2009 Award Winners

Hotel of the Year 2009
Dromoland Castle Hotel
The West of Ireland is this country’s greatest tourism asset and, in many ways, this hotel sums up the hopes and dreams that many people have when visiting Ireland – a beautifully loca ...
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Restaurant of the Year 2009
Pearl Brasserie
Just a few doors away from Dublin’s finest Georgian square and some of the city’s most exclusive restaurants, Kirsten Batt and Sebastien Masi’s stylish basement restaurant has q ...
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Chef of the Year 2009
Richard Corrigan - Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill
This well known UK-based Irish chef burst onto the Dublin dining scene in the summer of 2008 with the opening of Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill on St Stephen’s Green and – alth ...
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Pub of the Year 2009
Balloo House
This famous old coaching inn enjoyed a great stroke of good fortune in 2004, when it was taken over by Ronan and Jennie Sweeney, an energetic couple with extensive experience in the hospitality in ...
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Best Use of Fresh Ingredients Award 2009
Sponsored by Bord Bia
The Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge
“Customers are increasingly looking for information on how their food is produced and where it comes from - providing supplier and country of origin information on menus assures diners where ...
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Seafood Restaurant of the Year 2009
Sponsored by BIM
O'Connor's Seafood Restaurant
This long-established seafood restaurant is right on Bantry’s main square (site of the May mussel festival each year), and has been completely refurbished since Peter and Anne O’Brien ...
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Seafood Bar of the Year 2009
Sponsored by BIM
The Lobster Pot
Near Carnsore Point and just a few miles from Rosslare ferry port, Anne and Ciaran Hearne’s handsome country pub, in elegant dark green with lots of well-maintained plants, is a welcome sigh ...
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Food eXtra Award 2009
Sponsored by FÃ¡ilte Ireland
Longueville House
This recently introduced award can perhaps be seen as a signpost to the way food and hospitality are developing in Ireland, as time-poor visitors – whether from other countries or travelling ...
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Natural Food Award 2009
Sponsored by FÃ¡ilte Ireland
Rathmullan House
A pleasing dining room overlooking the lovely gardens and Lough Swilly provides a fine setting for upbeat traditional cooking at the Wheeler family’s Rathmullan House. Menus are based on the ...
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Hideaway of the Year 2009
Sponsored by FÃ¡ilte Ireland
Carrig House Country House & Restaurant
Dozens of interesting places hidden around Ireland come under the microscope when we’re considering this much sought-after award, and we’re happy to report that this country is very we ...
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Waterways Hospitality Award 2009
Sponsored by Waterways Ireland
The Oarsman
This new award introduces a topic very close to the Guide’s heart - we have published a little guide to hospitality along Ireland’s inland waterways for almost a decade, and it has had ...
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Wine Award of the Year 2009
The Twelve
For the last couple of years establishments recommended by the Guide have been invited to submit wine lists for competition and there has been a great response, ranging from the very grand to rela ...
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Host of the Year 2009
John Moriarty - Lord Baker's
In all the years we’ve been travelling around the country seeking out the best hospitality - a ‘hobby’ that goes back over 20 years or more, certainly far beyond the life of the ...
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Business Hotel of the Year 2009
Kingsley Hotel
While it is not unusual for an establishment to receive more than one award award from us – the cream always floats to the top, after all – this one is unique in that the Kingsley Hote ...
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Family Friendly Hotel of the Year 2009
Renvyle House Hotel
A wonderful place to visit at any age or any time, Renvyle House appeals to people with a yen for the rugged west of Ireland - and a love of the cosy contrasts you find indoors, where a snug conse ...
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Ethnic Restaurant of the Year 2009
Sponsored by Patakâ€™s / Blue Dragon
Jaipur Group
This year’s Ethnic Restaurant Award is unusual as it goes not to a restaurant but to a group, and pays tribute to the people who have developed this small chain of stylish, quality-driven r ...
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Atmospheric Restaurant of the Year 2009
Chez Hans
This is a very special award, because it invariably goes to an establishment that is really outstanding in every way – and has that special extra ‘something’ that makes a great a ...
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Newcomer of the Year 2009
Cliff House Hotel
Clinging to steep cliffs on the edge of the heritage village of Ardmore, this hotel opened to some acclaim a few months ago and, with its fresh contemporary style, ambitious cooking and emphasis o ...
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Country House of the Year 2009
Ballyvolane House
A gracious mansion surrounded by its own farmland, magnificent wooded grounds, a trout lake and formal terraced gardens… the Green family’s home, Ballyvolane House, is the quintes ...
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Guesthouse of the Year 2009
Ard na Breátha
Although in what has become a mainly residential area on the edge of a thriving town, Albert and Theresa Morrow’s welcoming guesthouse is tucked into a quiet corner of a busy working farm an ...
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B&B of the Year 2009
Heron's Rest B&B
The name of Sorcha Molloy’s delightful B&B is far from fanciful - when looking for it along the Longwalk, in the heart of Galway city, you may well find it signed by Arthur the visiting ...
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Farmhouse of the Year 2009
Flemingstown House
Flemingstown House is a little off the tourist track, but those in the know beat a path to the door of this traditional farmhouse in the heart of the Golden Vale - knowing, as they make their way ...
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IRISH BREAKFAST AWARDS 2009
- - B&B Breakfast
  Heron's Rest B&B
  The wise B&B owner makes a big deal out of breakfast these days – and, although there are plenty of other reasons people love staying at this one, the delicious and sociable way that eac ...
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- - Guesthouse Breakfast
  Teach de Broc
  Great hospitality and outstanding breakfasts go hand in hand, so it is not surprising that these former Hosts of the Year should now be highlighted for beginning each day so well for their f ...
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- - Country House Breakfast
  Ballyvolane House
  Country houses do tend to make a speciality of breakfast, and this year’s country house breakfast award winners, Ballyvolane House, are a class act: they don’t have a huge number of ro ...
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- - Hotel Breakfast
  Lisloughrey Lodge
  Breakfast is often the least enjoyable part of a hotel stay and, all too often, can obliterate the memory of an enjoyable meal the evening before – not so at a growing number of caring and & ...
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- - National Winner
  Lisloughrey Lodge
  Breakfast is often the least enjoyable part of a hotel stay and, all too often, can obliterate the memory of an enjoyable meal the evening before – not so at a growing number of caring and & ...
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  Park Hotel Kenmare - County Kerry
  Nobody understands the importance of attention to detail better than the Brennan brothers, stars of RTE’s quirky ‘hospitality hospital’ programme, 'At Your Service'. Legendar ...
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