Corrigan and Ryan are dishing up a new treat for D4’s diners
MICHELIN-starred chef Richard Corrigan and restaurateur Ronan Ryan are cooking up a treat for Dublin’s gourmands and are poised to take over Dylan McGrath’s Shelbourne Social, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Corrigan and Ryan’s deal will see them stick their culinary fingers into the swanky Dublin 4 dining pie. A source said the pair are looking to attract the minted set to Ballsbridge after a crippling pandemic for the industry. The source told the MoS: ‘Corrigan is well known for his great food and eclectic menus so that will entice people out of the city. And Ronan Ryan, despite his money troubles, still has a big sway with the socialites and the wannabes who, as sure as day, will beat a path to their doors.’
Corrigan, a farmer’s son from Ballivor, Co. Meath, won his first Michelin star in 1995 as head chef of Stephen Bull’s Fulham restaurant. Two years later he won another star at his own restaurant, Lindsay House, in Soho.
He owns three restaurants in London as well as a hotel in Cavan. And he’s about to open the doors to his latest London venue at Hawley Wharf in Camden Basin.
Restaurateur Ryan has been making a comeback recently after experiencing financial woes. The Tipperaryborn businessman and wife Pamela
Flood hit the headlines in 2020 for their battle with a vulture fund over their home in Clontarf, which they eventually sold for €735,000 in 2020.
But Ryan is back in business and has opened Le Comptoir, a Frenchthemed bakery and café in Donnybrook, Dublin 4. He was a high-profile restaurateur during the heady Celtic Tiger years and previously ran South Bar and Restaurant in Sandyford, alongside Bridge Bar and Grill in Dublin’s Docklands, and Town Bar and Grill on Kildare Street. But all three were hit by the recession. McGrath, who is departing D4, opened Shelbourne Social to great fanfare in 2018 but it was severely hampered by the pandemic.