Joe McNamee: I went on a three-week odyssey to find the best restaurants in Ireland

I went on a three-week odyssey to dine at contenders for our recent and highly successful inaugural Ireland’s 100 Best Places to Eat.

Ahmet Dede of Dede at the Customs House, No 1 on our Top 100 restaurant list. Picture: Larry Cummins

As a restaurant reviewer, most of the time it is a pleasure to eat professionally in 21st-century Ireland, but there are days when eating food for a living near meets its limits.

Such was the case as I recently rampaged up and down the western seaboard on what I dubbed the “Glutton’s Camino”, a three-week odyssey to dine at contenders for our recent and highly successful inaugural Ireland’s 100 Best Places to Eat.