Revealed: These are the three new one-star Michelin restaurants in Ireland
Starr at work at Lignum Galway Restaurant, which was awarded a star at Monday's Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2025 ceremony in Glasgow. Picture: Facebook
It was an evening of celebration for Ireland at the Michelin Guide ceremony, as three new one-star Michelin restaurants were added to Ireland’s roster, in Galway, Kildare and Laois.
The Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2025 ceremony in Glasgow also included a special award for Zsolt Lukács, who received the Michelin Sommelier Award for his work at Daróg Wine Bar in Galway.
The awards, seen by many as the biggest in the culinary calendar, grew from a marketing guidebook to promote tyres back in the 1970s, to becoming the most prestigious restaurant awards in Europe.
The stars awarded run from one star to the top honour of three stars, with one star denoting ‘high-quality cooking, worth a stop’, two stars marking a restaurant with ‘excellent cooking, worth a detour’ and the highly coveted three stars meaning ‘exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey’.
Lignum Restaurant in Bullaun, Co Galway, has been tipped to take home a star for years, so the Irish in the room were delighted to see Chef Danny Africano and his partner Molly Keane’s restaurant finally awarded a much-deserved one-star rating.
Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the Michelin Guides and host of the evening, said the judges were impressed by Africano's "confidence and depth of the cooking" and praised a standout dish, his Amalfi lemon dessert.
Speaking about finally gaining Michelin recognition, Africano said, "It's been super emotional. We were in tears when we opened the email. It's been a long couple of years, but we've worked extremely hard, and now to be here in Glasgow, it's quite special. Hard work pays off, and dreams do come true".
The Morrison Room at Carton House in Maynooth was the next Irish restaurant announced as a new one-star, with Poullennec saying: "This magnificent room now has the food to match its surroundings."
Head chef Adam Nevin, who grew up down the road from Carton, said: "It's actually unbelievable because I couldn't have dreamt of this. I remember going up to Carton as a kid, and now this, it's just unreal."
The final new Irish one-star was awarded to the five-star country house hotel Ballyfin Demesne, fresh from celebrating their Michelin three-key hotel award late last year.
The regency manor will have to make space by the doorway for another piece of red signage for their hotel restaurant, headed up by chef Richard Picard-Edwards. Speaking after the awards, he said he was overjoyed and it was a massive relief, "It's going to be great for the team. I'm so fortunate with Ballyfin; there's not many places like it".
In the special awards category, Zsolt Lukács from Daróg, Galway was blown away to be chosen for the Michelin Sommelier Award.
He said, "I was not expecting this; I'm absolutely thrilled." Lukács runs the much-loved wine bar along with his wife Edel McMahon-Lukács, with Attila Galambos in the kitchen. In more great news for Zsolt, the restaurant has also been awarded a Bib Gourmand this year.
There were no new Michelin stars for Cork, but new opening Baba'de in Baltimore was awarded a Bib Gourmand. It joins the strong lineup of Michelin-commended restaurants in the county, including the two-starred Terre by Vincent Crepel in Castlemartyr and two-star dede by Ahmet Dede in Baltimore.
In West Cork, Bastion in Kinsale and Restaurant Chestnut in Ballydehob retain their one-star status. Rob Krawczyk from Restaurant Chestnut said, "It's always a huge honor to be invited and to retain our star. We're in our eighth season now, and it's still exciting”.
Many chefs made the pilgrimage to Glasgow to hear of their stars being retained in person, including Dublin based Damian Grey from two-star Liath, Variety Jones chef-owner Keelan Higgs, Killian Walsh head chef at Bastible, Andy McFadden from Glovers Alley, JP McMahon from Aniar in Galway, Robbie McCauley from Homestead Cottage in Doolin and Mike Tweedy from Adare Manor in Limerick.
Another Irish chef hailing from Co Tipperary, Luke Ahearne, was also on stage as his restaurant Lita in Marylebone was added to the one-star Michelin London list.
The full Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2025 can be found at https://guide.michelin.com/
