Chefs’ hearts all aflutter as Michelin awards awaited

The winners in the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2015 are published tomorrow.

Kilkenny got two new stars last year with Garrett Byrne’s Campagne and the Lady Helen restaurant in Mount Juliet Hotel joining the list for the first time.

Michelin’s inscrutability makes it difficult to make predictions, but expect those new stars to remain. The biggest loser last year was Sebastian Masi’s Locks Brasserie on the Grand Canal in Dublin, which held its star for just a year.

Most eyes in the restaurant world will be on Dublin’s Dawson Street, where Mikael Viljanen’s The Greenhouse could lose its standing as Ireland’s best unstarred restaurant - and get a star. Ox in Belfast and Forest Avenue in Dublin are also viewed by many as deserving of the accolade.

An award for Alain Kerloc'h and Stephen Toman in Ox would return the Michelin star to Northern Ireland for the first time since 2011 when Michael Deane lost his star at Deanes.

In Dublin 4, Forest Avenue, a relaxed Scandi-style restaurant, was opened in a former pizzeria on Sussex Terrace last year by husband and wife chefs John Wyer and Sandy Sabek.

It is 40 years since Irish restaurants got their first stars from the French food inspectors. The 1974 guide gave just two stars: one to Arbutus Lodge in Cork and the second to the Russell Hotel on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin.

Just over two months later the Russell closed down to make way for an office development.