Gallagher joins Guilbaud in failing to make McKennas' list

Conrad Gallagher is the highest-profile casualty in the latest Bridgestone 100 Best Restaurants in Ireland, the annual guide published by food-writers John and Sally McKenna.

Gallagher's Peacock Alley in Dublin joins such culinary stars as Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud - by now an annual non-fixture in the guide - in not making the top 100. But McKenna predicted the celebrity chef's exile would not be a long one: "Conrad has lost his way a bit. He's had an Icarus-like descent, in some ways. But he's a very good cook and he'll do it again."

A factor in Peacock Alley's exclusion, he adds, was the move "around the corner on Stephen's Green" of chef Aidan Byrne. Peacock Alley's loss was The Commons' gain, and Byrne's residency there has seen it reinstated after a lapse, despite McKenna finding it "plush, shockingly bourgeois and bloody expensive".

The Bridgestone guides - the 2001 edition of the "100 best places to stay" has also just been published - annoyed tourist interests in Killarney last year when it dismissed the Kerry town as "best seen through a rear-view mirror".

Twelve months on, McKenna has kinder words for Killarney, although no inclusions in his lists. Recent visits there suggest some restaurants are now catering for locals rather than just tourists - "a big step forward" - and the town is tackling problems such as horse manure.

Again it is other Kerry venues including Killorglin, Dingle, and especially Kenmare (three mentions in the restaurant list, four in the places to stay) that score higher. Co Waterford continues to be a favourite, with five inclusions in each guide.

But even Westmeath, not a traditional gourmet paradise, rates three mentions in the top 100 restaurants: Athlone's Left Bank Bistro, Glasson's Wine port, and Mullingar's Crooked wood House.

McKenna says food and accommodation standards in Ireland are "unrecognisable" from what they were when he first published the guides a decade ago. The latest restaurant guide includes a rave review for the "sexy, sensual" food in Thornton's in Dublin, one of only two restaurants in Ireland to merit two stars from the culinary bible, the Michelin Guide.

There is still no room for Michelin's other two-star performer, however. "I fully respect what Guilbaud's do, but it's just not a happening place for me. I was there again recently and I had a nice lunch, but I didn't find anything to change my mind."