Michelin stars in Cork

It’s no secret that Cork is where you’ll find some of the very best fresh produce in Ireland. Those lush green fields and rocky hills are the birthplace of divine flavours that inspire passion and deft creativity among Ireland’s crop of modern chefs.

And what happens when you put world class produce into the hands of world-class chefs? The magic and Michelin stars start to flow…

Last October the standard setter for superb food around the world added three new Irish restaurants to its 2019 edition of the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland. All three were in Cork, which came as no surprise to any of those lucky enough to have already enjoyed the sublime offerings of Mews in Baltimore, Chestnut in Ballydehob, or Ichigo Ichie in Cork city.

Each restaurant is fairly new on the scene. Both Chestnut and Ichigo Ichie opened only last year, while Mews Restaurant has been thrilling diners under its new ownership since 2015. But they each have a completely different ethic.

The old hand, Mews, blends oldschool, high-end hospitality with a traditional Irish touch. You’ll find white linens, exposed stone walls, wooden rafters and exquisitely moulded dining chairs, all of which serve as a graceful backdrop to Chef Ahmet Dede’s modern cooking.

Not far away in Ballydehob,

Rob Krawczyk came home to set up Chestnut in what was once a traditional Irish pub. Originally from the neighbouring village of Schull, Rob grew up immersed in the traditions of local Irish produce. The intimate 18-seater has kept many of the old pub’s original features to create a distinctive yet elegant space with a relaxed feel, a mirror to his own cooking style too.

“West Cork has a different pace of life,” explains Rob Krawczyk, who runs Chestnut in partnership with this wife Elaine, who leads the front-of-house team.

“When we were planning on opening our own restaurant, we wanted to have somewhere with high-end food but serve it in a relaxed and homely atmosphere, somewhere everyone can come to enjoy great food. West Cork is my home and we love that it’s such a relaxing place to experience, and it lends its atmosphere so well to what we wanted to achieve internally for the restaurant.”

Meanwhile in Cork City, Chef Takashi Miyazaki has been steadily building up a cult following since he opened his first, tiny, restaurant in the city centre in 2015. He finally opened Ichigo Ichie last year, making it the first kappou-style, kaiseki (multiple course meal that is left up to the chef to design) restaurant in Ireland.

Without a direct translation, the name means something like “once in a lifetime experience” and few who have tried Chef Miyazaki’s cooking would disagree with the description.

What the restaurants all have in common though is their focus on local ingredients. Whether it is Japanese innovation elevated by Irish ingredients, or Mews and Chestnut’s modern Irish approach, local ingredients are very much at the heart of what they do.

Rob Krawczyk, who worked in a string of Michelin-starred restaurants including Chez Panisse in California, grew up immersed in the best that West Cork has always been able to produce. “My own parents had a restaurant in their sitting room,” he said, adding: “Growing up, they taught me so much about quality of produce and being surrounded by it here in West Cork, you are constantly inspired by the seasons’ larder. In my cooking, I’ve learned not to over complicate things, and to allow ingredients to be the main focus.

“When you have such amazing quality produce, that is half the job done for you.”