaurant in his home county, thanks to the support of his community and co-owner, Conor Mee, who also operates The Courthouse in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan. Conor says there are great opportunities in rural Ireland for young chefs and hospitality professionals.
“I’ve done stages [culinary internships] in London, and it was just never for me,” he says. “As much as the experience was incredible, I didn’t want to do that. When I was starting out, you would have to go to Dublin or London to work in a Michelin starred restaurant. Now, there are amazing restaurants in every county and Dublin is hosting the Michelin Awards in February.
“This shows that Irish chefs are serious players – they’re leaving and coming back home to open restaurants. In doing so they are preserving our culinary heritage, which is also a huge part of what we are doing in Euro-Toques Ireland. It’s a lot of work and it’s all voluntary; it’s for the good of Irish hospitality.”
See kellys.ie and squarerestaurant.ie.
It’s easy to get caught up in the challenges currently facing Irish food and hospitality businesses. Looking back on 2025, much of Irish Country Living’s food output addressed the ever-increasing costs of operation, the shortage of skilled staff and the difficulty in ensuring adequate footfall, particularly in rural areas.
These challenges remain – they possibly haven’t even reached their peak – but as we jump into 2026 and reflect on the last decade of Irish gastronomy, we can’t help but feel proud at how far we have come as an industry.
Just over a decade ago, we were asking: “What is Irish food?” We now know the answer cannot be one specific thing. That would be too easy for a culture as diverse and complex as Ireland’s. We are both homebodies and explorers.
We leave, only to return with new ideas and flavours. We are hospitable and generous because, somewhere deep in our DNA, we remember times of famine and hardship. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we are seriously talented.
Some of us were not born in Ireland but have made it our home and brought new culinary perspectives. Others were born here, and design modern menus around the nostalgic flavours of their youth. This eclectic, fun, flavourful mélange is modern Irish hospitality.
Rural Ireland has been home to iconic food destinations for decades, and in recent years the accolades have started to catch up with the quality of our output. Dede in Baltimore, Co Cork, Homestead Cottage in Co Clare, Lignum in Co Galway – these are just a smattering of the restaurants on the scene with uniquely stunning interpretations of Irish food.
Michelin judges have been following these restaurants closely, and our increasing number of rural stars is a testament to the hard graft these chefs have put into developing their style of hospitality.
But no chef can do this work alone. And while we bemoan the lack of skilled chefs currently in the industry, we neglect to highlight the young hospitality professionals who have chosen this as their life’s work.
David Harte, The Sea Rooms Restaurant at Kelly’s Resort, Hotel and Spa, Co Wexford
“I always wanted to be a chef,” says David Harte, who is a junior sous chef under the mentorship of chef Chris Fullam at Kelly’s Resort, Hotel and Spa in Rosslare. “I was always really interested in food. I started at the Riverbank House Hotel as a runner [in secondary school] and went into the kitchen a year later; that kind of spurred me on to keep going.
“After studying culinary arts [at SETU in Waterford], I travelled to Copenhagen and Iceland where I gained lots of experience.”
Working in restaurant kitchens like Noma in Copenhagen and in the west of Iceland gave David a solid base in Nordic-style cooking. He also spent time in Canada, where he continued his studies in the culinary arts for a semester.
In 2024, he brought this wealth of experience back home to Wexford and this past October, David was awarded the Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year accolade. His winning dish was an ode to his Wexford roots – Winetavern farm pork, potato cake, black pudding, cauliflower, blackberry and black garlic, and included a spin on his granny’s colcannon recipe.
“I’m Wexford born and bred,” he says. “Everything I do comes back to that. My granny, Rita, was a huge influence on me. Growing up, her house was always the house to be at. There’s no one dish that stands out for me from my childhood, it was more that feeling of togetherness around the table. That comfort and feeling totally at home – that, to me, is what hospitality is all about.”
Judges of the 2025 Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year included Michelin-starred chefs Mark Donald (The Glenturret Lalique Restaurant, Scotland), Christina Blevins (Row on 5, London), and John Kelly (Lady Helen Restaurant, Mount Juliet), alongside Euro-Toques Ireland’s Gareth Mullins (Anantara The Marker, Dublin), Conor Halpenny (Square), and Domini Kemp (Lottie’s). The judges’ comments on David’s dish commended his skill, craftsmanship and his understanding of his chosen ingredients.
“Cooking with confidence under pressure, he extracted maximum flavour while allowing each element to shine: the pork was beautifully tender, the sauce rich and glossy, and the potatoes added a personal and thoughtful touch,” they said.
“Chris Fullam mentored me through the entire Euro-Toques process,” David says. “It was a lot of extra work. I’d be practising on my evenings off, or I’d do extra hours after work. Almost every spare minute, you’re thinking, ‘I could do this,’ or ‘I could do that.’ To be part of the competition has led to a lot of personal growth.”
David is happy to be able to work in rural Ireland, close to friends and family, and says rural Irish restaurants are getting better all the time.
David started at Kelly’s soon after he returned from his travels and enjoys being able to work in high-end cuisine, so close to friends and family. Kelly’s is a multi-generation family-run hotel dating back to the early 20th century. Throughout their many years in business, they have been consistently well known for their well-curated wine lists and menus. David says they fully supported him through his Euro-Toques Young Chef journey.
“I’ve been so lucky to have these opportunities,” he says. “The Kellys are an amazing family; they take such good care of their staff and guests. Being close to home was one of my big reasons for coming back. I feel like Wexford itself has developed since I first left to go travelling. It’s amazing to see the rural Ireland aspect come through [in awards and accolades like this one].”
Conor Halpenny,
Square Restaurant, Co Louth
If you think winning the Young Chef of the Year award might be “peaking” too soon, fear not. Past winners include Mark Moriarty, who has since reached full-on celebrity chef status, and Grainne Mullins, who went on to launch her luxury brand, Grá Chocolates, and was featured in the prestigious Forbes 30 under 30 list. Taking part in this competition is more of a launch pad for furthering a young chef’s career.
Conor Halpenny can attest to this, having won the award in 2017. Conor now serves as commissioner general for Euro-Toques Ireland and is co-owner and head chef at Square Restaurant, located in his native Dundalk.
“I won the competition in 2017, eight years ago,” he says. “I was in Chapter One [at the time] under Ross Lewis, and it was my third year entering. By 2017, I was fully committed to the cause. Today, as a judge, we’re looking for a young chef’s personality to come out. We say in the brief, ‘give them a stage to show off their heritage and their culinary skills.’ The year I won, with Ross being a mentor, he said: ‘Cook for yourself. Put the love into it.’ Richard Corrigan was judging, and I cooked a big, hearty dish with my own personality.”
In addition to operating Square, Conor is currently working with Fáilte Ireland on a new culinary tourism initiative and is kept busy with his work with Euro-Toques Ireland. He wants the narrative around careers in hospitality to change and challenges the perception that gastronomy and hospitality aren’t serious career options.
“Even my own mother didn’t want me to be a chef,” he recalls, laughing. “It was that perspective that being in hospitality wasn’t a real career. But now, celebrity chefs are making it trendy; it’s no longer a closed-off thing, even here in Square we have an open kitchen. The 80-hour work weeks of the past just aren’t on anymore, it’s not acceptable. We do four days a week in Square and then everyone gets three days off. Work life balance has become important.”
A self-described “homebody”, Conor takes extreme pride in having been able to successfully operate a restaurant in his home county, thanks to the support of his community and co-owner, Conor Mee, who also operates The Courthouse in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan. Conor says there are great opportunities in rural Ireland for young chefs and hospitality professionals.
“I’ve done stages [culinary internships] in London, and it was just never for me,” he says. “As much as the experience was incredible, I didn’t want to do that. When I was starting out, you would have to go to Dublin or London to work in a Michelin starred restaurant. Now, there are amazing restaurants in every county and Dublin is hosting the Michelin Awards in February.
“This shows that Irish chefs are serious players – they’re leaving and coming back home to open restaurants. In doing so they are preserving our culinary heritage, which is also a huge part of what we are doing in Euro-Toques Ireland. It’s a lot of work and it’s all voluntary; it’s for the good of Irish hospitality.”
See kellys.ie and squarerestaurant.ie.
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