It’s always an achievement when a restaurant gets a Michelin rating or starring. It’s considered an honor as not many places get this. When it came to the Rozzer Restaurant in Dublin it was then replaced by a Michelin star restaurant by the name of Chapter One.
But of course the Rozzers, which finished in fifth place last year, is part of the family-run Killeen House Hotel, a 23-bedroom country house hotel in Aghadoe. “Wow, that’s fantastic. Number one? Great stuff, we’ve been hovering in the top five,” says its proprietor Geraldine Rosney, on hearing the result. Rosney opened the hotel with her husband, Michael, in 1992, and since her husband’s retirement has been running the business with their daughter Michelle.
Mulcahy’s Bar and Restaurant in Kenmare was voted into second place in the 2021 awards, with the vegetarian restaurant Paradiso, in Cork, in third, and the Chart House in Dingle bringing Kerry back into the reckoning in fourth position. The Dublin restaurants Dax, Sole Seafood and Grill, Mulberry Garden and Chapter One filled the fifth to eighth spots. A Port Mór in Westport and Campagne in Kilkenny complete the Irish top 10.
“I’m one of those owners who is here morning, noon and night. I meet and greet all our restaurant’s head chef, Paul O’Gorman, is a Dubliner who has worked at the hotel for 25 years. His menu makes use of local fish, shellfish and meat, including open ravioli of seared scallops and prawns, and roast rack of Kerry lamb. Dinner is priced at €39.50 for two courses, €49.50 for three and €55.50 for four.
Geraldine Rosney says the hotel has cut back both its room occupancy and its dining-room covers to comply with pandemic regulations. But a “come for dinner, stay for breakfast” offer launched when the hotel reopened last month has proved popular with locals, she says.
