One of the comments this week, about Eat 2015, our new 100 Best Restaurant App, that really made us laugh, was a Facebook status saying the writer was going to open a new takeaway in order to get into the #100Best and call it Bacon Bad.
With a name like that, we'd certainly give it a second glance, but for a takeaway, a food cart, a hostel, or a shack to get into the #100Best, you need to be more than a little bit special.
In the bad old days, food served in these establishments would have been described as Short Order Cooking. But look here at this list of chefs from some of the recent casual-eateries that have made it to the #100Best and it shows the great kitchens in which these chefs have honed their crafts, and the ambition of this dynamic young generation of food heroes:
Harry’s Shack - chef Derek Creagh started in the Fat Duck, then headed Blumenthal’s Riverside Brasserie before heading up Michael Deane’s in Belfast (when he left, the restaurant lost its Michelin star).
The Square Table - Martina Cronin is ex-Chapter One and Restaurant 41
Canteen @ The Market - James Sheridan is ex-Restaurant 41
Canteen (Limerick - new entry two years ago) - Paul Williams was a major part of the Fat Duck team when they got three stars and were voted best restaurant in the world.
The Food Depot - Diana Dodog, Irish Masterchef winner
The Black Pig, Kinsale, Siohban Waldron and Gavin Ryan are ex Ely
Pyke'n'Pommes Kevin Pyke - his restaurant before the food cart was Watts & Co in Derry.
Ox - Stephen Toman was head chef in James Street South and worked with Alain Passard in Paris in L’Arpége (3 star)
Luna Restaurant - Bernadette O’Shea author of Pizza Defined. Famous for Truffles Restaurant in Sligo, legendary pizza restaurant in the nineties.
The Tap Room - a collaboration between Rathmullan House, Kemal Scarpello (master baker and former chef at Rathmullan, ex Shanks) and Rick Le Vert (Kinnegar Brewery)
In the Stay 2015 App - Matt Strefford of Moy House - worked with Neil Perry in Australia
https://soundcloud.com/mckennas-guides/takeaway-joanna-blythman
