The Foyle Hotel by Chef Brian McDermott has earned a coveted spot on this year’s list of Ireland’s Top 100 Restaurants.
It’s the latest major award for Brian McDermott and the newly-opened Moville hotel, which has already won Irish Newcomer of the Year from the prestigious Georgina Campbell awards.
Judges John and Sally McKenna heaped praise on the new venture, writing: “In the Foyle, McDermott has not simply opened a hotel, he has reinvented the idea of hotel food, for it’s the food that comes first.”
Ireland’s Top 100 Restaurants is part of the annual Sunday Times Top 100 List and is judged by the McKennas Guide.
Inclusion on the expert hospitality guide is a testament to the quality of Irish contemporary food offered at the Foyle Hotel, which opened its doors last summer.
A happy Foyle Hotel team celebrates their new place on Ireland’s 100 Best Restaurantsott,
The McKennas commented that the hotel ‘offers a master class in contemporary savoury Irish cooking’.
“Dishes you might think of as domestic staples – lamb pie, pumpkin soup, chicken breast with champ, and mussels with barley and cider – are all rendered here with such professional elan, and cooked with such finesse, that they emerge newly formed,” the judges wrote.
They added: “It’s hotel food but not as we know it, and good, inexpensive rooms upstairs invite you to make the most of a visit.”
Chef Brian said the award was all down to the hard work and commitment of his team at the hotel.
He said: “They are the ones I credit with making this possible, as well as the local suppliers and customers who have flocked to us since we opened only seven months ago.
“We are so honoured to be within Ireland’s Top 100 restaurants and it’s beyond belief that so soon in our journey this has been achieved.”
The award comes quickly on the back of a succession of other awards for both Brian and the Foyle Hotel in the past few months.
Only a month ago, Brian was awarded The Top Irish Communicator of Irish Food and his book ‘Donegal Table’ was awarded the top cookery book in Ireland at the Gourmand Book awards. In July 2019, ‘Donegal Table’ will represent Ireland at the World Book Awards in Macau.