'She loved her food': Cork chef Ross Lewis impressed Britain's queen with state banquet

'I was charged to go off and do a menu. I tried to make it a patchwork quilt of as many counties in Ireland as I could'

Britain's Queen Elizabeth as she made her speech at the state dinner in Dublin Castle in 2011. Picture: Maxwells Dublin

When Michelin-starred chef Ross Lewis was invited to cook for Britain's Queen Elizabeth at a state banquet in Dublin in May 2011, he expected lots of pressure and lots of security.

There was pressure — but the security as he and his teamed toiled in a modified kitchen at Dublin Castle was not quite what he expected.