Living Dublin Restaurants

Restaurant of the Year Awards 2004

Dublin restaurant Chapter One made a clean sweep of the Irish Restaurant of the Year Awards, organised by Food & Wine magazine and Evian water. The Parnell Street restaurant won an unprecedented five top awards: Restaurant of the Year, Best Dublin Restaurant, Chef of the Year, Dublin Chef of the Year and Best Service award.

Hundreds of restaurateurs, chefs and food critics attended the awards ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel in Ballsbridge. The awards, now in their fourth year, are the result of a unique system of judging by which readers of the magazine vote for a shortlist which is then submitted to a panel of judges for final deliberation. The 10 judges this year included Food & Wine magazine publisher Ms Norah Casey, Mr Paddy Moore, acting CEO of Bord Bia (the Irish food board), Biddy White Lennon of the Irish Food Writer's Guild and food critic Paolo Tullio.

Speaking at the ceremony, Ms Casey said: "We went to great lengths to devise a judging system that would be seen as credible and fair and I believe we have succeeded to the extent where the awards play a significant role in maintaining and raising standards in the industry."

A delighted Ross Lewis, chef and co-owner of Chapter One and recipient of the two Chef of the Year awards, paid tribute to the restaurant's staff when he said: "It's like in church: it's the congregation not the building that counts and these awards are for the staff."

Another Dublin restaurant, L'Ecrivain on Baggot street, which last year won three awards, was again nominated in several categories, while Jaipur Indian Restaurant on south Great Georges Street won the national category of best World Cuisine Restaurant. Season's at the Four Seasons and Mint in Ranelagh both received commendations for service.

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