Food and wine critic Paolo Tullio passes away

One of Ireland's best-known food and wine critics, Paolo Tullio, has passed away. He had been ill for a number of months.

Paolo Luigi Mario Tullio was a writer and a Michelin star-winning head chef of the former restaurant Armstrong's Barn in Annamoe, County Wicklow.

Tullio came to Ireland in 1968 to study English, arts and philosophy at Trinity College, where he obtained an MA.

He has received several culinary awards for his cooking.

In 1978 he was awarded one Michelin star. The Michelin Guide awarded the restaurant the "Red M", indicating "good food at a reasonable price", in 1980 and 1981.

He was also a food critic with the hugely popular series 'The Restaurant'.

Press Manager, Noel Kelly, said it was 'with great sadness' that he learnt of Paolo's death, he said "The world is missing an incredible chef and culinary expert".

"It's with great sadness that I heard of Paolo Tullio's death today. I am missing a great friend, full of kindness and with only positive things to say of others.

"The world is missing an incredible Chef and culinary expert. He was one of life's true gentlemen, a word overused but not in this case as Paolo was a gentleman to the core.

"Our thoughts are with his family at this time".

.@carolineclarke and I devastated to hear of the death of @paolotullio He was a gentleman, a scholar, a thinker and a cook. He lived well.

— SeánMoncrieff (@SeanMoncrieff) June 5, 2015

So sorry to hear my colleague and fellow critic Paolo Tullio has passed away. RIP

— LUCINDA O’SULLIVAN (@LucindasIreland) June 5, 2015

@paolotullio such sad news just lost a great friend and an amazing foodie #rip

— VitaDAO 💛 (@vlta_dao) June 5, 2015

Ahhh sad to hear of Paolo Tullio's passing. He gave me 5 Stars on The Restaurant and we stayed friends ever since. Lovely lovely fun man x

— Amanda Brunker (@AmandaJBrunker) June 5, 2015