Cafe Paradiso: Three decades of the legendary Leeside veggie restaurant

Celebrating 30 years in business with a new cookbook, Cork's Paradiso has become a much-loved food institution. Chef-patron Denis Cotter talks about how vegetarianism gave him his niche in the restaurant world

Denis Cotter, owner and executive chef of Paradiso in Cork

Becoming a vegetarian in the 1980s shaped Denis Cotter’s life. It introduced him to a world of food and cooking, leading him to open Paradiso in Cork, Ireland’s most renowned vegetarian restaurant. Earlier this month, Cotter launched his latest book Paradiso: Recipes & Reflections, a thoughtful record of the evolution of an establishment that has concentrated on delicious, vegetable-focused food for the last 30 years.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.