100 Best Restaurants Guide goes smart casual

Casual restaurants which exhibit flair and creativity have been the most notable innovation of Irish restaurant culture over the last 12 months, according to food writer John McKenna.

Sat, 01 Mar, 2014 - 00:00

Dan Buckley

“Brilliant cooking is found in rooms where the focus is firmly on the ability of the kitchen to offer imaginative, original and unpretentious food, with a minimum of ceremony,” he said, speaking at the launch yesterday of John and Sally McKenna’s 2014 100 Best Restaurants Guide.

“From focusing on vegetable cookery to a brilliant sandwich offer, ‘creative casual’ restaurants are dissolving the boundaries of how we used to believe critically acclaimed food was served.

“These restaurants can be found in destinations as diverse as Iyer’s in Cork City; 1826 in Adare; Kelly’s Kitchen in Wexford; Canteen in Limerick; OX in Belfast and The Vintage Kitchen in Dublin.”

The McKennas’ 100 Best Restaurants Guide has now been published for the first time digitally as a ‘smart guide.’

“It’s not quite an app,” explained Sally McKenna.

“It’s not quite a book, so we believe the best name for our new digital publications is simply ‘smart guides’ as they combine our reputation for vividly descriptive prose, our experience and knowledge of Ireland’s culinary culture, and offer this with an easy to navigate interactive functionality.”

There are 21 new (or returning) entrants to the McKennas’ 100 Best Restaurants Guide for 2014, with no fewer than nine new entrants listed for Dublin.

“Dublin continues to forge ahead as a burgeoning restaurant city, in a year in which genuinely original, young talent has shone through,” said John McKenna.

Tasty additions

The new Dublin entrants are:

* Brother Hubbard

* Chameleon Restaurant

* Cleaver East

* M&L Chinese Restaurant

* Rasam

* Skinflint

* The Pepperpot

* The Wild Goose Grill

* Vintage Kitchen

The other 12 new entrants to the 2014 100 Best Restaurants Guide are: