Restaurant FortyOne sweeps up at Food and Wine awards

Restaurant FortyOne in Dublin city centre dominated this year’s Food and Wine Magazine Restaurant of the Year Awards.

The awards, now in their 14th year, were held last night at the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin.

Restaurant FortyOne and its chef, Graham Neville, won in three categories: best restaurant in Dublin; best chef in Dublin; and overall best chef of the year.

Diners were invited to nominate their favorite restaurants and chefs, and a panel of judges voted on the top entries by secret ballot.

It is the second win in the Dublin category for both the restaurant, located in a Georgian townhouse which also houses Residence Members Club on St Stephen’s Green, and chef.

Mr Neville called a walled organic kitchen garden in Killiney, that has allowed him to work with fresh ingredients grown to the restaurant’s requirements, his “secret weapon”.

Other national culinary accolades include the Irish Restaurant Awards, which in June named Campagne in Kilkenny the best restaurant in Ireland and Neven Maguire the best chef in the country.

Restaurant FortyOne does not yet have a Michelin star, unlike Dublin restaurants Thornton's at the Fitzwilliam Hotel, Chapter One, L'Ecrivian and Malahide's Bon Appétit. Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin is the only restaurant in the country with two Michelin stars.

Kilkenny restaurants Campagne and Lady Helen at the Mount Juliet Hotel received stars this year. House at the Cliff House Hotel in Waterford and Aniar in Galway also received stars, which are seen as one of the highest honours in the restaurant industry.