100 Best Restaurants in Ireland to include fast food

A takeaway is to be included for the first time in the list of 100 Best Restaurants in Ireland.

However, the location of the fast food eatery is not being revealed yet by food guru John McKenna, who publishes his guide at the start of each year.

Neither is the food specialist going to let on whether it is the more traditional type of chipper takeaway or one of its more exotic cousins which is to get a place in the 2016 list.

The prestigious guide is now including food karts and takeaways in the menu of those to be reviewed as more and more people say they don’t need silverware and fancy tablecloths to have a good dining experience.

The takeaway has gone past being just a place to queue up after the pub, according to Mr McKenna, and many are now sourcing the best of fresh ingredients to make fast food tasty.

“From Derry to Dublin to Cork, people are realising fast food can be a good food experience.

“Many people operating takeaways and food karts put a lot of thought into how much fat there should be in a burger; the quality of the meat; fresh fish and what is the best type of potato to chip,” he said.

Last year the McKenna 100 best restaurants winners included Cork’s “gourmet street kitchen” The Food Depot, run by Irish MasterChef winner Diana Dodog, as well as Harry’s Shack in Portstewart, Co Derry — a beach shack whose chef Derek Creagh has worked in Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck and Riverside Brasserie.