TREATS FOR BODY AND SOUL

OON MONDAY evening we attended the annual Good Eating Guide Awards in the beautiful ballroom of the Conrad Hotel, Dublin. These awards are voted for by people in the industry — in other words a jury of our peers.

So these winners are the people that other chefs and restaurateurs think are the best in their particular class. The evening was delightful. The Conrad is a lovely venue. It has been completely refurbished and looks amazing. There was a lovely friendly atmosphere and at 6.30pm we all gathered to eagerly await this year’s choices for the various awards.

We had a delicious meal while the awards were given out between courses. My Darling Derry accepted one for our kitchen team when he was awarded Best Overall Chef in Ireland. He was delighted, of course, for such recognition, but he mentioned all the up-andcoming chefs we have in our country, and indeed in our own restaurant, and how far the food industry has come in the last 30 years. L’Ecrivain celebrates 29 years as a restaurant in July this year. Where does the time go?

There were lots of familiar faces there and the Best Overall Restaurant was Shanahan’s on the Green. The biggest cheer of the night went to Peter Caviston who got the very welldeserved Special Recognition award. He is 50 years going in Caviston’s Restaurant and Shop in Glasthule, which he took over from his own father and is 71 years in business. Now that deserves a huge round of applause. His lovely wife Maura was by his side as always and his family were there to support him.

We all raised a glass to each other, and to the winners in the bar after the event, which was presented by the lovely Maria Bailey, Fine Gael TD for Dún Laoghaire. Cheers to all those nominated and to all the winners too.