Nine new names feature on this year’s 57-strong Murphia List, the annual compilation of top Irish figures in London’s food-and-drink scene.
Olivia McGowan, the new assistant general manager of the Mayfair restaurant Humo, is the sole woman to join the line-up in 2023. Born in Inniscrone, in Co Sligo – where, she says, she and her siblings were roped into helping out at golf-club dos at weekends – she worked at Cooke’s and Avoca in Dublin before moving to London in 2009. She then worked her way up from waiting tables to becoming restaurant manager at Clipstone, maitre d’ at Scott’s and restaurant director of Scully St James.
She is joined on the Murphia List by Michael Lynch, head butler at Claridge’s. The Limerick man, who is from Rathcannon, outside the village of Athlacca, has become a familiar face from two BBC documentary series about the five-star hotel, including this year’s Mayfair Hotel Megabuild.
Another new entry is Adam Nevin, the new head chef at the Grill at the Dorchester. From Kildare, he trained at Ballymaloe Cookery School, in Co Cork, working at the Shelbourne and Westbury hotels in Dublin before moving to Britain, where he did a stint at the Hand and Flowers, Tom Kerridge’s two-Michelin-star pub in Marlow, outside London, before joining the Dorchester Grill as a sous chef.
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This year’s Murphia List, which is drawn up by the London food and restaurant website Hot Dinners and sponsored by Bord Bia, also includes Conor Gadd, chef-patron of Trullo, who as a 16-year-old in Belfast worked under Paul Rankin at the chef’s Michelin-starred former restaurant Roscoff. He also trained at Ballymaloe before moving to London.
Fionnan Flood, from Greystones, in Co Wicklow, joins the list as head chef at the Chelsea Pig gastropub. Before that he worked for Gordon Ramsay at the Maze Grill and for Richard Corrigan at Lindsay House before leading kitchens at the Arts Club and Riding House Cafe.
Diarmuid Goodwin, head chef at Sager + Wilde in Bethnal Green, began his career working at Nick’s Warehouse in Belfast as a teenager. He then spent seven years working for Angela Hartnett, whose restaurants include the Michelin-starred Murano, before moving to work first with Bruno Loubet and then at Trullo.
They’re joined by fellow new entries Colin Maher, group bar manager at JKS; the restaurant designer Shayne Brady, cofounder of and director of hospitality at BradyWilliams; and Andrew Fowler, acquisitions director at Edyn and cofounder of the aparthotel company Locke and the hotel company Birch.
The 48 existing names on the Murphia List include the Co Meath-born restaurateur and chef Richard Corrigan – who opened the quickly acclaimed Park Cafe in Dublin last year but then had to deal with a wave of staff departures – along with his son Richie Corrigan, operations director of the Corrigan Collection, and daughter, Jessica Corrigan, of Crab Communications.
Anna Haugh, the Tallaght chef who combines TV presenting – Saturday Kitchen, Ready, Steady, Cook and, now, Masterchef: The Professionals – with running her Chelsea restaurant, Myrtle, is also among this year’s returning names.
Catherine Hanly, who founded Hot Dinners in 2009 with her brother Gavin, says: “Every year we love hearing about the creative contributions being made by Irish people to London hospitality. Whether they’re opening new restaurants, running fabulous pubs or serving up amazing food, the London food and drink scene wouldn’t be the same without them.”
Donal Denvir of Bord Bia calls the list “a true celebration of the best of London’s Irish food and drink scene, shining a light on the wealth of talent and creativity Ireland brings to the city”.
The year’s Murphia List, the ninth, will be celebrated at a party showcasing Irish produce at the Bloomsbury Hotel in London tonight.
MURPHIA LIST 2023: ALL 57 NAMES
Chefs
- NEW Adam Nevin Head chef, the Grill at the Dorchester
- NEW Fionnan Flood Head chef, the Chelsea Pig
- NEW Conor Gadd Chef-patron, Trullo
- NEW Diarmuid Goodwin Head chef, Sager + Wilde
- Kenneth Culhane Head chef, the Dysart
- Nick Fitzgerald Chef-patron, Tacos Padre
- Fiona Hannon Head chef, Bentley’s
- Anna Haugh Chef-patron, Myrtle
- Colin Kelly Head chef, 22 Grosvenor Square
- Marguerite Keogh Head chef, the Five Fields
- Niamh Larkin Pastry chef, 45 Park Lane
- Dave McCarthy Head chef, Scott’s
- Patrick Powell Head chef, Allegra
- Max Rocha Chef-patron, Café Cecilia
- Clare Smyth Chef-patron, Core by Clare Smyth
Restaurateurs
- Richard Corrigan Chef-patron, Corrigan Collection
- Mark Wogan and Alan Wogan Directors, Homeslice
- Robin Gill and Sarah Gill Restaurateurs and chef, Bermondsey Larder, Darby’s and more
- John Devitt Owner, Koya Soho, Koya City
- Sinead Campbell Restaurateur, Bong Bong’s Manila Kanteen
- Garrett Fitzgerald Restaurateur, Butchies
- Brian Hannon Restaurateur, Super 8 Restaurants – Smoking Goat, Kiln, Brat
- David Moore Founding director, Pied à Terre
- John Nugent Chief executive, Green & Fortune
- Ciara O’Shea and Ken Nally Owners, F Mondays
Pubs, bars, cafes and bakeries
- NEW Colin Maher Group bar manager, JKS
- Oisín Rogers Publican and restaurateur
- Gearóid Devane Founder, the Black Book
- Cormac Gibney Bar manager, Gibney’s London
- Aaron Wall and Ciarán Smith Owners, Homeboy, The Bottle Cocktail Shop
- James Hennebry Cofounder, Rosslyn Coffee
- Dee Rettali Owner, Fortitude Bakehouse
Front of house
- NEW Michael Lynch Head butler, Claridge’s
- NEW: Olivia McGowan Assistant general manager, Humo
- Richie Corrigan Operations director, the Corrigan Collection
- Conor Daly General manager, the George
- Fergal Lee General manager, the Wolseley
- Shane McHugh Wine buyer/group head sommelier, Goodman Group
- Joe Warwick “Vieille Prune Dispenser”, Bouchon Racine
Behind the scenes
- NEW Shayne Brady Cofounder and director of hospitality, BradyWilliams
- NEW Andrew Fowler Acquisitions director, Edyn, and cofounder, Locke and Birch
- Darren McHugh Operations manager, MJMK
- Molly Hutchinson Founder, Miam Management, event director of Meatopia
- Fiona Leahy Founder, Fiona Leahy Design
- Sinead Mallozzi Chief executive, Sketch
Producers and retailers
- James Goggin Head of sales, Empirical
- Simon Lamont Founder, Rocks Oysters
- Evin O’Riordain Founder, The Kernel Brewery
- Darragh O’Shea Owner, O’Shea’s Butchers
- Steve Ryan Food photographer, cofounder of Root + Bone and 40FT Brewery, director of Acme Fire Cult
Media
- Jessica Corrigan Cofounder, Crab Communications
- Diana Henry Food writer and broadcaster
- Niamh Shields Writer and cookbook author
