Ireland is going crazy for good food
"Ireland is awesome," says Melbourne-born chef Damien Grey, co-owner of Dublin's Heron & Grey restaurant.
"Ireland is going crazy for food right now. There's so many young chefs coming up right now, breaking all the rules."
Restaurants across the island have been awarded 15 new Michelin stars since 2011 -- already three times as many Ireland earned during the culinary doldrums of the 1970s.
There's a new-found confidence abroad as the nation's chefs take their place on the world stage and a new generation of restaurants have been popping up north, south, east and west.
Those famously green fields and a coastline lapped by five bodies of water are the perfect conditions for what Grey describes as "an abundance of produce. We have amazing beef, lamb, produce from small artisans, cheeses, seafood is ridiculous good."
Grey and his business partner Andrew Heron opened their tiny 24-seater restaurant Heron & Grey in the Dublin seaside suburb of Blackrock in 2015. Within a year, it'd had won its first Michelin star. (Heron & Grey, 19A Main St, Blackrock, Co. Dublin; +353 1 212 3676)
"We're very serious about the product, but we don't take ourselves too seriously," says Heron. Service is intimate and "very informal," he adds.
And for a Michelin-starred establishment, prices are pretty down to earth, too. The summer tasting menu is a reasonable 63 euros ($73).
It's no wonder it's become one of the most talked-about restaurants in the country. It's already booked out for the rest of 2017.
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